It was just an expression of what he thought he should do, what his friends expected of him.
Though Jimmy Johnson’s meager engagement ring probably had been a painfully accurate expression of what he’d felt for me, or at least it had been a reflection of him giving me as little as he could get away with and then withdrawing even that absolute minimum without caring what happened to me afterward.
The desert sunset was a nuclear bomb on the western horizon, flames licking out over the edge of the earth, pouring destruction around us.
The whole sky was on fire.
We approached the towering hotels of the Las Vegas Strip from a back road because the traffic was lighter on the grid around the main drag. One of the other security cars was leading the caravan in front of us, and the other lurked behind, a black hulking presence in the windshield’s rearview mirror.
The security guy sitting in the passenger side of the frontseat twisted to talk to us. “We recommend the underground entrance.”
Nicolai nodded with a careless wave of his hand. “Fine.”
Just before we reached the Caesars Palace hotel, Ueli spun the steering wheel in a quick turn, and the nose of the SUV dipped as we descended into the gaping maw of an underground parking garage entrance I hadn’t even noticed.
I tried to act worldly and sophisticated, but I grabbed the handle on the door and squeaked at the car’s sudden descent.
Nicolai shot me a small smile.
Yellow tube lights rolled by overhead.
I fervently wished to be more sophisticated so I wouldn’t embarrass myself and Nicolai tonight, praying to my fairy godmother for a miracle.
Heh.Fairy godmother. Evidently, Clementine and Nicolai were my fairy benefactors, as she’d gotten me the dress and hairstyle, and Nicolai had magicked up the SUV coach.
And the diamond rings.
So, that made Ueli and his henchmen—mice?
The lead SUV went past the entrance and parked, and our SUV rolled up to the door and rocked to a halt. The headlights shining over my shoulder from the chase car behind us flickered.
Obviously, this was our stop.
I reached over, flipped the door lock, and yanked the door handle.
The vehicle’s door swung open, creaking.
I leaned toward it to get out.
Ueli was reaching across the back of the seat from the driver’s spot, his hand flailing at me as he yelled,“Stop! Fucking stop her!”
Nicolai grabbed my shoulder, wrapping one muscular arm around my waist and pulling me across the seat until my backrested against his chest. His strong arm crossed my body, restraining me.
The other security guy in front had kicked open his door and leaped at mine, shoving it closed.
From behind my head, Nicholas said very calmly, “Our security personnel exit the vehicle first and assess the perimeter.”
Oh, my prayer for more sophistication had not been answered. I was still a dumb hayseed-chewin’ rube.Got it.“Right. Sorry.”
Nicolai settled me back into my seat while the front-seat security guy exited the SUV, his head swiveling around as heassessed the perimeter,I guessed. Two more guys from the cars in front and behind us prowled the sides, again, assessing.
A whole lot of assessing was going on.
Ueli turned his back to us, surveyed one last head-swiveling look at the motionless parking garage that was nothing but an expanse of exhaust-stained concrete and dark shut-off cars, and then waved two fingers in the air.
“That’s our signal,” Nicolai told me as if he were describing driving directions. “I’ll exit my side of the vehicle and walk around the back with Ueli behind me. Stay in the car until I get to your side. At that point, Dushyanta will open your door, and I will hand you out.”
Celebrities looked so suave stepping out of their cars becauseit was choreographed.“Okay.”
