Page 146 of Lethal Obsession

Going to the finca means confessing the whole. The secret week we spent on Alexei’s yacht, my years of yearning.

The fact that all of this began back in that cell, with me naked beneath Alexei’s knife.

Going to the finca now means Papa locking me away like Rapunzel in her tower and my family shunning Alexei as the worst kind of man.

And just like that, I know I can’t do it.

I won’t do it.

I’ve spent long enough alone and obsessive. We both have.

Whatever the future brings, I don’t want to face it alone. And I don’t want Alexei to, either.

But I also can’t fuck this up.

Taking a deep breath, I walk up to the gatehouse window. A guard in military uniform looks me up and down skeptically.

“Red 24,” I say, feeling vaguely ridiculous.

The guard’s eyes widen. “Code,” he says abruptly.

“0701.”

He picks up the phone and hits a number, still staring at me. “I have package 0701 at the gate,” he says. “Yes. Yes, I understand.” He hits a button, and the gate rises.

He comes out of the gatehouse with his weapon up, then ushers me through, looking warily at the street behind me. “Is anyone following you?”

“I don’t think so.” Suddenly, from inside the airbase come a half a dozen men racing toward me, all with weapons drawn.

Oh, God.

Terrified that I’ve miscalculated, I back away, my hands up.

“You’re safe with us,” one of them says as they surround me. “My name is David.” He gives me a tight smile. “Your friend on the water told us to expect you.” He looks behind me. “Is it just you? We were told there might be three women.”

“No.” To my horror, the word is almost a sob. “No, my security guards are both dead. At least, I think they are. It’s just me.”

He gives me a sharp look, then places one hand briefly on my shoulder. “Okay.” He pulls out a heavy-looking telephone. “I have the package,” he murmurs, leading me toward a waiting vehicle. Behind us a wall of men guard our retreat, weapons pointed out over the gate from every approach point.

I feel a slow, heavy sense of relief start to creep over me.

“Wait,” David says into the phone. “I’ll ask.” He turns to me. “Where am I taking you?”

And just like that, I know exactly what I’m going to say.

“My friend said you’d know where to find him.” I meet David’s eyes. “Take me to him. But first, we need to be absolutely certain that nobody is following us.”

29

Alexei

I stand on the deck, scanning the horizon. “They should be here by now.”

“They took a light plane to Monaco, then another to Genoa,” Andrew says. “We’re currently fifty nautical miles off the coast, and they’re coming out by high-powered boat, so—”

“They should be fucking here by now,” I snap, lifting the binoculars.

“And here they come,” he says dryly, as a distant light appears on the horizon.