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My attention skirted back and forth between the heavy traffic and the mirror pointed on the backseat.
“From what I heard, thanks to POTUS, the whole world knows that name,” Craig hissed, sweating. “Do you have any idea who you’re really up against? This is much bigger than you think.”
Clearly, you know something. “What. Do. You. Know?”
He shook his head, eyes on his lap. A beaten, broken man in an all-orange jumpsuit.
How the mighty have fallen.
“Get me out of this alive and somewhere safe, and I’ll give you all I know. It’s not a name, but it’s a lead,” he remarked, his tone wavering.
“Why should we trust you?” Griffin asked him.
“You don’t have much of a choice now, do you?” Craig worked his gaze back to the mirror. “Same as me.”
“Fine,” I bit out. “Just one thing before we go off this bridge to fake your death. Novak didn’t tell you this, but I want you to know.” I let go of a deep breath. “Andrew Cutter killed Rebecca. He wasn’t only a treasure hunter, he was The Italian.”
I let the words sink in. Witnessed the shock in his eyes. Diana was right, wasn’t she? Craig had loved Rebecca, and he’d believed I’d killed her. Based on his reaction now, it appeared Novak never told him the truth. Craig would have to live with the guilt of what he’d done forever.
“Do you know what that means?”
He lifted his cuffed hands, drawing his fists in front of his face. “It means I’m a dead man anyway. You’re going to kill me regardless.”
No, I’m not. Lucky for you, my wife wouldn’t like that. Well, unless it’s self-defense. Plus, death would be far too merciful.
“I did care about her. Loved her, and she loved me back, but she wouldn’t get a divorce.” He closed his eyes, accepting his fate, assuming I’d kill him before The Collective could.
I didn’t care about their relationship. I didn’t need to know the truth about Rebecca’s indiscretions. Hell, maybe when Rebecca had thought she’d had a drunken night with Cutter, that was why she didn’t tell Craig anything. She’d felt she’d cheated on him, not just me.
But screw the past. It was time for Rebecca to rest in peace, and for me to have peace, too.
“I’m a man of my word,” I assured him. “You give us a lead, and I won’t kill you.”
Gray popped back into my ear, alerting me to the fact the Escalades were now advancing. It was about to be go-time.
“But,” I couldn’t help but add in a menacing voice, “if you mention Diana’s name during the chat we’ll be having . . . I will cut out your tongue.”
76
DIANA
DUBAI – ONE WEEK LATER
I checked my phone from inside the bedroom for the tenth time that hour, hoping to hear from Carter, but still no notification.
Going a bit stir-crazy, I set aside my book on quantum physics and went over to the window. We had a gorgeous view of the Burj Khalifa skyscraper. I could get used to a city like this. A gorgeous location, kind people, great food, amazing weather, and so much more.
I had no idea how long I’d be living there with Carter, but he’d already gone ahead with arranging for my lab to be constructed there. He had people working at hyper speed to get it ready. I’d once again be back to following my dream of making cold fusion as an energy source a viable option, and Bahar would be joining me as soon as the lab was set.
It’d be nice to have her there with my husband traveling so much lately. This time, he’d been gone for over eight days, and it was eight too long.
Mya had casually mentioned over a call a few days ago that Oliver wouldn’t be visiting us there. Apparently, he’d almost lost his head (quite literally) after being wrongly accused of a crime here. I’d yet to broach the subject about them having sex back in Dublin. I decided if Mya wanted to tell me about it, one day she would.
It was nice to have so many new friends. I’d done my best not to mourn Sierra. She didn’t deserve it. Cold, evil, and heartless was how I needed to remember her.
Shivering from the thought of her, I turned from the window and went over to Dallas curled up asleep on the bed. Thank God for him being here, or it’d make Carter’s absence that much worse.
Not only was Dallas with me, so were three of the President’s Secret Service agents. That was in addition to the ten guards Carter had personally hired to protect me inside our highly secure skyrise in an extremely safe city. Everyone from kings to prime ministers had stayed here in the past, so it was already outfitted in a manner Carter had found “acceptable.”
