I move to lie in the bed with her and pull her close. “Now that I have you, I never want to let you go.”
She snuggles in closer to me and moves to rest her head under my chin. “I don’t want you to let me go. I’m yours now and forever, Cason.”
I stroke my thumb over her skin as I let her fall to sleep. She needs it after that. Hell, I do, too. But my mind has a hard time resting. The bullet I was afraid was coming has finally been fired. I did the thing I said I wasn’t going to do. I made her mine. She may be right in the fact the promise is old and we shouldn’t be expected to honor it, but that doesn’t change our parents’ viewpoints. We’re not supposed to be together.
I’m just going to have to stand my ground and find a way to make them see it in a way so that they don’t kill me.
* * *
A loud knock thunders throughout the place and we both sprint from the bed. I frown. My dad isn’t supposed to be here until tomorrow, but I would recognize that knock anywhere. He used to pound like that when I got my first apartment, now I live on the family estate in the mother-in-law’s house, it just makes things easier when we’re all working together.
“Shit. It’s my dad!” I hurry to find my clothes and toss hers to her.
She catches them with wide eyes and starts to put them on. “I thought you said he wasn’t coming until tomorrow!” she whispers.
Dressed, I hurry to grab the chain and put it around her leg. If we’re going to sell that she’s not yet ready to leave, then she can’t be walking around the place as free as a bird. “He was. Something must’ve changed and I didn’t hear my phone.”
I’ve never slept as deep as I was before he came knocking. I’m usually so light of a sleeper a feather falling could wake me up.
He pounds harder. Making the front door creak. Shit. He’s going to know something’s up. If he doesn’t pick up on the fact that I’m not prompt, he’s going to smell the sex in here if he comes to look in on her. Why does the window have to be painted shut? He would question why it’s open though.
“Act as normal as you can. Hopefully, he’ll be quick.”
She combs her fingers through her hair, dragging the chain to the bathroom as I sprint across the house and open the door. I’m so glad I don’t look as out of breath as I feel. “Hey, Dad.”
He frowns at me. “What took you so damn long?” His eyes scan over me. “And what’s that on your face?”
I reach up to touch my beard. “I don’t know. I wanted to try something new.”
He shakes his head as he comes in. I can’t help but notice that he doesn’t have any bags of food, that means he’s here for another reason.
He takes a seat at the small table. “Why haven’t you been answering your phone? Everyone has been calling you for the past four hours.”
I don’t let the shock show on my face over the fact that we slept for four hours. Honestly, I would’ve been fine with alternating between food, sleep, and sex with her all day. I’d been looking forward to getting another week with her, but I have a sinking feeling that our staycation is going to get cut short.
I pull my phone out of my pocket and notice there’s a dozen messages and missed calls, two of them are from Michail. “Sorry, my phone somehow got switched to silent and I didn’t notice.” I quickly turn it off but act like I’m turning the sound back on. I don’t need it going off while we’re talking and he then sees through my lie. I take a seat at the table. “What happened?”
He stares at me. “What took you so long to answer the door? And why is one of your guns on the floor over there?” He points and I follow his finger to the gun I almost used this morning to kill myself.
I don’t have a solid excuse for that. He’s taught me to always hide my guns in easy access places when I can’t have them on me for one reason or another.
I look him in the eye. “I was in the bathroom and couldn’t get to the door quickly, and Josie is chained to the bed, so she wouldn’t have been able to get it either. Apparently, you’re supposed to cook pork all the way. I had no idea. She was smart enough not to eat any, but it went right through me. Been on the toilet for two days.”
He shakes his head. “Poor girl has to deal with your stink.”
I’ll take it if it means that he believes me.
I laugh and run my hand through my hair. “Yeah. She’s not a fan.”
“Michail has gotten impatient with you and your excuses. He put a reward out on the dark web for anyone who can find her alive first. twenty-five thousand dollars. You need to get out of here and lay low for a day before taking her to him. We can’t have you do it right away, but we also can’t have you wait too long. Eventually, one of the people who found the reward will find you. You know the solo assassins are like blood thirsty bloodhounds since they have no one to rein them back in when they get out of control.”
I grind my jaw. I don’t like the idea of having any of those lunatics on my trail while I’m with her.
“So I’ll bring her to him the day after tomorrow?”
He nods. “Return his call and say you found him in Moscow with her. I’ve already doctored images of what looks to be her and him in an airport from four days ago. It will line up with the lie you told him about Petrov. You just have to send it to him and call him internationally with that app Beckett made in his off time.”
I nod. “I will.”
