Page 127 of Pack Baby for the Silver Foxes

Sienna looked out of the window for a moment. “They might be prepared to take the risk because you’re theirs,” she replied.

“Very romantic.”

She smiled. “Surprisingly. I didn’t know I had it in me. Just don’t tell anyone. I have a reputation.”

“For what?”

“Being difficult.”

The cars turned off the main road and into lanes I recognized. Surrey in the rain looked softer than London, green hedges and old trees, fields blurring at the edges. My chest loosened a fraction as the first security marker for Maeve’s estate appeared.

“Join the club.” The gates came into view. “We’re nearly there.”

Then the sky split open with sound.

I flinched so hard my seat belt locked as a black helicopter swept low over the convoy, its rotors beating the rain sideways. The Range Rover rocked under the force of it. Sienna’s hand went to my shoulder before I could think, pressing me down and back.

“Stay low.”

She was already speaking into a comms unit at her wrist. “Aerial contact. Black helicopter. Approaching the Surrey gate. Keep moving if it’s clear.”

My phone rang. Da’s name glowed on the screen.

The helicopter banked ahead of us and dropped lower over the drive inside the grounds. The gates opened, but the lead car slowed, then stopped.

“Why are we stopping?” I asked.

Sienna’s jaw set hard.

“Artem. I need to call him,” I said.

My phone rang again.

“Don’t answer,” Sienna said.

“He’ll keep calling.”

“Let him.”

The call dropped and for three seconds there was only rain, rotors, and my own breathing. Then the helicopter landed, and Artem’s guards came from nowhere and surrounded it.

The rotors slowed.

“Mary. I want you to walk calmly to the helicopter so we can have a chat.” My father’s voice boomed over a loudspeaker outside.

I reached for the door handle ready to tell him to fuck off.

Sienna caught my wrist. “No.”

“I want to tell him to his face to get out of my life. He’s in the helicopter. He won’t dare get out.”

“Stay in the car,” Sienna hissed.

“Do you remember what I said he did to me? He sold me. If I had a gun right now, I would shoot him in his wallet.”

“That would certainly hurt him.”

“Money is the only thing that does, Sienna.”