Page 97 of Pride
“But if you want to bringthemback,” Parker said with a pointed look where Julius’s locket used to be. “You need me.”
Surely he was bluffing. No one could replicate a person without the right DNA samples.
“It was never about them.” The glint in Julius’s eye rivaled the stars as he subconsciously tapped his chest, but before he could speak, Parker echoed the man’s tap on the collarbone.
They never had a chance to continue their conversation because Liza came jogging up, Joe at her side. He wasn’t in fancy clothes but his FBI jacket, an exasperated expression on his face. They both sent a worried glance toward Julius and tried to pull Parker away. But he stood firm.
“You need to leave, bro,” Liza said.
“What is it?” he asked.
“They’re coming for you,” Joe said.
The police.
Parker gave a flat smile. “Then it’s time for my announcement. Alice…”
He offered his crooked elbow to her, as though they were about to take an afternoon stroll in the countryside.
Liza stage whispered, “Are you mad? Go!”
Parker met Alices’s eyes.You trust me, don’t you?
She took his elbow, and they walked to the balcony where a small dais was set up with a podium overlooking the night cityscape. Alice’s panic surged. She wanted to do what Liza had said—leave. Take Parker and go anywhere law enforcement wouldn’t find them.
But she forced herself to trust him. He wasn’t nervous. She shouldn’t be.
There must be a plan.
“Ladies and Gentlemen.” Parker’s voice rose above the crowd. The string quartet cut off. Suddenly hushed and murmuring voices seemed loud in the night. “It’s time for me to retire.”
Brigit Johansen’s bodyguard pushed through the crowd to make way for his charge. They stood at the front of the crowd before the dais, eager looks on their faces. They reminded Alice of a starving dog about to get a bone. She let her gaze pan over the crowd. The executives were there, also smug. The Lazarus family all looked worried. Evan scowled from a corner, Grace by his side. Liza and Joe looked tense. Flint had found Mary. And Julius looked curious.
“Many of you know I built Lazarus Tech from the ground up,” Parker said, deep voice booming. “It all started with a little invention in my early twenties and has grown to the empire it is today. But it’s time for me to move on and name my successor.” He smiled at Alice as though he had all the time in the world. As though the police weren’t bursting through the front door.
The executive who’d blackmailed Parker stepped forward. A few other men clapped him on the back, but Parker turned to Alice.
“As I’ve been eager to tell anyone with ears tonight, Alice Montgomery is the future of Lazarus Tech. The woman who has kept the company afloat during my injury. The woman who has keptmeafloat. My future wife. I trust no one more to look after the company while I’m off exploring the world.”
“What?” she blinked.Future wife?
He grinned. “My company is yours now.”
Crickets chirped. Traffic blared from the streets below. Somewhere in the distance, a cat hissed and called. And the pounding on the front door of Parker’s penthouse made Alice jolt.
Brigit stepped forward. “You’re making a big mistake.”
Four armed police walked onto the terrace, barging their way through. Camera flashes popped in quick succession, capturing everything. No one quite understood what was happening, especially Alice.Future wife?But Parker still remained unruffled, and his family took their cue from him. That playboy mask he’d been wearing most of the night around Tony came back into full effect as he glared at the police.
“What is the meaning of this?” he blurted.
“Parker Lazarus, you’re under arrest for acts of vigilantism and—”
The police continued to recite a list of crimes a mile long, but Alice tuned out.
She gaped at Parker and hissed, “You said totrustyou.”
He nuzzled near her ear, inhaled deeply and whispered, “Part of the plan, baby.”
