Page 77 of Arrogant Bastard

Her eyes widen. “Killian—”

“I’m not a fucking saint. There are some things I won’t find easy to live with, but I will never hate you.”

A tremulous smile curves her lips but doesn’t make it to her eyes. “A blanket pardon would be great right about now.”

I cup her chin and press my mouth to hers. “We will work toward it, if we need to. But you’re telling me. Tonight.”

Her eyes turn a darker shade of moss. After a beat, she nods.

Something gives inside me that leaves me weak with relief. I nudge her back against me, and we watch the denser outskirts of New York State give way to the bright lights of the Big Apple.

We’re five minutes out from landing, when Miniature Betty beeps in my pocket. For a moment, I’m startled, having momentarily forgotten about the other dangers hanging over us.

Faith tenses against me as I lift the gadget and hit the requisite buttons. She’s dislodged from my side when I jerk upright.

“Fuck!”

“What’s wrong?”

“Betty’s spotted a ninety percent likeness of Paul Galveston.”

Her breath catches. “Where?”

“The Algonquin in Midtown.”

“He’s here? In New York?”

I nod and scroll through the rest of the information. My blood turns ice-cold. “She backtracked his movements.”

“And?”

“He was on the Upper East Side two hours ago.”

“That could mean anything. Or nothing.” I hear the hope in her voice. But the fear is stronger.

Both emotions run through me as I keep scrolling. The last nugget sends my world into free fall.

“What is it, Killian?”

I hit zoom on the image and show it to her. Her stunned gasp echoes my emotions.

“That’s…Fionnella.”

I scrub a hand down my face. “Yes.”

She looks closer and spots what I’ve already seen. “Is she…? Oh my God, she’s in our…your apartment,” she remarks in a shock-dulled voice.

“Yes,” I confirm.

Her hand is shaking when she sets the gadget down. “What…we can’t just leave her there…can we?”

“When I saw Galveston’s location, I was going to instruct Rob to change course and fly us to Teterboro. My plane is waiting. I could fly us anywhere else in the world as long as we’re not in the same city as this fucking bastard…”

Her gaze drops to the gadget. “But we can’t.”

“No. This isn’t a coincidence. I think we need to see her. Find out what this is all about.”

Half an hour later, tense silence rules the penthouse living room as we stare at the smiling woman seated across from us.

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