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Kaylie ditched her phone on the way to the bus station. She had a new one–a burner phone with one number in it. And with just one person who knew the number. Drew had assured her she was doing the right thing. The Moreno family wasn’t usually active in Baltimore, and he didn’t know about anything going on that would bring them there.
It was always better to be safe than sorry, though.
Lia dozed lightly on her shoulder as the bus rumbled down the highway. Nearly twenty hours on the road so far. She didn’t even remember where they were headed, but it had been the first ticket out when they’d made it to the station. She vaguely remembered seeing a “Welcome to Tennessee” sign about an hour ago, but she wasn’t even confident in that. At each stop they’d made, she’d been too preoccupied studying every person she saw, trying to decide if they were a threat. The hypervigilance was exhausting, and her adrenaline was fading fast.
So far, so good. But they’d keep going until she heard from Drew again. Even if they took this bus all the way to Seattle.
The phone buzzed in her pocket, and she gingerly dug it out, trying not to wake Lia. She didn’t even realize she hoped it was Anthony calling until she felt the disappointment that it was Drew again. She should be glad to hear from her foster brother. Besides, it couldn’t be Anthony. He didn’t even have the number.
After she’d let him know that she was leaving, she hadn’t waited for the response. The broody, unreadable man would probably ask her to stay.
And she would want to say yes.
As much as she hated to admit it, she’d grown very attached to Mr. Olson. Her daughter wasn’t the only victim of a bit of hero worship for the muscular man. A shiver ran through her at the thought of his name. He’d said his friends called him Tank, and it wasn’t like the nickname didn’t make sense. The man was seriously built. Like some sort of mythological hero, carved in granite. Would his arms feel like steel cables around her, or maybe surprise her with their warmth and softness?
Ugh. She had to stop thinking about Anthony like this. He was just a nice man, that was all. Even if Cecelia had him wrapped around her little finger, and even if Kaylie found herself trying to decipher every miniscule facial expression during their conversations. She wanted to understand what made him tick. She wanted to know what was lurking under the surface of the hard mask he wore.
It had surprised her, at first, that she wasn’t scared of him. After her experience with the Moreno family and Paul’s particular affinity for using his strength as a weapon, she should have been terrified to be in the same room alone with Anthony. But from the beginning, it had been clear that he was genuinely good. Lia had seen it too. Sometimes, she wondered if Anthony saw it himself.
The phone buzzed again, and she answered it, speaking quietly so she didn’t disturb Lia. It was nearly two in the morning. Kaylie hadn’t slept, but her little girl deserved the rest.
“Hey, Kaykay. Are you all right?” Drew’s New Jersey accent was familiar and increasingly foreign every time they spoke. Which was only as needed over the years. The less contact they had, the safer they both were.
“We’re good. On the highway somewhere. You know the drill.” Drew was the only person who knew where she’d gone when she disappeared from the Moreno family mansion four years ago. She and Drew shared a secret history that Paul never knew. Which was the only reason Drew had been able to help her escape without suspicion.
“Glad to hear it. I did some digging, but I couldn’t ask too many questions without being suspicious. Adrian was in Baltimore trying to buy a classic car from a guy. It had nothing to do with you, as far as I could tell.”
Relief flooded through her at the news. “Are you sure?”
“As sure as I can be.” He sighed. “Look, I know I failed you in the past and I wasn’t the brother you deserved. But I’m trying to make up for it, Kaykay. The only reason I’m still here in this cursed organization is so I can give you a heads-up if they ever find you.”
Drew wasn’t her real brother, but in the foster system, that hadn’t mattered. He’d been her foster brother for a brief eighteen months. He was fifteen and she was just eight years old. During that time, he’d been her best friend and brother, until they’d both been pulled out of the home and lost touch.
Then she showed up under Paul Moreno’s arm at a party nearly twelve years later to find out Drew was his right-hand man. Overcome with joy at seeing him again, she’d nearly run to him then. But his quick thinking and a sharp glare had stopped her in her tracks. He knew, even then, that Paul wouldn’t take kindly to any extra attention paid between his right-hand man and the woman he claimed as his. Their conversations had been brief and clandestine during the three years she lived with Paul. Eventually, Drew’s apparent apathy toward her presence was exactly what allowed him to arrange her escape.
“I couldn’t have gotten away without you, Drew. I owe you everything.”
She could almost imagine his sandy-blond hair moving as he shook his head in disagreement. “Just stay alive, kid. Give my niece a beautiful life untouched by all this ugliness, all right?”
Tears flooded Kaylie’s eyes as she nodded. “I will. Stay safe, okay?”
“Let me know when you get settled wherever you’re headed.”
Kaylie worried her bottom lip between her teeth. “I might… I might go back to Alexandria,” she admitted. She was nervous about how he would react. Four years on the run and she’d always moved forward after a scare, even a false alarm.
“Oh?” Drew didn’t sound upset, just surprised. “I just figured since you’d already left, you’d keep going.”
Kaylie heard the unspoken question there. He wondered why she was deviating from the usual, but he wouldn’t ask. “I’m just not quite ready to say good-bye to this piece of our lives yet, unless I have to. As long as you still think we’re safe there?”
“Nah, Paul doesn’t know where you’ve been. Stay if you want to stay. I’ll be in touch if anything changes here.”
Kaylie hung up the phone after they said good-bye, a smile lifting her lips for the first time since the bus took off yesterday afternoon. She could go back if she wanted to.
There was no question that she felt a pull back to Alexandria. It was more than Anthony, although she couldn’t deny the way she responded to the man. She’d never met someone so stoic and gruff, but she’d never doubted his absolute honor and goodness from the beginning, even when he’d been a stranger holding her daughter in his huge, muscular arms.
She’d even enjoyed spending time with the mostly-silent giant. He was surprisingly sweet and considerate. And sometimes, the way he looked at her… she felt important. Which was crazy because she was just his housekeeper. He just liked her food. But she couldn’t deny that more time with him was never unwelcome.
They’d lived in Alexandria for almost a year, and it was the closest she’d felt to belonging anywhere. She had a steady list of clients and more referrals every day. She’d made a small home for her and Lia in the trailer, and while it wasn’t perfect, she sure had made do with worse.
