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Diana
I dried the last dish and put it away in the cupboard. I turned around and watched as Charisse prepared a bottle for her son, who was currently smashing cheerios on the tray of his high chair. The little boy grinned at her.
“Here you go, baby.” Charisse kissed the top of his head as she handed him the bottle and then reached past me to pick up the dish towel.
“He’s so cute, Char. I almost can’t believe how big he is.” I sighed. It was one thing to talk to my friend on the phone and hear about her life and another to see it up close. This was real. Real and wonderful and exactly what I’d always hoped I’d have one day. I wouldn’t put this beautiful life my friend had created in jeopardy.
As if she could read my thoughts, Charisse squeezed my arm. “You really don’t have to go. Stay with us. I’m worried about you being on your own.”
I pasted on a smile I didn’t really feel. “I’m always on my own. That’s what I’m used to.”
“But you don’t have to be. Not anymore. We’re here for you, and we have the space.” She bit her lip. “Well, we can make the space. It’s better than my sitting here freaking out every day wondering what trouble you’re getting into.”
I walked out of the kitchen and down the hall to the spare bedroom I’d been staying in. My friend had been so accommodating, but I knew Charisse’s husband Andrew had to be tired of sharing his office with his wife’s old friend from college.
I just had one more thing to do, warn Rafe, then I’d be in the wind. And I’d learned from experience, it was better to go to him than have him come for me.
“I know you’ve been worried about me. But you don’t need to worry anymore. I’m done playing detective. I found way more than I bargained for, and I’ve learned my lesson. This is what you wanted, right? For me to stop poking my nose into dangerous places? For me to move on with my life?”
Charisse stood in the doorway, watching me as I made up the futon where I’d slept.
“Yes, I wanted you to stop poking around, but you’re too far gone now. That’s like poking a bear until it wakes up and then deciding the game is over. You’ve got a monster to deal with now.”
I sat down on the edge of the futon, the stress of the past few days finally catching up to me all at once.
This was bad. Really bad.
“I wish I’d never opened that safe,” I whispered.
“But you did. So what are you going to do about it?” Charisse countered.
“I have no idea.” I figured I’d better come up with one fast because the kind of information I’d gotten my hands on came attached to some very bad people. People I’d been so sure I could trust.
“Having this information is like putting a target on my back.”
“Well, then put it back!” Charisse argued. “Maybe that’s all he’s waiting on. If he sees that you aren’t going to use it, then he shouldn’t come after you, right?”
I chuckled softly. Then an image of Rafe prowling after me like a big jungle cat made my breath catch in my throat. It wasn’t too far off the mark, was it? He was a predator. It was what he’d been trained for. The government wouldn’t have used him for all those years if he wasn’t great at his job. Clearly he was experienced at tracking down people far more savvy at this espionage thing than I was.
I was so far out of my league.
“I don’t think that’s going to fix this, Char. People like that don’t just forgive and forget.”
Charisse sat gingerly on the edge of the bed next to me. “Maybe not, but those people aren’t Rafe and Diana. I don’t care what you say, there’s more going on here. You care about him, and I don’t think he’d have taken care of you the way he did if he didn’t feel something too.”
“I felt something,” I finally admitted. “But I also lied to him. Plus he now knows that I was planning on drugging him since I had those pills in my purse. Whatever he felt is long gone now, I’m sure.”
And damn if that wasn’t a depressing thought.
Charisse put an arm around my shoulders and pulled me close. “Well then, just put the information back and then run like hell. You’ve watched him all these months, surely you know him pretty well by now. Use that. When you see an opening, take it. He’s not going to be expecting you to sneak back in, right?”
The more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea. Leaving and not coming back was truly my only option. But if I was going into hiding, it would be better if I didn’t have to look over my shoulder for Rafe the whole time. It was already going to be difficult evading my brothers. Now that I knew what they’d planned for me with Uncle Boris, I figured they wouldn’t take my disappearance in stride. I’d probably spend the rest of my life hiding from them. It would be better if I wasn’t trying to hide from Rafe too.
“Okay, I’m going to do it. I’ll wait for an opportunity and then sneak back in there. I just hope that’s the end of it.”
As Charisse hugged me tighter, I wished that wasn’t a lie. Because even with everything going on, I knew my heart definitely didn’t want this to be the end.
