“Let’s at least talk about it. I look the part, I speak the part… Maybe Paola can help get me hired to Becker’s penthouse along with her, and then I can—”
“I said no!” he snaps. “Forget about it. Rip this idea out of your head and let it go.”
“Then what else can we do? We need that fucking laptop.”
“I’d rather live a pretend life with you, hiding somewhere remote, than take that risk.”
He says nothing, but I can feel his temper permeating the air around us. He’s angry that I’m even suggesting this, but he’s also scared of what might happen to me if he gives in. I roll to the side and come closer to him, draping a leg over his hips and resting a hand over his chest as my temple comes to his shoulder.
“There are a dozen maids working there. And they’re not allowed to stay in a room with the family or him. I’d blend in among them, and he’d never even know I was there.”
“You’ve heard what Paola said about her Colombian friend. Itisn’tsafe.”
“Oh, come on. We’re not even sure what happened to her friend yet. And I’d only stay for a few days, just enough time to find the safe. We could make it happen by next week, when he and his family are in Palm Beach.”
“It’s still too dangerous. We’ll find something else.”
“I’m not sure we’ll come up with a better idea,” I counter.
“Well, it couldn’t be worse.”
“We’ve been trying to think of one for weeks, baby.”
“Give us more time. We’re safe, and so are our families. We’re not in a rush to get this done.”
I understand what he means, but fuck, I’m so done with all this shit. Since January, so for over seven months straight, I’ve not been able to catch a fucking break. First, his arrest, then getting him out, then getting shot, then recovering, and now New York… I’m really, really desperate to return to some semblance of normalcy.
But I swallow back my retort and stare into the darkness, listening to the lulling sound of his heartbeat. I need all this to be over with. The sooner, the better.
Days go by, and anytime I mention my plan, Lex shuts me down before I can get three words out. It’s straining our relationship a little, and silence has become a sad reality of our lives. We can’t think of anything else that might get us closer to Becker’s laptop, and I’m starting to wonder if we ever will.
Maybe Becker was right in the end. Maybe he’s as untouchable as he believes himself to be.
Thank God I still have my family to talk to and not go completely mad, locked in this golden cage. I’ve been talking to my mom almost every day, and while I don’t want to lay my problems and worries on her, it’s still good to hear her voice.
I’m out on the terrace, watching the sun setting along the skyline, when she calls.
“¡Hola, mamá!”
“Andrea, I just saw him!” she practically shouts, her tone fearful and hurried. My original enthusiasm fades at once.
“What? Who?”
“The man with the snake on his face!” Concern turns into panic, and I sit up on the chaise lounge, my heart dropping low in my chest.
“Where?”
“I was grading tests for the summer program, and when I walked to the teacher’s lounge to get coffee, he was right there, sitting on a chair! He had a snake tattooed on his face, going around his skull and everything!”
Fuck.“What did he do?”
“Nothing. He stared at me with a smirk, and I ran away before he could say anything.”
“What about the men Lex hired? Wasn’t one of them with you?!”
“They’re not allowed on the school grounds, so they wait outside. I rushed to get him, but by the time we came back, that man was gone.”
Jesus fucking Christ. Zane Horvat, that fucking asshole, is a dead man. No one comes after my mom like this. No one.
