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“I’m nervous,” she whispers. “God, I’m so nervous. You leaving makes me nervous.”
There’s a lot of deep-rooted history to that statement that cuts me in ten different directions. But there’s only one way to look at this. The outcome of tonight, ending with us, is a big step toward trust. “I’ll be right there with you at the party soon.”
“What if Tag—”
“Don’t finish that statement, baby. He has one thing to live for: hate. I have you.”
“My father—”
“I move on Tag at the same moment we move to extract your father. The minute he’s safe, Asher will send us both a text. Yours will look like it came from your friend Linda’s phone and read: How about coffee soon?”
“That means my father is safe.”
“Exactly. And just to recap. Someone will grab your boxes we set up by the door after you leave for the party. We’ll have movers get the rest once we’re through all of this. I won’t want you to touch your bank accounts until we’re through this either. Pocher will try to track you that way. We’ll dump your phone before we ever head to the private Walker-owned plane that we’re flying out on tonight.”
She nods. “Got it. I’ve been replaying it all in my head over and over.” I catch her fingers with mine. “Come walk me to the door.” I turn and lead her through the bedroom to the back door of the house before turning to her, sliding my hands under her hair. “Gun in your purse. Just in case.”
“Right. Okay.”
I grab the damn engagement ring nitwit gave her and press it into her hand. “Put that on after I’m gone. You won’t wear his ring again. Only mine.”
Her delicate little neck bobs. “Rick—”
“I love you, baby, so damn much.” I lean in and kiss her, a slow slide of tongue before I murmur, “See you soon,” and then I release her to exit the house. And holy hell, it about kills me to leave her behind even for a moment.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Candace
Take my gun with me.
Just in case.
Those are not words that comfort a girl but a gun in her purse is another story.
The minute Rick is gone, I shove the ring on my finger, but I don’t even look at it. I don’t want to look at it. Instead, I deal with pressing matters. I race to the bedroom, locate my handgun and make sure it fits in the sparkly black purse I’ve planned to wear tonight. It does, thank God. I quickly throw in lipstick and a few other items, just to have normal things in my purse, should I need an excuse to open my purse. Next, I do what I should have done before now. I go to my closet and grab the box where I’ve stored the ring Rick gave me years ago and grab the ring box. I open the box, stare down at the diamond and sapphire ring inside and quickly remove it. Returning the box to the top of the closet, I hurry back to the bathroom and stick the ring in the inside zipper compartment of my purse. My way of keeping Rick close.
Next, I dress to include a strappy black pair of heels. My dress is the last thing I put on aside from a touchup of lipstick. When I stand in front of the mirror in the pretty red gown, I decide I look worthy of being a first lady but only if the president is Rick Savage. That idea has me laughing through my stress. President Savage would make for an interesting press conference. I’m pretty sure the press would like him though. He’d hand out food. God, I love that man for making me laugh when he’s not even here.
I grab my purse and slide my phone into the nifty pocket in my dress before I head for the kitchen where I quite literally pour myself a glass of wine and take a sip but decide to stop there. I need a level head tonight. My phone buzzes with a text exactly five minutes later and it’s the car service telling me they are arriving. I inhale and let out a breath before I head for the front door. Once I’m there, I turn and stare at my living room, the room where Rick and I made love the first time, and I say a little goodbye. I’ll be back, but I don’t believe that will be soon. I’m sad, but only because of the way this is happening. My work travels and I have no regrets about leaving this place behind to be with Rick in New York. That very idea has me ready to just be there now with him. I rotate and exit the house into a dark night, no stars in the inky sky, and lock the door behind me.
