And if I’m in love, what am I waiting for? How could there ever be a better time than right now?
“Do you want to help me pick out a ring? Then I can ask her.”
Sophia’s eyes widen with so much excitement I half expect them to tumble from her head. Our usual jeweller probably won’t have the right calibre in stock but that won’t stop us finding something suitable online for him to source.
The time required to either find or make the piece will even give me an enforced waiting period in case I change my mind.
Except my little chatterbox is staring at me with sparkling eyes.
“It has to be a secret,” I tell her, putting a finger to my lips. Not that the mime will help. All the riches in the world couldn’t stop this girl from opening her mouth at the wrong time. Just another thing she has in common with Isabelle.
A penchant for oversharing and an enormous piece of my heart.
There’s a buzz on my watch, a warning, and I disable the signal blocker from the computer before pulling my phone from my pocket, frowning. The blocker takes a second to turn off, then a flurry of messages light up the device.
The men who were watching Alice don’t have eyes on her any longer.
I start the video on the overhead screen again to keep Sophia’s attention, and pull out my laptop, waiting with impatience for the trace on her car to appear onscreen. Nothing. It’s stationery.
Whatever deception she used to evade the surveillance team apparently involved a new vehicle.
Not an enormous surprise. My ex is as wily as she needs to be. Chances are the past few days have involved her watching and learning more from my team than the reverse.
I stand, putting Sophia in my seat in my stead, and call through to my security head. He answers, already part way through a prepared speech. “I activated her personal tracking device, and she’s heading out of the city. Going south on State Highway One.”
From where she can divert almost anywhere in the South Island. Including here.
“Keep me updated.”
My attention wanders for a few minutes, then returns to my daughter and I stroke her head. Whatever Alice is up to, I’ll know soon enough. Chances are it won’t involve either of us.
Before I can switch off the replays to go shopping, there’s a knock at the door. “Sorry to interrupt,” Isabelle says when I open it, staying in the hallway even after I gesture for her to come inside. “I just wanted to check if Sophia’s okay.”
Judging from the swollen red eyes, whatever fearful emotions that held my daughter in their grip earlier were catching. I wish I’d asked Isabelle to stay, then I could have comforted them both.
“She’s fine,” I say, angling my body so she has a clear view of the girl in question. “If you stay, I’ll ask Nora to bring in some afternoon tea.”
Considering the caution with which she ducks her head inside, I think that’s a long shot. Especially when her eyes glance across the television. She frowns and takes one step towards the screen.
Her face drains of colour. Her hands clench into fists. She turns. Runs.
“Wait.” I step towards her, hand outstretched, but she’s already gone. “Just stay here a minute, honey,” I tell Sophia. My daughter clings to the arm of her chair, eyes wide, and I stop in the room long enough to tell her, “It’ll be okay.”
Then I take after Isabelle, catching up to her when she lands too heavily on her bad side and staggers into the wall.
“Stop!” I call, reaching her side and pinning her in place. “You’re hurting yourself.”
Her lips twist and a strangled cry comes out of her throat, sounding like a wounded bird. I pull her into my embrace, but her body is stiff, rejecting me, trying to get away.
“What’s wrong?” She ducks under my arm and tries to run again but I get her in a fireman’s lift to stop her. “Just tell me what’s wrong.”
Her head whips back and forth and I pincer her chin to hold it still.
“Let me go.” She kicks at me leg but can’t support her weight on her bad ankle, so the blow doesn’t land with any force.
“Not until you explain what’s happening.”
The panic contorts her face into something that’s barely recognisable. I saw her when my guard pointed a rifle in her face, when they led her into the lion’s den and dumped her at my feet. I saw her trying to paste herself flat against the wall as though she could merge into it and disappear when my staff told her whose doorstep she’d landed on.
