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Tam jerked his head towards the exit. “Come on, let’s get out to the car.”
As a group, we left the terminal and stepped back out on British soil.
I still wondered if Kaja would pick her moment to make a run for it. I’d successfully got her into the country. If she got away from me now, she could easily vanish. What would she do with herself, though? She had no money, no identification. She didn’t even have another change of clothes. She’d end up on the street, either stealing or selling herself. I doubted either of those seemed like good options. But maybe it would be enough of a price to pay for her freedom.
Tam drove us to my building—a high-rise apartment block, in which I owned the penthouse.
I was pleased to be home again. The concierge rushed forward to open the rear doors for us. It had started drizzling, and he carried an umbrella to keep us dry.
“Don’t stay for too long,” Tam warned. “I can speak to Dad, see if you can take one of the flats in his building until you’ve worked out a plan.”
“I already have a plan.” I simply hadn’t divulged the details to him.
“Just say you’ll think about it, okay?”
“Fine, I’ll think about it.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Kaja
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LEO’S FLAT WAS INCREDIBLE.
It was the total opposite of the cabin where I’d spent my whole life. Where that place had been single-storey and any views had been crowded out by endless trees, here the huge floor-to-ceiling windows offered views right across London. It was night now, and the city twinkled and blinked with lights of all colours—white, silver, yellow, red, and blue. The River Thames snaked through the towering buildings, with lights from river boats illuminating the water.
It wasn’t as though I hadn’t seen a city before—I’d spent plenty of time in Tallinn—but London was on a whole other level. Even in the rain, the lights appeared to be endless. Where Tallinn quickly became forest, London only led onto more towns, and then more cities. The sheer volume of the population was overwhelming. It would be easy to get lost here.
The thought quickened my heartbeat.
Did I dare do it? If I tried to run, and Leo caught me, what would he do? Would he kill me there and then? Where would I go if I did try to run? Who would help me? I was technically an illegal immigrant. If I went to the authorities, they would send me back to my country and back to my father. I would have done a full circle and be no better off for everything I’d been through.
I thought of the woman I’d met at the airport, Hallie. She’d seemed concerned for my welfare, but Hallie’s loyalty would be with Tam and Leo, not some strange girl she didn’t even know. I hadn’t missed the way she’d held her hand protectively over her stomach, though there was barely a curve to her belly. I guessed that meant the two of them would become three in a matter of months, and Leo would become an uncle. I had no intention of becoming a mother myself anytime soon, but a little stab of jealousy went through me—or maybe it was more a longing. The couple seemed to know their place in the world and were clearly crazy about each other. The protective way Tam touched her in public, a hand on her hip, on her shoulder, lifting her chin to raise her face for a kiss, filled me with yearning.
I felt very much like an outsider, and I wondered if that would ever change. Would they always see me as the enemy?
