That seemed to amuse her, but Ha-joon and I shared a look that the situation wasn’t actually funny.
I was surprised when my doctor and Alexis asked to stay, but they had talked on the side and wanted to have input on the temporary housing for all the Graves women we were rescuing tomorrow. It was going to be traumatic enough, and now that they were trying to be “accommodating,” we looked like fools without everything in place… We couldn’t fail.
“Thank you,” I accepted, giving Creed a quick kiss and wishing him good luck at his appointment. I didn’t realize what I’d done until Ellie had dropped the purse in her hands. “Please leave it and don’t make me uncomfortable about my progress.”
“Yes, of course. I—sorry. Congratulations.” She winced and then about fled which was actually adorable.
Theresa handed Alexis a folder but kept my gaze. “I will be there tomorrow but not front and center for obvious reasons. I foresaw them possibly pulling this crap. Those are—I’ve worked with other organizations and law firms that do what Amanda’s Hope does or has worked with them. Those are properties, they are—”
“Willing to lend us quietly?” Alexis surmised, relief all over her face when Theresa nodded. “And they want?”
“Mostly for no one to ever find out it’s their place, but one wants a consultation at ASH, and I don’t understand why she can’t get it or maybe to hide she wants it?” Theresa admitted. “I didn’t have time to look up the doctor.”
I looked over Alexis’s shoulder and instantly recognized the woman. “She’s a fertility specialist Ha-joon stole from his old hospital for the new addition Ellie is plotting. It’s caused big trouble and she’s the best in the world, but women are embarrassed to go see her because that means admitting they have fertility problems. She’s not taking patients yet and—”
“And that’s the issue. Of course. Her property is the one that actually is the best for what you need and she can give you three months before she needs it for her own family. So that’s ample time for you to find what you really need, buy, and keep pressure off yourselves,” Theresa told us. She gave me a kind look. “Good luck tomorrow. I will be there rooting for you.”
“I wish you wouldn’t go,” I said again.
“I have to. I have to see with my own eyes.” She hurried on when I frowned. “I believe you. I never doubted how you weretreated or what you said about your family. Some things we just have to see for ourselves.”
Yes, yes, we really did no matter how much pain they would cause us.
I was pretty sure Creed was surprised that I texted him asking him to pack a bag and stay over with me. It truly was the best night’s sleep… And it seemed silly when we were going to be mated soon. There was so much to do and I wanted to return Ellie’s condo to her so someone else in need could use it. I was taking away from that.
“I’m not letting you go alone so don’t even ask me,” Creed said gruffly the next morning. We hadn’t had a repeat of him cupping my breast, but I wasn’t sure his hand snuggled between my legs was any better.
And yet it didn’t bother me.
It was Creed, and that was about the only answer I had. Plus, I was going to confront my own hell even if my father and brother were currently locked up. Father had paid bail for the first time but, then he was dragged in on more charges and something found made the bail revoked—or more the fact he was given bail upset too many people.
It all made my head hurt, so I stuck with the fact he wouldn’t be there and my relief.
“You’ve got this, beauty,” Creed assured me when it was time to go.
“I’m glad you’re here,” I told him even though I’d asked several times for him to not come with. I hadn’t wanted him to see this side and how I would be treated, but my doctor had pushed that it would help him understand me.
And I would feel safer with him there.
She wasn’t wrong on either account.
The European police were waiting for us with their orders and all the paperwork. I was there as the familiar face and to speed things along given I knew the people.
Plus, if I was going to do this, I wanted to face my mother and others that I knew wouldn’t take the chance at freedom.
“There is the traitor to her own,”she spat out in French immediately.
“Coming from a woman who sold her daughter like cattle, it’s not an insult one takes seriously,”I replied easily before turning to the policewoman in charge. “Were you given maps? There are several underground dungeons and rooms where they will try to hide people.”
“Yes, we were made aware already, thank you for being diligent,” she replied.
“You are so lost that you don’t even speak your tongue,”Mother tried again.
“Father and Andrew speak fluent English. Do you say the same to them?”I snorted when she looked surprised.“Theyliedto you and all the other women while laughing that you are so stupid, Mother. Father probably knows ten languages. I thought Andrew too stupid and hating of others, but his English was perfect when he came to abduct me.”
“You lie.”
“Why?”I pushed.“I have no reason to. I’ve won.”I moved closer.“There is nothing I win by lying to you. I pushed for you to be freed as well. You can still leave here and start over.”
