“Oh my god. It’s the Tower of London!” I tapped a finger on the glass. “Is that London Bridge?”
“Tower Bridge,” Garrett said from behind me. “London Bridge is about half a mile away.” He pointed vaguely downstream. “It’s... less exciting.”
“Tower Bridge,” I repeated, trying not to press my nose against the glass like someone who’d never traveled, despite it being the truth. The iconic towers rose against the sky, standing guard over the stone walls of the Tower of London itself.
My throat tightened. Didi had promised to bring me here someday. “This is…”
Too much. This is too much. This is the kind of place rich people stay, not people like me.
“Secure,” Garrett said, flipping the deadbolt. “One entry point. Easy to monitor.”
Of course. He wasn’t thinking about the view or the fireplace or the massive bed. He was thinking about defensive positions.
I turned from the window. “Can we go now?”
He stood near the door, arms folded across his chest. The posture should have looked aggressive, but somehow it just looked tired. “Ground rules first.”
“Ground rules?”
“You don’t leave this suite without me. You don’t open the door for anyone—room service, housekeeping, doesn’t matter. If someone knocks, you come get me first.”
“Garrett—”
“You keep your phone charged and on you at all times. If we get separated for any reason, you call me immediately. Not text. Call.”
“That’s a little?—”
“You don’t mention the egg to anyone. Not hotel staff, not people we meet, not anyone. If someone asks why you’re in London, you’re on vacation. You list off museums, the Tower of London, or whatever.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but he wasn’t finished.
“The Caulfield meeting—I go with you. I carry the egg, and you don’t touch it until he needs to examine it. Still, I’m with you the entire time. Non-negotiable.”
Something inside me bristled. My parents were wonderful and supportive of everything I did, but Didi taught me independence meant not leaning on everyone else. It meant finding my own strength and using it, like leaving a careerthat didn’t suit me and opening my own business where I’d be happier. Now Garrett was denying me the opportunity to find my footing in this wild situation I’d fallen into by controlling everything? “That’s excessive, don’t you think?”
“No, it’s being prepared. If we act after something happens, we’ve already lost.”
“But I came to London to see things,” I said, keeping my voice calm. “Not to be locked in a fancy prison.”
His eyes narrowed. Irritation? Understanding? “I know.”
“I’ve never been here before. My grandmother always said she’d show me the city someday. Now I’m finally here, and you want me to sit in a hotel room and stare at Tower Bridge through glass?—”
“I said you don’t leave without me.” He unfolded his arms, letting them drop to his sides. “I didn’t say you can’t leave at all.”
I blinked. “Oh.”
“We can walk across the bridge, but there’s more to see inside the Tower of London itself.” He moved toward the windows, standing beside me but not too close. “We can go after the Caulfield meeting, if everything goes well.”
Hope fluttered in my chest, and I gazed at the city. “Really?”
“If it’s safe.” His jaw tightened. “And if you follow the other rules.”
It didn’t sound like total freedom, but I’d take it. Honestly, given the way he’d been treating this trip like a military operation, I hadn’t been sure what to expect. “Okay. It’s a deal.”
“I’ll take the sofa, of course.”
I glanced past the partial wall at the bed—king-sized at least, drowning in pillows and what must have been a silk duvet—then back at the decidedly smaller purple sofa.
