I let my gaze fall to the floor. "I guess it was bound to happen sometime."
"The jet can be ready by seven tomorrow morning," Linette says. "I'm having it flown here from Atlantic City as we speak."
"Could you be ready by then?" Ambrose asks, eyes crinkled. "Or if you'd rather stay here, I can have someone gather your things—your dog, what was her name? Ellie?"
I shake my head.
"She doesn't travel well."
It's a lie, Ellie loves long drives, but flying? I don't think any dog would actuallyenjoythat experience.
"I'll ask my dog sitter," I add before Ambrose can come up with some solution I'll only refuse. "She loves Ellie. I'm sure she'll watch her if it's only a week."
"And I can pay her," he offers. "If you send her details, I'll see to it she's well taken care of."
"Okay," I agree, even though I have no intention of sharing Céline's details with him. She's already being paid exceptionally well for her services by Atticus and I will not put her any more in Ambrose's crosshairs than she already is.
"Good, that's settled. Then you'll want to return to the apartment to collect your things?"
"I can arrange that," Linette pipes up, tapping on the screen of her tablet with a knot of concentration between her brows.
"I—I'm not sure what I need," I admit. The truth is, I brought everything I'll need with me in case of this circumstance. No clothes, because that would've seemed odd. But I brought the bag I usually wear to class. It has my laptop, some school notes, my regular cell phone, a charger, and a USB stick that looks like the business depot kind, but can actually scrape a metric fuck ton of data from a computer by plugging it into a port. "Is it hot in Spain this time of year?"
Ambrose smirks. "How's this—we'll have Linette get everything you might need. You can take my penthouse suite here at the hotel, and I'll book another." He takes my hands, and I hope he doesn't notice how clammy mine are when he squeezes them. "Relax until morning. Let us take care of everything."
Linette's fingers drum even more rapidly on the screen of her tablet. "On it."
Holy fuck, this is really happening.
By tomorrow, I'll be in Spain.
I'll be closer than the guys have ever been to getting everything they ever wanted.
It's all in motion, I just have to say yes.
"Aurora, would that be all right?
Ambrose's brown eyes search mine, and in them, it's hard to find the villain beneath the concerned father staring back at me, even though I know he's in there.
"Yes."
51
NO SERVICE
AURORA
There was definitely no relaxation happening in the oversized penthouse suite of the luxury hotel in downtown Charlotte.
Linette had a key to my suite and used it to bring me things at random intervals. My boots from the dressing room,because hello, you idiot, that’s where one of the tracking devices is. And everything from having room service delivered to coming in with shopping bags and boxes emblazoned with the unfamiliar logos of Loro Piana, Brioni, Theory, and Everlane.
I hated every scrap of clothing she picked and may have gotten a little snippy about being dressed up like a doll. There's only so much chiffon and turtlenecks a girl can take.
I slept in pure silk—or at least pretended to—and woke to an outfit already set out for me in the dressing room, all my complaints the previous day ignored. But at least the simple black dress made of soft linen fabric with a skinny brown belt and sandals to match isn't as heinous as the pencil skirt and turtleneck combo she tried to foist on me yesterday. I'll have to be more firm in explaining to Ambrose's staff that I'm perfectly fucking capable of selecting my own outfits.
At least I had Maisie to keep me company. Her texts came with a velocity that can only be accomplished with Olympian-level typing speeds. She saw the announcements and demanded an explanation. Between texting and the thirty-minute-long phone call, we were up until almost one in the morning talking. I figured it would help my cover if Ambrose was listening.
But learning that Professor Ryan got jumped was wholly unexpected. It was hard not to let my spiteful glee come through in my reply to that one.
