Mila paled. “I was afraid you’d say that. But I equally can’t bear the thought of them taking your existence away.”
“Right? Screw them for doing that. Next, we’re going to find out if they can do the will reading remotely.” Dixie took a breath, panic flashing over her pretty face. “I can’t walk into a room with those people there. Our grandmother. Denise. Whoever else gets a foot in the door. I just can’t.”
“Denise has no reason to be there. She isn’t a recipient of Austin’s personal assets, as far as I know. But Primrose and Wallace will be. Other family members, too, if they’ve been named. Considering the circumstances, I think the chances aregood of the solicitors agreeing. They just want it over with. But if you opt into that meeting…” Mila said.
Dixie stopped her pacing. “Whoever’s in that room will be able to recognise me after. I’ll wave bye-bye to anonymity.”
Terror roared loud in my ears.
Dixie’s plan carried any number of consequences. I took a breath. “Mila, ye think the solicitor is compromised, correct?”
Mila’s lips thinned. “I can’t be sure, but I changed my number to get the reporters off my back, and it got leaked almost immediately. I could be wrong. It would be a huge breach of trust for them to do that.”
My mind crunched the problem. “Then we instruct them to narrow the visibility of Dixie to the bare minimum. They’ll need ID and whatever checks to be done.”
Dixie gave a short laugh and gestured to the apartment. Her possessions. “No problem as everything I need is here.”
At least I’d done some good with my stalking. “Then with the will reading, you don’t need to be onscreen if the solicitor has validated you already.”
She blinked. “Is that a possibility?”
“I say you make it a demand.” I held her gaze. “You hold the power here. You can make them wait for you. You can derail their process. My guess is they’ll jump to get it done your way, like Mila said.”
Dixie’s lips worked. “I hold the power.”
She walked to the window. When she faced us again, there was fresh resolution stamped all over her. “That’s part one of what I want to do. For the other part, I need answers to some of the questions still flying around out there.” She rolled back her shoulders and stood tall. “Can we go talk to some prisoners?”
Fire flared inside me. “I thought you’d never ask.”
In a convoy, we left the warehouse.
I’d invited Heretic, who’d asked to have a go at Salter, and Cassie, Riordan, Mila, and Convict were also along for the ride. The other skeleton girls had declined but wanted any intel immediately reported back to them.
My blood ran hot, urgency building to get Dixie the results she wanted.
Alone together in my car, I spoke low to her. “If I’m in the room with some of those men, how do ye feel about that?”
“About watching you get bloody?” She swallowed. “Crazy turned on, boo.”
“Goddamn it, woman. Don’t make me turn this car around to take ye someplace private.”
Dixie snickered a laugh, her gaze out of the window on the dark city. But her cool fingers snaked into mine and gripped me. She was afraid. I was, too. Difference was, I’d tear the world apart before I let its whirlwind of chaos touch her. I’d make sure she didn’t get swept away in the storm.
At the Scottish facility where we housed prisoners, we drove under the cover of the industrial building’s cavernous entrance then parked, familiar faces waiting. Cameras monitored us, as well as hidden guards.
Our steps thudded on our descent into the underground bunker. Holding the rail, Dixie wrinkled her nose in a pretty grimace. I’d long been used to the stench of piss and something darker that soaked into the concrete.
Mila, further ahead, peeked back at Dixie. “What was your take on Wallace?”
My woman took a careful step. “That he desperately needs to make sure you’re going to vote. Why is he bothering? He’s lazy by nature.”
“Was that his take? Then someone’s got their hand up his arse and is operating him like a puppet,” Cassie said from behind me.
Dixie sighed. “Graphic, but yeah, that’s what I figured.”
Mila paused then said, “Sorry about the slip-up with the uncle thing.”
“What happened?” Cassie asked.
