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I nod slowly. “I am.”
Dad regards me carefully. I fully expect him to try and talk me out of it, but he smiles. “Alright, Rocky. It’s your choice. We’ll talk about this more later.”
“You’re not mad?”
“Of course not. Surprised, maybe, but I’m not mad. Let’s focus on getting the fuck out of here first, okay?”
I take a deep breath. “Now that’s a plan I can get behind.”
Lucius snaps the laptop closed, turning with a triumphant gleam in his eye. “Looks like it’s all here. Thank you for your hard work, Rocky.”
“You have what you want,” I snap. “Now let us go.”
“I don’t think so.”
“But you said—”
“I know what I said. But that was before Van Straus put a five million dollar offer on your pretty little head.”
“But what about the baby?” I hiss.
“I don’t have the heart to harm an unborn child, but once I hand you over to Van Straus, it’s none of my business. I can walk away with clean hands.”
“You’re a bastard.”
“Andyouneed to shut the fuck up.”
Lucius walks over and slaps duct tape over my mouth. All I can do is glare a hole into the center of his forehead. Things might look dire, but I don’t give up. The game is shifting, the players moving into their final positions. It’s time to do what I do best.
I get started on picking my handcuffs.
Chapter 37
Gabriel
The first thing I do is feed my daughter. McDonald’s —because even though I know it’s crap food, I think after all the shit she’s been through, she deserves to eat whatever the hell she wants. And in this instance, it happens to be a Happy Meal with an extra toy.
Then we hit the road.
“Papa? Where are we going?” Odette asks me. She’s in the back, buckled in securely.
“Paris,” I inform her.
“Why?”
“Remember Raquel?”
Odette nods, smiling sleepily. “The pretty lady.”
I glance at her in the reflection of the rearview mirror. “That’s right, ma chérie. The pretty lady. She needs my help, so we’re going to pay her a quick visit.”
“Is she in trouble?”
I chew on the inside of my cheek. It’s hard trying to explain things to a six-year-old. I don’t want to frighten Odette, but considering the month and a half she’s had, I have no clue what she can and can’t handle anymore. She seems to be in surprisingly good spirits, all things considered. And she’s speaking, which still surprises the hell out of me.
“There might be some bad people after her,” I say as simply as possible. “I’m going to go protect her.”
“I’ll help!”
