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“Your father is a really bad guy. The Feds have been after him for years. So, Xavier cut them a deal in exchange for your freedom from all of that.”
“Freedom how?”
“You’ll see.” He pulls clothes from the cabinet and tosses them on the chair beside me. “You can change out of that dress.”
He turns on the tv, and I get bits and pieces of what happened on the news. My father, in handcuffs, is ushered away from the church by the man Xavier met at the opera. A federal agent. My mind spins from the intricate planning used to take my father down.
“Alfred DeLaurio, alleged mob boss, taken into custody by federal agents.”scrolls across the bottom.
I grab the remote and shut it off. My brain is on information overload, but there's one important piece I still need. “What about Xavier?” I ask, grabbing the change of clothes.
“What about him?”
“Will he be coming to see me?” I ask afraid of the answer.
Dean blows out a breath. “Rhiannon, he has to lay low until the trial. Maybe even out of the country.”
“Oh.”
“Do you understand what’s going on?” He sits down beside me. “You’re dead. You will have a new name, new identity, everything from your old life is over.”
I think back on everything I’ve left behind. My mother. My friends. And then I think about whether the price for my freedom is really what I want?
As if Dean can read my mind, he says, “Look, if you don’t want this, we can always take you back.”
What I really want isn’t sitting here on the plane with me.
“Xavier felt this was the only way. He didn’t want your father to use you from jail, or worse. Who knows if your father will even face prison time.”
“Why didn’t Xavier ask me? Or at least tell me?”
“He couldn’t risk it. He needed it to look real.”
Well, he deserves an Academy Award for the acting job he did in the church. Was it all an act? Everything leading up to it? I know he cares. I know there’s even love there. But not the kind like me. I’m in love with him.
Now, he’ll be busy with being a witness in my father’s trial, and after, who knows. And I’ll do…
“Dean?” I ask. “What will I do?”
“Same thing you always have. You can start your card business, and don’t worry, Xavier has you all set up in a cottage by the ocean in North Carolina.”
“I guess I can start from scratch.” I smile a little. The possibilities are endless, even though finding another backer to fund my cards might pose a challenge. I head back to the rear of the plane, clothes in hand.
“Rhiannon, or should I say Brianna?” He smiles, when I look back at him. “That’s your new name, Brianna Stoneworthy.”
“Oh, ha ha on the name. Are you serious?”
He holds up his hands, placating me. “Hey, I didn’t pick it.” Then he turns serious. “You do know Xavier was the one who backed your business, right?”
“Inscription Prescription Rx,” I whisper.
Tears threaten to spill once more, and I escape to the privacy of the bathroom. Breathe.
Chapter 34
Rhiannon: Brianna
“Bri, these cards are great today,” Sadie says, grabbing the last of the new cards I had printed yesterday and placing them on the shelf of her quaint gift shop:Cardston’s Cards.
