Page 67 of Vicarious

“Given that until about two hours ago, I was under the impressed that I was second to her, I think it was a reasonable to think otherwise.”

“You could have given me more credit. It was Phae. If there’s one thing I knew about her, she was sentimental about our marriage. So I gave her back the ring hoping it would trigger enough sentiment that if she left, she’d take it with her.”

“If you’re right about it, I might forgive you for doing it and not telling me so that I found out when she decided to wear it.”

“If you had just asked me—"

“How was I supposed to know to ask?”

“You ask about everything else.”

“When there’s no rhyme or reason. What other rhyme or reason is there to a wedding ring?” Dele asks as she follows me out the car and up the stairs into my jet.

“For someone who has to think about my marriage proposal, you’re very hung up on the fact that I gave Phae her wedding ring back.”

If we weren’t in such a dire situation, I’m sure this is where we would end up fucking or close to it. But initiating her into the mile high club is going to have to wait until we find Phae.

I hand Dele the phone while I take out a laptop in case I can find out that Phae took the ring faster than Eileen can. I’ve just booted up the tracking program when Dele says, “Eileen says she took the ring.”

“Just what I thought she’d do,” I say. Seems like despite trying to convince her I was never the man she thought I was or thought I could be and would never be, Phae hasn’t lost hope in the idea that maybe I was or could be if I’d just let her help me.

“It looks like she’s headed to New York City,” Dele adds.

“Why would she go there?” I ask as the tracking on my computer confirms what Eileen has told Dele.

“Maybe she managed to get her hands on some fake ID. Planning to fly out the country. Harder to catch her on a commercial flight than if she just drives,”Eileen suggests.

“She’s not going to the airport,” Dele says quietly as she takes out her own phone and frantically presses a number to speed dial. “She’s going to try to get the children.”

I remember Phae’s words about not wanting her children to be part of this criminal life. So of course, she’d try to find a way to steal them away with her.

“There’s no way she could get past all the security and paranoia of the Uccellos to get to them,”Eileen says.

“Never underestimate Phae. She has a knack for getting in and out of places she’s not supposed to be in. Why do you think she was such a good journalist?” I ask.

Phae’s average talent with words, by her own admission, contributed less to her ability as a journalist than her knack for getting in and out of trouble.

“Right,”Eileen concedes.“And her connections to a big time mafia family.”

“You know about that?” I ask.

“How do you think Phae became friends with a CIA operative? We’ve been watching her family in Italy for years. You’d be shocked how much they control without a real American presence like the other families. Or we think anyway. We never got concrete evidence.”

All the more reason to catch Phae before it’s too late when I know her true heritage.

“I can’t get Bella,” Dele states, appearing calm to the typically onlooker, but her nervous tells are showing. The way she’s gripping her phone in her hands, tapping the nail of her pointer finger against the back.

“Did you try Bond?”

“Yes, but he said her and the children went out to some winter fair, and she’s not answering his calls either. He’s got his personal security contacting hers to tell her.”

“What kind of fucking mafia queen doesn’t fucking answer her phone?”

“Bella when she wants to spend free time with her children,” Dele responds dryly.

I’m going to have to make sure I make that a rule when this is all over and Dele is a mafia queen. Always have your phone on you for emergencies. I don’t care how much security she has.

“We might not have to worry about it if I can catch up with her. It’s a six hour drive from here to there on a good day.”Eileen says.“But she’s had an hour head start and probably just missed the traffic I’m in.”

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