Page 41 of Fate Awakened

“Come on. Come on”

The door begins to shut, and I see the two men trying to move in swiftly, but they don't quite make it before the doors seal.

“Shit, why are they following me?” I ask, dropping the phone from my ear.

“Working on that. Surveillance has them headed for the stairs. My guess is they want to ensure you came alone and aren’t working with anyone. Now listen up. First, once the doors open, stop talking. You're off the phone, and they have better hearing than you do. Second, get to your car casually as fast as you can. When you drive off, don’t go home. Drive around for a while. Go to campus. Whatever, but don’t go home. Make sure no one is following you. Once you’re clear, meet Cain at the complex across from your friend's place.”

“Mila?” I ask, wondering how he would know where she lived.

“No, you idiot. Not your most recent STD candidate. Brielle, or Liv. Either one.” Her voice comes out with more sass than I think a stranger has ever given me, and I mean to comment on it, but before I can, the doors start to open, and I shut up.

Make it to the car. Get out of here. Lose the tail.

By the time I make it to my car, I hear hurried footsteps across the garage. I try to look relaxed as I slide in, turn the key and launch the envelope into the passenger seat. I pull out at a casual pace and drive the route to the exit. As I do, I pass the two men as they jump into a black Mercedes with dark-tinted windows.

Once I hit the main street, I crank the radio in an attempt to drown out the thoughts in my head as I try to determine the best route to ensure no one follows. Rolling down my window, I don’t even feel the bite of the cold air with the adrenaline buzzing through my body. I avoid Las Vegas Boulevard and take back streets, turning right every few roads just to be sure I have lost them before I end up on Sahara and head east.

“Mind losing the music there, Jason Statham. You lost them.” Cain’s voice in my ear startles the fuck out of me. “We’re on them, so you can continue back to the meet point.”

“Who the fuck was in my ear earlier? And where were you? Did you get what you needed?” The questions start flying out of my mouth as I turn into a grocery store parking lot to calm down.

“Yeah, we got it all. We can discuss your next steps once we determine where these two goons are headed.”

Letting out a deep breath, I run my hands through my hair and push my glasses onto my forehead to pinch the top of my nose and relieve some of the pressure building there. It’s then that I remember that they can see everything that I can see.

I remove the glasses, set them on the dash, and point them toward the parked cars around me. Turning the music up a bit to hide the noise, I reach over and grab the envelope. It’s completely blank on the outside. Once I have it open, the documents come falling into my lap.

On top is a blank, unsealed envelope. Sliding my fingers inside, I pull out a premade check and nearly choke out a cough when I catch sight of the total—a quarter of a million dollars.

Holy shit.

I set it aside, filing it into the information I need to sort out later, and grab the first paperclipped chunk of documents. The first several pages show a man and a woman, mostly surveillance shots, along with their data. David and Rachel Healy, from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Apparently, they’ve lived in four states in the last sixty years. I scan back to their photo, wondering if the information needs to be corrected. There’s no way this couple is in their sixties based on these photos, which appear to come from the last few days. He wants them completely deleted as if they never existed.

Shouldn’t be too hard.

Then my eyes skip to the image on the next page, and everything else falls from my hands as I see Elle staring up at me from her driver's license photo. I shake my head, not believing what I’m seeing before I look at the detailed personal information. It’s her. Before I think better of it, I quickly grab the glasses from the dashboard and put them back on before holding up the profile in front of my face.

“You wanna explain to me why Marlo just hired me to change Brielle’s identity?” I’m freaking out as I try to remember what he had said about the woman in the second part—something about getting away from her boyfriend.

He fucking hurt her.

It’s the only explanation. She ran away from him and somehow contacted these guys in the process. As my mind spins, Cain interrupts my thoughts with words so much worse than I could’ve imagined.

“Because he has her. They kidnapped her last night.”

“When exactly were you going to tell me she was missing, that she was kidnapped, or that these guys had her!?” I scream, hitting the wheel with my fist while wishing he was in front of me so I could take my aggression out on him.

"I only did this meeting with you guys because I wanted to keep her out of all this, to keep her safe. Now you’re telling me you don’t even fucking have her, that she isn’t safe, and the man I was sitting across from, the THUG who threatened to murder my family, has her and is trying to give her a new identity? I should’ve been doing the deal with him, NOT you! Why does he want her to have a new identity, huh? Tell me that much, Asshole!”

“The truth? I wasn’t. I had no intention of ever telling you. Honestly, I don’t give a fuck what you think you know about them, about us, about her. I don’t need you fucking this up. I’ll find her. I’ll save her. Your only job is to get me the information on where she’s being held. You’re a means to an end.” He growls, anger seeping into his words.

“And why the fuck would I trust you to find her? You’re using her to get to me. You don’t give a shit about her,” I yell, squeezing the steering wheel until my knuckles turn white.

“She’s the only thing I give a shit about!” His words come out strangled. Emotion fighting through. For the first time, I realize that she’s more than just an insurance policy to him.

What the fuck is going on?

“Well, fuck your intentions. You aren’t doing this without me. I won’t give you any more information unless I have your word I get to be a part of it.” I clench my teeth, seething with anger, ready to fight him on his response.

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