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Alarm bells go off in my head, unease drenching the butterflies one by one in my stomach.
“Who could it be?” Ella asks, her voice husky and raw.
Since being up on the mountain, I’ve not received a single message. Everyone important in my life knows I’m unavailable until further notice. And work has been instructed to lie low too.
We still don’t know how De Marco found out that Ella was on the cruise, and until we do, all risks have to be minimized.
“It’s probably Claudette, wanting us to pick up her favorite chocolate before she can’t have it anymore,” I say, trying to lighten the suddenly heavy mood.
If it’s Claudette, I’ll murder her for real this time. Her cock-blocking has to stop.
Chest still heaving, I unlock my phone and check the display.
My frown deepens.
“Rhia?” I make the mistake of saying out loud.
“What!” Ella tries to take my phone, but I hold it out of reach.
“Why would Rhia text? Has something happened? Let me see,” she demands.
Her face contorts with worry. Last I spoke with Carl, I asked him to get a message to Rhia. He assured me he would, as Lex was on assignment in the South Pacific for several weeks.
Is Ella right? Has something happened in Dublin?
“What does it say?” she asks impatiently, stirring me to action.
With unease, I swipe open Rhia’s message.
Rhia: I’m in Joseph’s café. Come and get me.
What the actual fuck?
Chapter Twenty-Six
Aiden
Thishastobea trap.
Somehow De Marco got hold of this phone number and is using Rhia’s name to lure us out of hiding.
“What does the message say?” Ella demands, tugging on my arm.
When I don’t respond fast enough, she jumps to grab the phone from my hands.
“Rhia is here?” she gasps as she reads what’s supposedly been sent by her friend.
“No, she’s not,” I insist. “How could she be? This is a trap.”
“This could be Rhia,” she insists.
“And how would she know where we are?”
Ella’s face contorts into a grimace. She looks guilty as hell.
“Ella, what have you done?” I ask, alarmed.
She doesn’t answer, looking anywhere but at me.
