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“The funeral.”
“Oh.” She looks down at the floor, then back up at me. “I’m so sorry for what my father did.”
“You’re not responsible for his actions.”
I leave her to get dressed, heading downstairs and searching for a map of the area. I familiarize myself with the roads to the airfield until she appears a couple of minutes later. We head out to the car together. I make sure she’s in before climbing into the driver’s seat.
We head out along the farm track, joining the nearest road and heading north, chasing the dawn. She dozes while I drive. I glance at her from time to time. She looks so beautiful it makes my heart ache to think I was ever going to send her away.
I shouldn’t have slept with her. Life would have been simpler. I could have got rid of her, found another way to deal with her father. That way, I wouldn’t have caused her pain.
Where did these emotions come from? They’re not me. I’m a businessman, not a lovesick teenager.
I shake away my doubts about the future. I will keep her. She will be my wife. She will give me an heir. In the eyes of the commission that will entitle my heir to Piper’s businesses when he dies. They will be mine in trust until our child comes of age. I will have the commission behind me. The only blood shed will be his. I wipe him out. I take over. The perfect revenge. All his work gone. All his efforts for nothing. The thought makes me smile.
At the airfield, the guards are all faces I know and trust. Clothes have been found for the two of us. We get changed on the plane. Anna comes out of the bathroom wearing a demure black skirt and jacket. Underneath is a plain white shirt that fits her just right. She nods at me. “Feel better?” I ask her.
“Came with underwear,” she replies. “That’ll do me.”
The flight takes off. When it’s in the air, I sit with a bourbon in my hand. “It’s seven thirty,” Anna says when the stewardess hands it to me.
“And?”
“You drink this early?”
“You don’t?”
She looks at me and sees something on my face. She says nothing, ordering herself a coffee and then sitting back and looking out the window beside her.
I settle back into my seat, finish my drink, and then catch up on sleep.
I don’t wake up until the plane comes in to land. I sit up as we make our descent. “Morning,” Anna says, looking my way. “You snore when you sleep, you know that?”
“No, I don’t.”
“You do. It was so loud the windows were rattling.”
“You’re trying to make me feel better. There is no need. I’m fine.”
“Course you are.” She reaches out and squeezes my hand. “It’ll be all right to be upset.”
“I’m not upset.”
“Something’s troubling you. What is it?”
Since when did she get so good at reading me? “Your father might try something at the funeral.”
“You really think so?”
“The commission bans all violence at funerals, but I know how pissed he’ll be when he sees me alive. Last he knew, I was being kicked out of a helicopter. I’ve survived two attempts on my life since I took you in. I get a feeling today will be the third.”
“If your commission banned it and he does try something, what happens?”
“They don’t take kindly to rule breakers. His only hope will be to move fast and get out of there before anyone notices. Or…”
The plane lands with a screech of the wheels.
“Or what?” Anna asks.
