I started across the kitchen to stalk past him when his voice halted me mid-stride.
“He’ll be looking for you.”
“So?”
“Arnaud won’t stop. Not ever. He’ll never let this insult slide.”
“Again, so?”
My father took a long drink, grimaced, then shook his head slightly. “You’ll need money. Find a new city, a new country to live in.”
My mouth dropped. “Are you bribing me?”
“No.” He smiled slightly. “I’m helping you in the only way I know how. Five million will keep you for the rest of your life if you’re smart. Invest it wisely.”
“Live long and prosper, I get it.”
My father sipped again, his eyes no longer hard. “I’ll transfer the funds to your account. It’ll take a day or two. Lose yourself in the world, Jade. Change your name, mate a human, and forget you’re a dragon.”
I stared at him for a while, trying to read what went on behind his forehead. Except I couldn’t. As he always did, he kept his thoughts hidden from everyone, not just me. Secretive became his middle name a very long time ago.
“Bye, Dad.”
Turning my back to him, I walked away from his home, his life, and the life I used to live.
A very long time ago.
***
“Are you fucking kidding me?”
Alix, after picking me up near my dad’s house while a winter gale whistled down from the mountains, gaped at me from the driver’s seat. “He kidnapped you? GQ?”
“Yeah. Let’s get going, okay? I got away, but I’m not in the clear. Neither are you.”
She drove away from the curb, watching for traffic, accelerating to merge with the cars that sped along the wide thoroughfare. “Tell me everything.”
I did. Except the part that I’m a dragon. Alix was human and had no idea I wasn’t. Nor was that the time to let her in on the secret.
“My father wouldn’t pay the creep,” I said, staring out the window. “But he did give me money to get lost.”
“Your dad is an asshole,” Alix snapped. “So this Arnaud guy will keep looking for you? Out of revenge?”
“Yeah, I believe he will.”
Alix stared at me for a long moment before returning her attention to driving. “What are you going to do?”
“I don’t know. First, I have to get to my apartment. Change into fresh clothes, replace my credit card, my cell, that stuff was on me when GQ hit me with the dope. I don’t know where they are now.”
“Want to go there?”
Pursing my lips, I thought about it. “No. I won’t put you at risk. They may be watching the place.”
“Then don’t go back there, dammit.”
“I have to. I need my stuff, my car’s there.”
“Nothing’s worth your life, jeez.”
