Page 54 of One Way Out

“I’m grateful McCabe stepped in to help get you and Leo out,” Saylor says, running her fingers over the tattoos on my pec as I finish up the story of how we ended up at the warehouse.

“Me too, princess,” I murmur, relishing every second I get to have her soft body pressed against mine. “I don’t have the first clue what his endgame is, but I’m not about to look the gift horse in the mouth.”

“Do you think I’ll be able to talk to my dad before we get back to the US?” She nuzzles her cheek to my chest, and my heart races.

My first instinct is to lie to spare her feelings, but that would only cause more hurt down the line. Everything in me wants to shield her from the ugliness of the truth, and I still know it would be a mistake.

“Probably not,” I say, trying to find a way to take the sting out of what I have to tell her. I’ve got nothing. “Easton talked to your father, but the meeting didn’t go well. I bet your dad just needs a couple of days to come to terms with everything that happened with Samantha.”

“He doesn’t believe that she knew and didn’t tell him?” she asks, sighing heavily. I nod. That’s exactly it. “You know, I’m not surprised. Once my trust pays out, I’m going to pay your boss back.”

“Easton has proof, but your father wasn’t interested in seeing it.” I grimace, recalling that clusterfuck of a conversation I had with Easton once Ridge got us to the first safe house.

After a deep dive into Samantha Callahan, the tech guy for Shadow Security feels confident she didn’t have anything to do with Saylor’s initial kidnapping. That part, at least, was bad luck, which confirms what McCabe told Saylor and Valor about their compatibility test via the swab that was taken in the Christmas market.

Samantha still withheld pertinent information from the people working to get her stepdaughter back safely. She told McCabe tokeep her.

Senator Callahan knows his wife is shady as hell, he’s just not willing to deal with his poll rankings plummeting if he gets divorced.

Saylor won’t be missing anything if she cuts her father out of her life. Nothing would change for her on a day-to-day basis, except it would probably save her a whole lot of stress and heartbreak from not having to deal with the two of them. It’s not my call to make, but if she asks my opinion, I’ll be honest. I believe it’s in her best interest to go no contact with her father and stepmother.

Maybe then Senator Callahan will have a chance to stew on his wrongdoings. After a couple of years of his daughter icing him out, he might even start to resent his new wife. It’s not just being married to Samantha. She’s also the mother of his twin sons. That’s a complicated clusterfuck of his own making, and I don’t feel sorry for him in the least.

“I can’t say whether he believed it or not, but he did pay for our facility fees and Ridge’s wages while he’s here in Europe.” I relay what Easton told me. “I wouldn’t give that asshole back even a penny.”

The little omega shrugs. “Maybe I won’t, but I also don’t want to feel like I owe him anything. Thank God he has no part of approving whether or not my trust fund pays out. I could see him and Samantha trying to cause problems with that.”

“Even without that money, we’ll be okay,” I assure her, soothing my hand up and down her spine. “Leo and I have money saved, and if we need to keep running contracts while Omen and Valor stay with you, we can do that.”

Hell, we can probably talk Easton into hiring them in some capacity. If not, they can find other jobs that will keep them close to whatever home base we settle on.

“I don’t like the sound of that.” Saylor huffs. “I hope my instincts settle down soon. I just want all five of us somewhere safe and together. A nest would be nice too.”

“I hate to break it to you,” Ridge says from way up in the front of the SUV. “But we took what we could find. The new safe house has five bedrooms—two of which are in a guest cottage. That’s where I’ll be saying, but there’s no nest. You’ll have to make do. It’s going to take a minimum of a few days to get those two documents that’ll pass inspection to get us on a flight back to the States.”

“You could be less of a dick about it,” I call out, making sure he can hear me. “By the way, what exactly did you do while Leo and I were clearing out all those guys?”

Ridge snorts. “I got distracted watching this asshole do the snake in the back of the van.” He gestures toward Valor. “Seriously, man. Did you have any delusions you’d actually be able to get out of your cuffs? You were just flopping around like a dead fish. Funniest shit I’ve seen all year. I almost pulled my phone out to record it.”

“You’re my size,” Valor says. “Could you get your cuffs from behind your back to the front?”

“Fuck no,” Ridge says, laughing. “But I also wouldn’t try.”

“It worked for Omen.” Valor huffs. “I thought I should at leasttryto give it a shot.”

“One of the few benefits of being an extremely skinny fuck with long arms,” Omen says jovially.

“At least he tried to help,” Leo says, leaning forward in his seat and smacking Ridge in the back of the head.

“You dicks obviously didn’t see what I did,” Ridge retorts. “It was priceless.”

My head tilts, and I check out Saylor’s profile. She’s finally smiling, which is a good sign, but she also looks beat.

I take several deep breaths of her potent cherry-limeade scent and focus on purring. If I wasn’t so jacked up on my own adrenaline rush, I might have thought of doing it sooner.

The low rumbling starts in my chest, and Saylor coos. The sound does wild shit to my chest, making my heart race as warmth floods my entire body.

Alpha and omega dynamics are weird, but there’s a reason we work so well together. Nature designed that compatibility beautifully.

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