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I do my best to keep calm, to think logically, but I’m so overwhelmed by my nausea and confusion I can barely see straight. He wasn’t talking to Penelope, butFavreaux. The man who sent those armed thugs after me on the train. This is the same man who sent Mr. Broken Nose to choke me out in the library for not handing over Dad’s cipher.
Has Gabriel been working against me this whole time?
I’m practically a frozen zombie by the time I reach the pharmacy. I arrive just as the clerk flicks on the open sign and unlocks the door. She doesn’t give me so much as a second glance as I shuffle down the neat aisles. Now that I’m here, I don’t think a simple pack of Tums is going to be enough to settle my stomach. I need Pepto on tap to keep myself from being sick.
I just… can’t believe it. What does Gabriel want with the McHale Fortune? I thought he was happy with his little life in the south of France. He doesn’t exactly strike me as a greedy man, but I guess I was wrong.
I’m livid. So livid I don’t have enough words to describe how utterly gutted I am.
I’m tempted to bawl my eyes out, but there’s nothing sadder than crying on Christmas Eve in a lonely pharmacy first thing in the morning. I don’t know what to do with this new information. I feel like a damn fool for trusting Gabriel as much as I have. I mentally kick myself for not questioning his motives sooner.
This whole time… This whole time he planned on betraying me.
He knew every time he kissed me, whispered sweet nothings to me. Heknew.
And here I thought I needed to keep an eye out for danger when the real threat was the lover who held me every night.
It’d be easy to feel helpless, to panic. All these weeks we spent planning, and now everything’s gone out the window. I can’t take Gabriel with me because he’s right. I’m not strong enough to fight him if he chooses to forcefully take the USB. I wouldn’t stand a chance against him, and I seriously doubt my feminine wiles will be of much help in this situation. We’re in the end game now; time to be serious.
So what the hell am I supposed to do?
My gaze comes into focus on the shelf in front of me. There’s a row of Pepto to my right, sleep aids to my left, and a whole column dedicated to various brands of pregnancy tests.
I wonder if I’ve accidentally broken my brain because it flits so fast from one thought to the next that I can’t keep up. I’ve been feeling gross for the last few weeks. Upset stomach, nauseous around the clock… Now that I do the mental math, I’m roughly a week late. Gabriel and I have been pretty damn active, though we’ve been using protection ever since our first night together.
No fucking way.
The clerk sighs behind the counter. I may not understand what she says, but I can read body language well enough. She probably doesn’t want to deal with a loitering customer on Christmas Eve of all days.
Pitying myself and my situation won’t do me any good. I need to think on my feet, come up with a new plan. With a stiff smile, I grab what I need off the shelves, carry it to the cash register to pay, and promptly leave.
I take the length of the walk back to the hotel to think things over. Pausing before our hotel room door, I take a deep, slow breath. I know exactly what I’m going to do. I just hope I can pull it off without raising Gabriel’s suspicions.
He isn’t the only one who can keep a secret.
Chapter 28
Gabriel
“Let’s have dinner here tonight,” Raquel says with a sweet smile. “We can order room service and take it easy. Conserve our energy and whatnot.”
I nod slowly. “Sounds good. We can run over our exit strategy one more time.”
She presses a quick kiss to my cheek before getting up from the couch to pick up the room’s phone. It’s a mess in here, but tonight’s the last night we’ll find ourselves waist deep in blueprints and vault schematics and background checks on Van Straus’ party guests. In under twenty-four hours, we’ll be in and out of there with the USB…
And I’ll finally have my daughter back.
Raquel has been… normal since she got back from the pharmacy. Apparently whatever over-the-counter medicine she picked up has done wonders. She’s back to her chipper, lovely self.
Which is why I know something’s up.
Given the gravity of the situation and how close we are to finally executing our plan, I’d expect her to be more anxious. Not nervous, per se, because I know how skilled she is as a thief. But she’s going about things far too casually. It could all be in my head, of course, but I’ve learned over the years to trust the feeling in my gut.
And right now, my gut is telling me something’s wrong.
I just don’t knowwhat.
Raquel answers the door when they deliver room service. She thanks the man and tips him a couple of francs before guiding the trolley of food to the coffee table. “I hope you’re hungry,” she says, plating a dish just for me.
