Page 87 of Preying Heart
I flip my hair over one shoulder and look sideways at her. “Sure. Maybe they’ll put me under protective custody.”
Her finger hovers over the phone. “From who?”
I point to the bruising that no amount of makeup can cover. “Your husband.”
She sets the phone on the end table. “How much do you want? I know you’re here for a payoff.”
“I want to be free.” I stride toward the double doors, my stiletto heels sinking into the plush deep-pile carpet.
“You are free—to go.” She gives me a dismissive wave.
“One more thing.” I turn at the library door with one hand on the knob. “Because I warned you, I want you to drop the charges against my brother, Slade Bruckner. You and I know it was an accident. He was hired to unclog a sink. He would never harass you.”
“That shows how little you know.” Her thin lips elongate into a crocodile’s grin. “Do you deny the baubles he stole from me?”
“No, he’s a petty thief. A con man. A gambler, but he has a good heart. He would never want to scare you.”
“Oh, he doesn’t scare me.”
“Then avoid him, at all costs. He’s being set up to cause an accident.”
She flips her hand as if swatting a mosquito. “He and I don’t mingle on the same social circuits. You have nothing to worry about.”
“I don’t.” I put my hand over my belly button. “I’m carrying Gavin’s baby. You’re not.”
I whirl out the door and hurry down the corridor where the maid meets me.
She ushers me out, and I keep walking. It’s only when I get into the rideshare that I regret not spinning around and enjoying the shocked expression she must have had on her face.
I don’t expect she’d help Slade, but if I were her, I’d put spies on Gavin’s every move. All I need to do now is be ready to coach Slade on Claudia’s jogging pathway and lose the tail Gavin will set on us tomorrow morning. I ask the rideshare to let me off a few blocks from my apartment.
The coast seems clear, but here in the middle of a busy city, I can never tell if the bums hanging out on the street corner are real or undercover. I’ve managed to avoid Gavin’s spies the entire time I lived here, but on second thought, they were probably always there reporting to him. There just wasn’t anything interesting to report.
I did exactly as Gavin said.
I complied with his every wish.
Until today.
Heath
Thank God Lucy is driving. I was able to catch her before her six in the morning puddle jumper to Seattle. I haven’t slept all night and I’m having the mother of all hangovers: pounding headache, nausea flipping my stomach inside out, and body aches.
Glock, lucky dog, is enjoying the ride with the windows wide open.
We drive all night; correction, Lucy drives all night, and I suffer.
“You awake?” Lucy asks when we get off the interstate. “Sobered up yet?”
“I feel like the walking dead.”
“What’s the plan?” she asks.
“We stake out Remi’s apartment and grab her. Fight off anyone who gets in the way.”
“This isn’t the Wild West. We should communicate with her.”
“Not safe,” I counter. “We can’t assume she has control of her cell phone. Gavin could be reading her text messages or listening in when she picks up.”
