Page 163 of Forbidden Fate

“Some direct, yes.” She studies the screen. “Atlanta. Tampa. Miami. New York. Houston.”

Houston.

That’s in Texas.

Where Robin is from. Where the Bellamy Ranch is. It’s not Austin, where I was before, and Texas is huge, but it’s close enough.

Except…Robin said it clearly.

We have no future. She won’t help me with her family’s money.

She has no reason to want me near her. I hurt her brother. I helped abduct her. I’m tangled in the very danger she’s trying to escape.

If I go to Houston, I’m not honoring what she asked.

I could choose Atlanta. Disappear into some city where no one knows me. Find a way to ask for asylum. Trade information. Start over as much as a man like me can start over.

I could go anywhere.

But Adriana’s voice slides back into my mind.

If Vega can’t have you, he’ll get to the United States and take Robin Bellamy for himself.

Fuck.

Vega knows Texas.

He knows the Bellamys.

He knows their history better than Robin does. Better than I do, maybe.

And I know him.

That may be the only thing I still have that’s worth anything.

I know how Vega thinks. How he waits. How he punishes people through what they love. If he decides Robin is the way to hurt me, or punish her family, or reclaim whatever secret binds him to the Bellamys, he will take advantage.

And I won’t be hiding in Atlanta while he does.

“Houston,” I say.

The agent looks up. “Houston?”

“Yes.”

“That flight leaves soon.”

“How soon?”

“Less than an hour. There are only two seats left.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Baggage?”

“Carry-on only.”

“One way?”