Page 56 of Stolen Rebel

How?

He’s going to lose his shit if I keep up this stupid game of cat and mouse, but I can’t give him what he wants.

Carol

Photo. Now

My gaze flicks around the bathroom so different to mine back in London. He’ll know instantly that it’s not my flat.

Even if I stand against the plain walls in the bedroom, there’s still a chance he’ll know. It feels like a lose-lose situation.

The phone starts ringing, and any control I had over this situation is rapidly fraying. I have to answer it, and when I do, I cough quietly, sniff and channel everything I have into giving the performance of a lifetime.

“I told you I still don’t feel well.” I keep my voice low. “My head hurts.” I’m not lying.

“You sound like shit.” His voice is hard, cold. “Where have you been?”

Is he trying to catch me in a lie? Asking the same questions over and over and hoping I’ll trip up?

“I told you.” I heave out an impatient sigh. “I’m sick. I haven’t been at work. I haven’t been anywhere, just unconscious in my bed. I think it’s a bad flu or something. It’s destroying me. I’m knackered.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” His words are clipped, but he’s softening. I think. He’s quiet for a long moment. “I thought you didn’t like Tesco’s chicken soup?”

My heart stutters. “Willow said it was the only one left in the fridge. She went right before closing.” I sniff. “Makes no odds. I can’t taste it anyway.”

“Hmm.”

Hmm? What the fuck does hmm mean?

Another silence settles heavily over us and is quickly broken by Titan barking. I close my eyes, sending up a million prayers that Brian didn’t hear it, but there’s a shift in the air on the line so tangible that before he speaks, I know I’m fucked.

“What was that?”

“What?”

“You didn’t hear that sound. What was it?”

“Sounded like a dog.” A bead of sweat trickles down my temple. I’d make a terrible criminal. They’d take one look at me, and I’d fold like a cheap sun lounger.

“Your building doesn’t allow pets, Erin.” His voice is laced with suspicion, an undercurrent of caution emphasizing his words.

“It’s outside.”

Titan barks again.

I swallow down bile.

My vision narrows.

I press my hand to my chest, but it’s futile; my heart’s going so fast it surely can’t keep going. I open my mouth to say something, anything, when the door I’m leaning against vibrates with a knock. “Erin?”

My soul leaves my body.

Shit. Liam. Not now. For God’s sake, not now.

If I tell Brian the truth, he won’t come alone. He’ll bring men, agents with guns. Liam will die. Something ugly unfurls in my chest at the thought because I don’t want him to.

“Who the fuck is that?” Brian snarls down the phone at me.