Page 47 of Twisted Secrets
And that was if they even bothered to go the legal road. It was just as easy for Olivia to go to work one night and come home to find Mrs. Richards incapacitated and Hadley gone to God alone knew where.
The band around her chest got tighter at the thought.Oh God, oh God, oh God. What am I going to do?
Running sounded like a really great plan, but she couldn’t run on no cash, and if the ease that Dmitri found her with this time was any indication, she wasn’t very good at it. They’d need new identities, cash to spare, and connections she just plain didn’t have. He’d find them. It probably wouldn’t even take him a month with his resources.
“Mama?”
She pasted a smile on her face and turned to her daughter. “Hey, baby girl. How about we watchsomeBeauty and the Beastwhile I make pancakes?” Some cuddle time might be able to beat back the panic making black dots dance across her vision.
“Up!” Hadley lifted her arms, and Olivia was all too happy to scoop her up, grab the throw blanket off the back of the couch, and get them set up in their favorite spot. She turned on the movie and settled in, letting the feel of her daughter, healthy and whole, in her arms relax her.
Her mind circled the problem as the movie progressed, but the solution didn’t magically appear in front of her face. If anything, the more she thought about it, the clearer it became that she was in over her head in a big way. As much as she hated to admit it, Dmitri was right—there were only two options. She either had to obey him like a well-behaved lap dog, or she had to ask for help. She wasn’t a fan of either option. Olivia had always taken care of herself, and the idea of needing to lean on someone stuck in her throat.
She looked down at Hadley.For you, baby girl, I’ll do it. I won’t like it, but I’ll do whatever it takes to keep you out of Romanov hands.
Really, there was only one person she could ask for help who’d actually have the resources to do something effective. Cillian. She cuddled her daughter closer, considering. She liked him. She liked him a lot. That didn’t mean she completely trusted him. Plus, trusting him withherand trusting him with Hadley were two very different things.
She’d told him that she had a past, but it was a big leap from having an abusive boyfriend like she’d let him believe and having one of the strongest cells of the Russian mob on the East Coast on her ass. It was entirely possible that he’d offer her something similar to what Dmitri had—his power forher information.
It was like choosing between the rock and the hard place. Neither of them was a great option.
You believe Cillian is different.
Sure, but do I believe it enough to trust him with my life? Or, more importantly, with Hadley’s?
She didn’t know. What she wouldn’t give for a crystal ball to tell her what the right answer was. But, in the end, it didn’t really matter. Dmitri wasn’t an option. That meant she had to throw herself on Cillian’s mercy. To do anything else would only postpone the moment when her half brother took Hadley away from her.
I said I’d do anything to keep her away from the Romanovs. I meant it. She took a shuddering breath and reached for her phone.It’s now or never.
Chapter Fourteen
Cillian set another stack of papers aside as his phone rang. He was almost pathetically grateful for the distraction. As much as he enjoyed his job, doing it for hours on end wasn’t his idea of a good time. While Aiden was off doing what was necessary to get information that would help them figure out what the hell was going on, Cillian needed to clear off as much work as he could so he would be able to focussolelyon that project when it showed up.
But a break wouldn’t hurt him any now.
He grabbed his phone, grinning when he recognized Olivia’s number. “Hey, sweetheart.”
“Are you busy?”
He straightened at the tone of her voice. He’d heard her pissed and turned on and amused, but he’d never heard her sound so…vulnerable. Almost like she was scared. Every instinct he had demanded he go to her, but that was a damn problem since hedidn’t know what was going on or where she was.Then find out, asshole. “What’s wrong?”
She laughed, the sound soft and broken. “I probably shouldn’t be calling you right now. When push comes to shove, we barely know each other.”
If he let her keep going, she was going to talk herself out of the original reason she’d called him. Cillian took a deep breath and made an effort to sound as calm and soothing as possible. “You can trust me.”
“That’s just it. I don’t have a choice right now. You know that saying ‘Better the devil you know than the devil you don’t’? In this case, it’s dead wrong.”
He pushed to his feet, adrenaline spiking through him. She was in trouble. She wouldn’t be talking this way if anything else was going on. “Where are you? I’m walking out the door right now.”
“Wait.” Olivia took a deep breath and, when she spoke again, she sounded more centered. “I’m sorry. I’m just rattled. That bastard always gets the best of me.”
The roaring in his ears didn’t abate one bit. Someone had threatened her—that much was clear. The realization didn’t do a damn thing for his blood pressure. “Tell me what you need and it’s yours.”
“Just like that? What if I said I needed papers for me and Hadley to have new identities and enough money to disappear forever?”
That was one thing he could do. He’d had connections before he took over as the moneyman for his family, and nowhewas the one who would coordinate that kind of thing if any of their people needed to disappear. The thought of sending Olivia off and never seeing her again left a bad taste in his mouth, but she’d called him for help. Fromeverything he knew about her, the fact that she’d even picked up the phone was a goddamn miracle. “Then I’d make it happen.”
This wasn’t about him and his needs. This was about a woman in trouble—a woman he cared about. He’d never considered himself a guy with a hero complex, but apparently some of Teague’s white knight attitude had rubbed off on him, because he cared more about keeping Olivia safe than keeping her close to him.Though if there’s some other option…
