Page 16 of Collateral Claim
Momentarily, I’m stunned that a woman works for Endo, but then I mentally kick myself. Why wouldn’t she work for him? With those heavy-duty leather boots and guns strapped to her thighs, she looks as capable as any of his men.
She takes the suitcase, and we descend the steps together, but split up at the bottom. She heads outside to load my luggage into the SUV while I enter the room my dad rests in downstairs.
As expected, my heavily medicated father is sleeping in the cool, dark space, a soft gray blanket over him. I press my lips to his forehead and take a minute to assess his temperature by touch. His skin’s clammy but not too cold. Or too warm, for that matter.
“Bye, Daddy,” I whisper, hoping he’ll remain sedated. I’m not sure I can deal with saying goodbye to him without completely falling apart and begging him to deliver whatever Endo wants, if only so I can move on with my life without the problems Endo brought to our doorstep. Such as my “engagement.”
My heart breaks that I have to leave my injured father, but I trust Charlotte will visit and keep me updated.
I hear heels approaching his room. Charlotte lives about twenty minutes away, and there’s no way she’s already here, but I can’t think of anyone else wearing heels in the house. Do we have another visitor? Oh no. Endo might think we’re trying to outmaneuver him by calling witnesses to the house. He might shoot my dad again. Or Charlotte.
A knock on the door. “Mr. Pembroke,” Catherine says, “Charlotte called and said she’ll be here in a few minutes. I need to know what to tell her. Can I come in?”
I forgot Catherine was here. Damn it. I don’t want her to catch on to my plan.
I turn quickly, knocking over the vase from the nightstand. It tumbles to the floor. Thankfully, it doesn’t break, and since it was empty, I didn’t make a mess. I bend to pick up the vase just as the doorknob twists.
Chapter 8
The escape
Scarlett
I rush across the room and slip through Dad’s secret door behind the mirror. The narrow, dark hallway greets me. Goose bumps rise on my skin from the cold, or maybe it’s from my shoulders brushing against the narrow walls that make me think the structure might collapse on me. The anxiety of being inside a closed, dark space is real.
I pick up my pace.
A sliver of light appears at the end of the corridor.
When I reach it, I open the door at the west end of the house and peek outside, looking for Endo’s men. They’re housed right above me, but their SUVs are out front, prepared to depart, so I’m speculating they’ll congregate there.
Once I’m sure the coast is clear, I dash across the lawn to the stables.
We take care of three abandoned horses, and one of them is Velocity, a retired Derby champion. He’s still a great runner, but not fast enough to win a second championship title, so theowners retired and sold him. A month after the sale, Velocity’s new owner went bankrupt and couldn’t afford to care for him, so the charity I work with picked up the horse. I fell in love with him the moment I saw him, and he’s stayed with us ever since.
Velocity has a gorgeous, shiny chestnut coat that needs very little brushing. He’s smart and well trained. When I enter the stable, his head is already out, curious, intelligent brown eyes watching me.
I pet then kiss his nose. “We’re going to run like the wind, boy.”
Endo and his crew will come after me, which means they won’t be here when my sister comes. The fallout is that Charlotte will get upset that I left without saying goodbye. It hurts me to have her think I’d do such a thing, but her life is in danger, and that takes priority over feelings she and I can sort out later.
Hopefully. She’ll forgive me. Won’t she?
Normally, his groom would saddle Velocity for a ride, but that’s not the case today, so I clip a lead to his halter and take Velocity outside.
The barn has two exits. We walk out the one facing away from the house. Apologizing in advance for the pull, I grip Velocity’s mane and jump up to straddle him.
I slide right off.
“Try again,” I whisper, gripping his mane tighter. This time when I haul myself up, I use my thigh muscles and pull myself up onto his back. Phew, that was harder than I imagined it would be. I’ve ridden bareback before, but someone always helped me up. Also, I’ve never had to ride to save my life, but desperate times call for desperate measures.
I click my tongue and nudge the horse with my heels in a way I know he’ll understand means to run fast. Velocity bursts into a gallop like the champion he is while I hang on for dear life.
Endo probably chartered an airplane. It makes sense since that would be the fastest mode of transportation, whether it’s flying in or out of the country.
I can’t ride Velocity near the airport because it’s not safe for him, but his groom, who works for us, lives in that direction, so I direct the horse with my legs and the lead rope toward his groom’s home. It helps that Velocity is trained and knows where he’s going. This isn’t the first time he’s run toward his groom’s home.
The wind’s not in my favor. It lashes my face, stings my cheeks, and brushes the tears from them.
