Page 103 of Mile High Heist

I leaned against the wall, allowing my head to thump back. A moment later, Madoc slid up beside me, our elbows brushing.

“We’re calling his bluff,” I said.

“We are. Handing over the kit only gives him more time to scheme. Let him hurt and feel what he has to lose.”

I rubbed my eyes, warding off the migraine that threatened to explode.

Without opening my eyes, I asked: “How do we reduce the weight of the plane before landing?”

Madoc’s elbow knocked me again. It wasn’t by accident. Nothing he did was by accident.

“You dump the fuel.”

I snorted. Knowing Nate, he’d be arguing with Zola for the next half hour, thoroughly distracted. Which was exactly Madoc’s intention.

“Distract the kids,” I said, unable to mask my grin. “So the parents can think.”

Madoc rolled his eyes, not a fan of being called out.

My chest hummed. That stupid muscle twinged again.

Ten minutes to call his bluff. If we were wrong, we crashed.

Man, I hoped we were right.

28

OLIVIA

My eyes burned as I stared at my phone screen. My reflection was not cute. Eyes wide and bruised. Hair a tangled bird’s nest. I was still covered in blood, which had dried and turned stiff on my skin. I was a chronic picker, but I resisted the urge to pick.

It replayed in my head again. Gun. Lightning. Blood. Lucille’s wide, shocked eyes as her brain hemorrhaged in her skull. Even though I hadn’t liked the woman, she didn’t deserve to die like that.

She didn’t deserve to die because of me.

I shivered on the bed. The wet towel was balled up beside me. It was stained pink, but I couldn’t bring myself to grab it and throw it away. It felt important. A token of something monumental.

Or it was just a wet, bloodied towel, and I was a sentimental loser on the brink of a full mental breakdown.

Yeah. Probably that one.

I still couldn’t believe Madoc had cleaned my blood. Not only that, but he’d been…gentle. I didn’t even know he was capable of such a thing.

I shook my head, banishing the thought. It came hurtling right back. I blamed the shock and adrenaline for the way my mind fixated on where he touched me. The solemn look in his eyes. The way his face was blank, but not empty. Knowing. Patient. It hadn’t been painless (I was raw, inside and out), but it had been…nice. To be seen like that. To be understood without speaking.

God, I was pathetic.

Kindness from Madoc was like receiving a tongue bath from a lion. At some point, you expected to feel the teeth.

So much had changed in just twelve hours. I should’ve learned my lesson from the island.

Taking a breath, I unlocked my phone and pressed call. I waited and waited.

It clicked.

“Hey, this is Molly. Sorry I missed you, but I promise I’ll call you right back! In the meantime, leave us a message.”

Tears rushed to my eyes. I’d barely stopped crying, and here I was, blubbering all over again.