But hadn’t sharing some of them with Henry shown me that it wasn’t as scary to let them out as I’d always convinced myself?
The thought of sharing everything had my heart thrumming in my too-tight chest, my stomach roiling, my legs turning to jelly beneath me.
Pull yourself together, Irina Baxter!
“When is this fucking lift getting here?” Lucian growled, jamming his finger once more against the already-lit-up button, giving a nurse who bustled past a dark glare.
“I don’t think the medical staff are interested in getting me arrested.”
Lucian threw me some withering side eye, tilting his head in the direction of the retreating nurse. “You have no idea if she’s a hospital employee or an undercover Home Affairs agent.” He lowered his voice, eyes sharpening. “You’re breaking the law right now, Irina. If you want to keep yourself out of trouble, you have to assume everyone is out to get you. You need to think like a criminal.”
Hot anger flared in my throat. “I’ve spent most of my life trying NOT to think like a criminal!” I hissed. “Trying desperately to survive in my fucked-up family until I could escape them!”
Lucian pinched the bridge of his nose. “Shit. Sorry, Ri, I didn’t mean?—”
The elevator doors slid open, and I pushed past him.
“I don’t need your apology. I just want to get back to Henry.”
The trip down to the carpark was silent and tense. The doors opened into the underground garage, and I surged out, Lucian cursing and grabbing at me.
“Will you wait?” he hissed, scanning the area. I sighed noisily, and Lucian’s jaw flexed. He gripped me by the arm and tugged me in the direction of the car.
“Hey!” a deep voice shouted. “What are you doing with her?”
Lucian stiffened, increasing his pace towards the car. “Great job, Irina! You’ve drawn attention to us now.”
“If you weren’t manhandling me like a lunatic, we wouldn’t be in this predicament!” I snapped right back before lifting my head, finding a man in scrubs striding towards us, concern furrowing his brow.
I smiled reassuringly. “He’s just doing his job. He’s my bodyguard, and I’m apparently terrible at keeping a low profile.”
The man’s brow furrowed. “Are you sure you’re safe with him?”
“Positive. I’mverysafe with this big lug.” I patted his shoulder. “He’s just anxious and wants to get me out of here before anyone recognises me.”
Lucian’s sigh was long-suffering. The man’s frown deepened, but then recognition lit his face.
“Oh my God, you’re Ru?—”
But we’d made it to the SUV, and Lucian unceremoniously stuffed me inside, slamming the door and talking in muffled grunts to the man. He nodded solemnly, eyes darting to the tinted window, where he wouldn’t be able to make me out, and then he strode off.
“You are incapable of making my life easy, Irina!” Lucian sighed once he’d climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Oh, come on!” I cajoled, buckling my seatbelt as he roared off towards the ramp and the exit. “Admit it, your job was boring before me!”
“I don’t know,” he muttered, slowing to scan our parking ticket and exiting into Sydney traffic. “I still managed to have an eventful couple of weeks with you out of my hair.”
My stomach tightened. “Did you find Cockerels Cap?”
He shook his head, letting out a frustrated grunt. “He’s a slippery character, and I think he went to ground the second the media reported that you and Henry had left on theGirl on Fire.”
“So … what’s been eventful then?”
Lucian’s jaw tightened, but he said nothing. I sighed, sinking back into my seat. The grump wasn’t going to give me anything. I consoled myself with the knowledge that I was on my way back to Henry, and we could return to our little bubble and escape this for a little while longer—until my bridging visa was approved, I supposed.
Then we’d have to face the reality that we had no idea if CockerelsCap was gone for good. We still had no real clue about what his motives were.
If he wasn’t working with Rumi, there was only one other person I could think of who would employ someone to tail me … and even considering that possibility was enough to make bile rise in my throat.
