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I move past everyone around us as I run with her.
I have to get to Thayer.
“The red door! He texted me, said exit through the red door.” I look around us and see it to the left. I put her down long enough to open the door and breathe a sigh of relief to see Thayer waiting in an idling car.
I open the door and lay her onto the seat.
“She okay?”
“I’m fine, the shoe is not,” she says. I slide in beside her and shut the door.
“Go!”
Thayer hits the gas.
Nothing but silence in the car for seconds.
Thayer finally turns around to look at us. “You got it?”
Nicolette grins, reaches down her shirt, and pulls out the talisman.
“Holy shit,” Thayer mutters reverently.
The two-hundred-year-old talisman sits in the palm of her hand.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Nicolette
Fabien answers his phone on the first ring and puts it on speaker so Thayer and I can hear him.
“Do you have it?”
“Of course I do. Do you have my brother?”
Lyam talks in the background. “Yeah, I’m here. I’m fine. I want this bullshit over.”
“Working on it.” Fabien grinds his teeth, likely biting back his threat to do something incredibly violent when he finds them, like pull out their fingernails with pliers or something.
They disconnect the call, likely because there’s no way to trace it.
Back in his room, we’ve gone over every detail with Thayer.
We have the talisman.
Lyon doesn’t suspect he’s been fooled. There’s been no apparent fallout…yet.
Tomorrow at sunrise we bring the talisman to Les Bains de Caldane and rescue his brother.
He’ll pay me, and I’ll be on my way.
I stare out the window, unsure as to why there’s a heavy weight in the pit of my stomach.
It could be anything.
I walk to the bedroom to undress and shower. I want a pair of comfortable jammies so badly I could cry.
I need to get a few things from my room but keep forgetting. I’ll…be in my own room tomorrow. My heart sinks.
I’ve made such a mistake. I’m not supposed to get involved with clients.
I never should have let myself become vulnerable.
If only I could’ve convinced myself this was only a job.
Just a job…
I pull out his desk chair and sit heavily, still dressed in my disguise. The lump in my throat feels as heavy as a boulder. I drop my face in my hands.
How do I forget the only man I’ve ever loved?
I can’t do this now. Tomorrow morning, my time is up.
Tomorrow morning, I’m a millionaire.
Why don’t I care anymore?
I wish I could tell him how I feel. I wish he knew.
I decide so suddenly it feels perfect. I know what I have to do.
I’ll write him a letter. I’ll tuck it in his drawer and tell him the truth. And if he wants to pretend he feels nothing for me…That’s on him.
I act without thinking.
I open his desk drawer, looking for paper and a pen. The first drawer reveals a notebook but no writing utensils. God, this is the most utilitarian desk I’ve ever seen. Yikes.
I open another drawer quickly. I don’t want him to see me going through these drawers, like I’m spying or something. I wipe at my damp eyes, shaking with the need to tell him what’s on my mind and in my heart. A sheath of papers sits in a pile. I just need a scrap.
I’m looking for a blank sheet when my gaze snags on a line.
Was that my…name?
I fan the papers out on the desk, as a chill comes over me.
If a person could be reduced to numbers and letters… He’s got…everything. All of me, right there. My lips part as I look it all over. “No…”
My bank account and balance history, grades in college, and notes written in the side.
Favorite color pink
Likes philosophy
Seems to be frugal
My cell phone number, a copy of my passport, my socials…
I close my eyes because the room’s spinning.
He’s the head of a mafia family.
I know this. What did I expect, that he’d offer me two million dollars blindly? Of course he wouldn’t.
He’s killed people.
He’ll do it again.
I was never meant to be with a man like Fabien Gerard. The woman in red and black? Maybe the likes of her can keep up with these men. But me?
My hands quaking, I put the papers back in the drawer.
It takes me a minute to remember why I wanted paper to begin with.
Fabien.
I wanted to tell him I loved him.
But what I just saw…I can’t tell myself that it doesn’t matter. And I definitely can’t tell myself that I do.
I get to my feet and fold my hands to try to stop them from shaking.
I’m not going to let this change what I have to do.
I’m here for the money, no more, no less.
I’ll pretend I saw nothing.
I put on a mask, and walk out to join Fabien and Thayer in the other room.
