He left, closing the door behind me, and I stood there in the dim illumination of the storage light. Moments passed that felt like hours. I didn’t try to track the time, only focusing on being ready for him to return to me.
“I’ll be back.”
He’d told me that in the safehouse in the jungle.
He repeated it here.
I understood what he was saying, but I wondered if he’d ever mean it in a long-term sense. If this quickness to bicker was anyindication, we both had a long way to work toward managing a stable relationship of any kind.
Or at least something more stable than him taking off and abandoning me for six months.
Before long, he was back. The door opened, and he thrust a big coat at me before letting me get out of the closet.
Jeez.I nearly fell back with how he pushed his arm out. I got the message, though. It would cover me. Pulling the huge down-filled winter gear on, I watched him adjust a backpack strap over his shoulder. Under his stare, I zipped up and flipped the hood over my head.
“This way.”
It wasn’t a gentle suggestion, but an order. Paired with his taking my elbow, like I was a prisoner to escort to another holding cell, he steered me out of the closet and back out to the garden I’d literally climbed vine-covered walls to get into.
Like we had in Mexico, we fell into a natural formation. Him in the front, looking out and guiding us forward. Me in the rear, keeping watch on anything trying to sneak up on us. If a Dubinin guard stopped him, he’d need to figure out a lie for me, but fortunately, no one stopped us. Cameras watched from above, but with this hood, my face wasn’t visible.
A short jog around the block led me to believe he was looking for an alternative means of transportation out of here. With that backpack he carried and the one big purse-tote that I’d brought, I doubted we were packed or prepared for a long journey.
“I’ve got a place on the other side of the city,” he explained once we slowed to a walk. He didn’t wait to take hold of my elbow, guiding me toward a car parked at the corner.
“It’s a property that hasn’t been fitted with complete security yet,” he added.
I frowned, worried about my safety.
He unlocked the car with a click of a button on the fob. “It’ll be safe, but it’s not somewhere my father would think to search for me.”
As he opened the passenger door and held it open for, he gave me a stern, sober stare. “I hope it’s somewhere no one would think to search for you, either.”
I smirked. “Trust me. I doubt anyone in the world would ever expect me to be with someone likeyou.”
But I was, and damn it, was I glad to have him in my corner again.
Just not completely in charge.
“We don’t have all day,” he drawled impatiently.
“Oh, sorry. I was waiting for the rest of the kidnapper routine.” I slid in and prayed I wasn’t making a mistake to lean on him for help.
19
EMIL
Sadie didn’t wait for me to go far before she asked questions.
“Where are we going?”
I couldn’t stop scoping the area, worried that someone could be tailing us, after me or her, or if some other random kind of danger was going to stop us. “A safer location.”
“Where?” she demanded.
I grimaced, peeved at her haughty tone when I was grappling with the newness of being in charge of her safety. Like this. She was carrying my son or daughter, and suddenly, being in a moving vehicle had never felt so damn scary and vulnerable. Accidents happened every day. Cars could malfunction. She could bump her stomach against the seat belt if I stopped too short. Any number of things could go wrong and?—
“Emil.Whereare you taking me?”
