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I hoped I would find out.
I jogged around the castle because there were dirt pathways that maneuvered through the grass and the trees. His guards were around the property everywhere, so I never felt unsupervised. All of the men had obviously been told I had permission to go wherever I wanted because they never tried to stop me.
I pulled the earbuds out of my ears and slowed to a walk. I had a stitch in my side, and I struggled to relax the muscle around my waist. My hands moved to my hips, and I breathed through my nose and out my mouth. I knew Crewe took this path every single day, but he went at the crack of dawn when I was still asleep.
I couldn’t get up early even to eat, let alone work out.
I nearly jumped out of my skin when Dunbar emerged on the path, wearing black jeans and a black t-shirt. I was suddenly aware of how alone we were together. None of the other guards was anywhere nearby. Crewe would never hear my screams no matter how loud I yelled.
So I’d have to kill Dunbar.
I had an iPod in my hand, and I could crush it against his nose if I had to.
Dunbar looked like he wanted to strangle me, crack my neck like I was a chicken on the farm. He stopped in his tracks ten feet away and didn’t come any closer.
I watched him, my hand gripping the music device. “Yes?”
“I’m going to tell you something. But you didn’t hear it from me. Accuse me, and I’ll deny it.”
I raised an eyebrow, having no idea where this was going. “Okay…”
“The device that Crewe put inside your brother’s head…it’s not real.” His bushy eyebrows moved every time he spoke, his expression concentrated on the severity of the moment.
“What?”
“It’s not wired to an electric pulse. It just carries a signal so it’ll show up on an X-ray.”
My hands gripped my waist as I listened to every word. “Why would Crewe do that?”
“Because Crewe wouldn’t want to kill your brother. He just wants you to think he will.”
“Because…?”
“It keeps both of you in line.”
Come to think of it, I never saw Crewe with the transmitter on him. He never threatened me with the explosive either. “If that’s true, why would you tell me?”
“Isn’t it obvious?” he hissed. “Ever since you came around, you’ve been sabotaging my every move—”
“Have not.”
“Yes, you have. Crewe is so obsessed with you that he’s losing his focus. I know you’ve been manipulating him this entire time. Ariel agrees with me. You’re going to pull him down a path he can’t recover from. But now that you know the truth, you can leave. Find an escape route and go.”
Dunbar wasn’t trustworthy so I didn’t know if I could believe a word he said, but I did believe his motives. He’d wanted me out of here since the day I arrived. He had no problem strangling me and slapping me. Both he and Ariel wanted me out of Crewe’s life. And this was the perfect way to get rid of me. “How do I know you aren’t lying? That you’re just trying to get my brother and me dead?”
“I don’t care about either of you being dead. I just want you gone. You wanna know how I’m telling the truth? Think about Crewe. He’s a hard man, but he’s not cruel. He didn’t sell you to Bones because he went soft. He hasn’t hurt you because he’s kind. He defended you from me because he’s chivalrous. Do you really think he would hurt you, the woman his entire universe revolves around?”
When he said that, there wasn’t a doubt in my mind.
Dunbar was telling the truth.
There wasn’t a bomb inside my brother’s head.
There was nothing keeping me there.
All I had to do was plan my next move.
And I could be free.
15
Crewe
Ariel sat with her leather notepad on her lap. A glass of scotch was on the table beside her, and she was on her second drink. Pias sat in the other chair, our main distributor who took care of the shipments before they headed off to international places. He was essential in my scotch business, and he was someone Ariel approved of.
One of the butlers came to my side and lifted the decanter of scotch. “Another, sir?”
I eyed the empty glass and didn’t struggle to resist. “I’d prefer a glass of water. Thank you.”
“Very well, sir.” He grabbed the pitcher and filled my glass.
Ariel lifted her gaze from her notebook and looked at me. It was obvious what she was thinking. She didn’t need to say it.
Pias gave us a report about the recent shipment to the Middle East. He was one of the foot soldiers that was responsible for packaging our quality product and ensuring it reached our clients in the perfect condition. That wasn’t something a factory of robots could do.
