Page 164 of GAF Factor

“And why do you think that?”

“Because she’s been saying things likeWe need to talk.AndWhere is this going?AndYou’re never around.”

“So, did you talk to her about it?”

“No, I ran out the door.”

I sighed heavily. “She’s not leaving you. She wants more and you’re running out the door, you idiot.”

“Really?” he asked, wiping the tears from his eyes.

“Where is this going?Yeah, she wants more. So, fucking give it to her.”

“So…I’m not gonna lose her?”

“Oh, I didn’t say that. You’re bound to screw it up. Hell, you just jumped out of a plane. You might kill yourself before she has a chance to leave you.”

“Nah,” he laughed. “I can’t?—”

“Die,” I finished for him. “Yeah, I know.”

I wasable to talk Max into staying with the plane. Actually, I saidStay with the plane.And he saidI was planning on it.That was one person taken care of. However, FNG insisted on coming with me. Don’t ask me why, but he was here, being a pain in the ass as always.

As soon as we arrived at the brownstone, I was out of the taxi and hauling ass up the steps to the front door. I still had my keys from before and made my way inside, calling out to her.

“Olivia! Answer me!”

But the place was silent. She’d been around. That much was obvious by the perfume still lingering in the air and the smell of food recently cooked.

“No sign of her,” FNG said, entering the room after searching the rest of the place.

“I told her to stay here,” I said in frustration.

“Where would she go?”

I shook my head. I had no fucking clue. “She wasn’t expecting me until tomorrow.” I pulled out my phone and called, but it went straight to voicemail. “No answer. Let’s go see the senator. I have a bad feeling he knows exactly where she is.”

“Ooh,” he grinned, his eyes wide. “The senator did something bad, huh?”

“Yeah, take a little more glee in the fucked up nature of my family.”

“I’m just saying, he’s a senator. You always want to catch them in the act. Maybe this time we can.”

His glee over catching the senator didn’t bother me that much. I just hoped it wasn’t at the expense of Olivia’s life. She had sounded terrified on the phone. With any luck, she hadn’t gone running to the senator.

After flagging down a cab, we hauled ass over to the senator’s campaign site and rushed inside. The only form of security at the late hour was the single guard currently snoozing at the front desk. We slipped right past him and headed up to the senator’s office. I could hear their voices from all the way down the hall and drew my gun immediately.

“—told you I could get him on board. I just needed a little time!”

I stopped, pausing outside the door at Olivia’s words.

“He’s on his way here now. All I have to do is get him to believe I’m truly in trouble and he’s mine. I’ll have him eating out of my hand like putty.”

“And why would he work for me if he thinks I’m smacking you around?” the senator asked.

“It’s a threat! Say you have something else on me. Say this is just the beginning. You’re good at making things up.”

“Olivia, I know my son. It’s over.”

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