I know if Harper takes a commercial flight, she’ll be spotted. If she takes the family plane, they’ll simply track the flight path, and the vultures will be waiting for her. The story may not have been picked up abroad, but it doesn’t mean it won’t be if she is seen to be making a run for it.
Harper and Franny enter the kitchen. Harper’s eyes are bloodshot. She gives me a weak smile.
“Hey, you needed to let it out,” I tell her, running my thumb over her tear-stained cheek.
She nods, her eyes filled with so much despair. If Crawley wasn’t already dead, I’d want to kill him myself.
“What’s the plan?” I ask.
Knowing Franny, she will have dotted thei’sand crossed hert’s.
“My friend owns a fashion house in New York. She’s offered Harper a place to escape. Continue her studies as an apprentice. She’ll have to go under an alias, but the company is large enough that she should be able to disappear, at least until things blow over. I’ve been assured the story is but a side issue in the US. The Frazer Hotels are popular, but as a family, we don’t warrant the same headlines there.”
“And you trust this friend?”
“Completely,” Franny says. “We go way back.”
“How are you going to get her to the US?”
“The plane can take her.”
“They can track the flight plan.”
Her face drops.
“Let me see what I can do. Kris may be able to help. He’s due over in a couple of days to meet with Elijah.”
Although Elijah is very sketchy about why.
Franny and Mum frown. “You’re still in contact?”
“Absolutely. Kris is my friend and always will be. Before you ask, Elijah is well aware. He is the reason Kris is coming.”
The two older women look sceptical.
“He’s also the reason I’m with Elijah,” I admit, hoping Kris doesn’t mind me sharing this nugget of info. “He sent me back, told me to follow my heart.”
Harper grins for the first time in days. “I love that. That’ssoromantic.”
Franny looks at me and smiles. “Remind me to thank the man. And there’s no judgement here. Good friends are important, and if he’s willing to help, he might just be the perfect solution.”
CHAPTER 66
ELIJAH
“Are you sure?”
“Absolutely,” I say, looking up from the draft document in front of me.
I meet his gaze.
“Does Pen know?”
I tilt my head. “Not yet.”
“May I ask why?”
“You can, but I’m not sure I owe you an explanation.”
