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“Yeah. They released him. I’m sorry,” she added, a miserable look on her face. “I tried to talk her out of it. I even pointed out that it would be to the Tremblay Syndicate’s advantage if we mated. But I didn’t have a choice—if I hadn’t made the call, someone else would’ve.”
“Hey. It’s okay. If I were you, I’d have done the same thing.” I tucked a strand of black hair behind her ear. “What did Zaq say, exactly?”
“‘Tell them I’m already in New York.’”
I considered that. “All right. That could be good, actually. He’s in our home territory—he probably knows the city better than anyone they have monitoring him. He didn’t say anything else?”
“Just that if I loved you, I should get you away from them. But I couldn’t, Rafe. They had me in a locked room with a twenty-four hour guard. If Lainey hadn’t helped me escape, I’d be on my way back to Montreal in a steel box.”
Holy shit. I gulped. I hadn’t realized how close we’d come to being separated.
“Your mom was sending you back to Montreal in a goddamn box?”
Her hands fisted at her sides. “Yeah.”
Gods.I shook my head. “You’ll never have to face her alone again. That’s a promise.”
In the darkness, her eyes were pools of dusky gold. “Yeah?”
I took the fist closer to me and smoothed out her fingers. I brought it to my mouth and kissed it.
“We’re a unit now, sweetheart.”
A wondering curve of her lips. “I guess we are.”
I couldn’t resist that smile. I cupped her nape and pulled her in for a kiss, then asked, “Your mother said Zaq had one week? And that was two nights ago.”
“Yeah—Tuesday night.”
“And it’s Thursday now. That gives us five days to find him—if he hasn’t already attacked my father.”
“So that’s his mission? To stake Karoly?”
I lifted a shoulder, let it drop. “That’s what Mraz said.”
“Lieutenant Mraz? He’s the double agent?”
“Yeah,” I said grimly. “He paid me a visit last night, along with your mother.”
Zoe’s shock was clear. Victorine obviously hadn’t kept her in the loop on any of this.
“In Philippe’s lair?” she asked. “Your father’s lieutenant?”
“Yep.” I hefted the pack again. Standing on this busy bridge was making me itchy. “I’ll tell you the whole story when we’re alone.”
I glamoured the brightly-flowered backpack so it was a worn, nondescript khaki, and we headed north, putting more space between us and Saint Germain.
While we were talking to Lainey, an idea had occurred to me. Something unexpected and dramatic that would buy me and Zoe time to figure out what to do about Victorine.
But we’d have to act fast.
Zoe raised a hand to hail a taxi. I grabbed her arm, halting her.
“Hang on. I think I have a way to get your mom off our backs. But we have to find Lainey before she shuts down her social media accounts.”
Zoe’s brow knit, but she nodded and took off with me. We passed at high speed through the crowd.
For a short woman, Lainey could move fast. By the time we caught up with her, she was almost across the island on which Notre Dame Cathedral was located.
