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64
A limo was waiting out in the prison parking lot. Leo was in the driver’s seat; he gave me a somber nod as Bert and I got in the back.
There was Johnny, sitting inside. He looked haunted, like he was afraid of his own shadow.
But I knew the truth: he was just afraid of me.
“Connor, I’m sorry – ” he started.
“You son of a bitch!” I roared. “I tell you never to leave her alone, and you go flying off to Japan and leave her here by herself? What the FUCK, Johnny?!”
Johnny looked at me silently. He took everything I said – just took it, and didn’t say anything in self-defense.
I pressed the heels of my palms into my eye sockets, trying to get a handle on the terror and rage overwhelming my brain.
The car glided forward as we began the drive back to Manhattan. I felt the vibrations beneath me, tried to let them soothe me.
After a second, I calmed down. “It wasn’t your fault. You left her with Armin. If you’d been there, you might have been killed.”
“I’d have gladly died to keep her safe,” Johnny said.
“I know that… I know that,” I said. I stayed silent for a few seconds, then asked, “What happened?”
“Eve found something weird going on in three cities – Venice, Tokyo, and somewhere in Tanzania.”
I frowned. “Wait… wait a second…”
Johnny nodded. “Lily reacted like that, too, when she heard.”
“My father mentioned those places at dinner that night…”
“Yeah. And somehow, they were all tied to Miranda. Cargo shipments using your dad’s company planes. As soon as Lily heard that, she wanted to go to Venice and check it out. She thought we could find something to clear you.”
I sat back in the seat, sick with guilt. She’d done it to try and get me out of prison. “Shit… why would you let her – ”
“We didn’t,” Johnny insisted. “Sebastian and I did our best to talk her out of going. When she still said she was going, we compromised: I’d go to Tokyo and he’d go to Tanzania, but only if she agreed to stay here and wait for you to get out of jail.”
“What?!”
“We were trying to keep her safe by making her stay here. We had no idea that Miranda would target her as soon as we were gone.”
I turned to Bert. “You said her car got hit.”
“By another car,” Bert said. “Rammed in the side. The car didn’t stick around, and apparently whoever was in it took her and Armin with them.”
I was feeling light-headed. “Sebastian got kidnapped, too? In Tanzania?”
“That’s what it looks like, yes.”
“But no ransom demands?”
“No. None.”
“And Stan – ”
“Shot dead in Tanzania.”
“Jesus Christ…” I turned back to Johnny. “What the fuck happened in Japan?”
