“Olivia, what’s going on?”
“I’m…I’m scared. I don’t know what to do.”
“Why are you scared? What’s going on?”
“He said everything would be fine, but…I don’t know what to do.”
Her voice cracked and then I heard a soft whimper over the line. My heart started racing as a million scenarios ran through my head.
“Olivia, who is he?”
“Your father,” she sobbed. “I thought I could handle it.”
“Olivia, where are you?”
“At…at the apartment.”
“Stay there. I’m coming to get you.”
She broke down in more tears and my heart tore in two. I couldn’t stand to hear a woman cry. It was shredding me apart.
“Hurry, Bradford.”
“I’ll be there as quickly as I can.”
I hung up and quickly found a flight, but it wouldn’t get me there until morning. Still, it was all I had. I booked it and sent her the flight information, then told her to stay in the apartment with the doors locked. I packed a carry-on and was out the door minutes later, headed for the airport. And I would have gotten away with no issues if it weren’t for fucking FNG landing on the fucking windshield of my truck, cracking the whole fucking thing just as I was leaving the property.
I screeched to a stop and FNG went rolling off the front of the truck, landing with a thud on the ground. Getting out, I stormed around to the front and stared at the man wrapped in a fucking parachute.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
Groaning, he rolled over. “Training exercise. Isn’t that the usual line?”
Sighing, I held out my hand for him, hauling him off the ground. “Anything broken?”
“I don’t think so.” Then he started chuckling. “Parachute didn’t open.”
“How high were you?” I questioned, narrowing my eyes at him.
“High enough that I should be dead. Well, maybe not too high. Otherwise, your truck would be a pancake, but still…”
I rolled my eyes. “Great, well, I’m off to the airport. Have fun with…whatever you were doing.”
“The airport? Where are you going?”
“New York.”
“Why?”
“Look, I really don’t have time for this. I have to catch a flight in four hours.”
He chuckled, brushing the dirt from his flight suit. “Four hours—I’d say you have plenty of time.”
Gritting my teeth, I tried not to snap at him. “Olivia called. She’s in trouble.”
“Ooh, the ex-not-so-fiancée. I’ll come with.”
“What—” But he was already getting in the passenger side. “No, I didn’t get a ticket for you,” I said, sliding into the driver’s side.