Page 45 of Blood Money

Ironically, even with everything between them, she did trust him. Unlike Nicky’s father, Gray would never hurt her. Physically, that was, but he had the power to hurt her emotionally. Alex didn’t know which was worse, physical beatings she could recover from, or emotional ones that could scar a person’s heart forever.

As she went down the stairs, she touched her fingers to her lips. Jan—Nicky’s father—had bruised her lips more than once with the back of his hand. Gray had bruised them with passionate kisses that made her body burn hotter than a bonfire.

She took a deep, shuddering breath. Forgetting those moments wouldn’t be easy, but she could do it. She had to, because it was the one and only time it would ever happen. She meant what she’d said to him. The words had been spoken in anger and disappointment, but there was another reason she’d told him never to touch her again. If he did, she wouldn’t have the emotional strength to stop him.

At the intersection, Alex clasped Nicky’s hand in hers and crossed the street, comforted by the crowd of other New Yorkers heading for the subway entrance a block away. She tried not to call attention to herself by looking over her shoulder, but something—a gnawing curiosity—made her do just that. As she did, a man met her gaze and held it. Nothing about him looked evil, but Alex took stock nonetheless.

He had dark hair, wore a knit woolen cap, and a short, dark-colored winter jacket. In other words, his appearance was normal, his attire seasonally typical. Alex understood that the Pyramid was made up of Middle Eastern men and women, so she took comfort in the man’s pale complexion. A second glance over her other shoulder had her stiffening with anxiety.

Another man kept pace with the first and glanced at him, as if they were together, yet trying not to appear so. His skin was swarthy, his uncovered hair jet-black. Dark eyes bored into her, and she gripped Nicky’s hand tighter as they neared the subway entrance.

“Mommy, you’re squeezing too tight.” Nicky looked up at her, scrunching up his face.

“I’m sorry, sweetie.” She eased her hold but ushered him down the stairs to the subway.

Once inside, she scanned the crowded platform. Swarms of people aided in concealing their location. The two men were nowhere to be seen. It was probably nerves that had her thinking they were being followed. Luckily, a train arrived within minutes, and they boarded, taking two empty seats in the middle of the subway car.

When the doors closed, Alex breathed a mental sigh of relief. She leaned over and pretended to brush something off the hem of her slacks, glancing in either direction. Neither of the men was there.

Nerves. Just nerves.

In the tight confines of the subway car, she began to relax for the ten-minute ride to the stop where Nicky’s school was located. The seats all around them and on the opposite side of the car were full. Straphangers swayed back and forth with the motion of the train as they held fast to metal handgrips overhead and vertical silver poles that ran from the ceiling to the floor.

Alex closed her eyes, giving in to the soothing sound of the subway car clicking rhythmically on the tracks.

The early morning phone call from the Pyramid had woken her from a dream she’d been having, one in which Gray wasn’t sleeping on her sofa but right beside her in her own bed. In her dream, he was touching her, awakening her body with his hands and mouth in ways she never thought possible. She shivered as her nipples tingled in response to the vivid memory.

The muffled sound of the subway car’s connecting door opening, then sliding shut filtered through, and she snapped her eyes open. Looking in the direction of the door, she held her breath as a man shouldered his way through the crowd.

The pale-skinned man with the dark woolen hat.

Alex choked down a gasp and reached over to hold Nicky’s hand. Thankfully, her son didn’t pick up on her distress and sat quietly, swinging his legs back and forth, humming to himself.

With one hand, the man grabbed onto a pole about five feet from where she and Nicky sat. In his other hand, he held a neatly folded newspaper. The man with black hair and a darker complexion was nowhere to be seen. It took every ounce of restraint not to look the man holding onto the pole in the eyes to gauge whether he was truly a threat. She risked a glance and was relieved to see that he actually appeared to be reading the paper.

The sound of the subway car’s other connecting door sliding open then shut came to her ears. Another man began shouldering his way in her direction.

The other man—the one with jet-black hair.

Alex sat ramrod straight in her seat. She swallowed back the urge to run, but there was nowhere to go. They were between stations with no safe way to exit. The subway car rattled and squealed as it went through a turn then came to a slow, steady stop. The car’s overhead lights flickered but stayed on.

This happens all the time. Nothing to worry about.

Alex’s breathing quickened. Sweat trickled down her back between her shoulder blades.

The dark-haired man grabbed onto a metal handgrip, pretending to be bored, but this was too much coincidence.

Isn’t it?

Alex did the math. When an international organization of assassins threatened your child, coincidence went out the window. Instinct told her these men were following her, and it wasn’t to buy her flowers and candy.

Trying desperately to act natural, she reached into the purse on her lap and pulled out her cell phone. She typed in a message for Gray. I’m being followed. Two men. Dark woolen cap, the other black hair. She touched her finger to the send button. The text bubble shot to the top of the screen. She waited for confirmation the message was sent.

It never came.

The train still didn’t move, its engine humming and reverberating gently through the car. She realized grimly that there might not be cell phone reception underground. Or it could be a temporary glitch with her carrier.

Beside her, Nicky hummed away happily, oblivious to the threat flanking them. Alex didn’t know what these men had planned. Could be nothing. Could be they were only keeping an eye on her. Either way, it wasn’t good. If they did have something else planned, chances were they wouldn’t try anything with all these people around. She had time…but not much. Soon they’d be at their stop. The men would have to make their move there or risk losing her in the crowd.