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Nadia used to say that. I put my head in my hands, laughter fleeing abruptly. “You’ve worked too hard to do this.
I’ll go beg. That’s what he wants, that’s what he’ll get.”
“You’ll do no such thing.” Justin knelt down in front of me. “If you do that, there is no coming back from it. Trust me. But we’re not just going to leave you here, either.” Justin rubbed his nose. His eyes were red. I knew this look well from Kit. My former fiancé had taught me the signs well, and even in the midst of this personal crisis, I couldn’t help but have my heart clench as I stared at my big brother. When had it gotten this bad? Justin slipped something into my hand. “That is my debit card. Use it to take a taxi to the Hotel des Oiseaux.”
Hope scrunched up her nose. “Birds. The hotel of birds?”
He waved his hand at her. “It’s very exclusive, and she’ll see when she gets there… Yes, there are birds. Never mind that right now. It’s in the seventh arrondissement. You’ll be fine if you get there and wait for me.” He rose. “In the meantime, you two go back to the hotel where her stuff is and retrieve it before he thinks to have it thrown out. Her cell phone. Her wallet. They’re probably at the venue where she was dressing, but the passport will be at the hotel. Hurry about it.”
Bridget jumped up. “I’m going to have to ride in the car with him to go do that.”
“We all are.” Justin sighed. “If we don’t go with him, he’ll find a way to make this even harder on her.”
I couldn’t believe my brother was taking control like this. It was so not like him to do this. Justin was always pretty removed emotionally from whatever was happening with all of us. “Layla, wait for us to leave. Get a taxi and meet me there. I’ll take care of you. Okay?”
I wiped at my eyes. That was so nice of him, so unexpected. Bridget shook her head at me. She didn’t understand it either. Next to me, Holly squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll take care of everything and meet you there.”
“Thank you.” I wiped my eyes again.
Justin put out his hand. “I’ll take the ring.”
Maybe my head was just too fogged up after everything, but I had no idea what he was talking about. “The ring?”
“On your finger. You left Kit at the altar. You’re going to need to return that. I’ll do it for you.”
He was right. I did need to return the ring. Fuck. I hadn’t thought anything about that. With shaking hands from the adrenaline in my system, I pulled the ring off my finger and handed it to Justin. When he would have pulled his hand away, I held it there. “Hold on. This, too.”
The tennis bracelet Kit had given me needed to be returned to him as well. He stared at the bracelet for a long moment before he closed his hand around the diamonds I’d placed there. “I wish things were different, Layla. Please remember that.”
“You’re helping me so much. Thank you.” I’d really never be able to show Justin how much I appreciated this.
Holly shifted in her seat. “Right. Very surprising, big brother.”
“Come on.” He nodded toward the car. “Just get to the hotel.”
Kissing my cheek, Holly smiled. “We’ll fix it.”
I didn’t think things could really be made better. But I wasn’t being abandoned by my siblings, and that was a gift I’d never be able to repay. Bridget furrowed her brow, a string of her red hair falling into her eyes. She stared intently at our brother. I wished I could read her mind like twins and triplets could do in stories, but if anyone had that talent, it hadn’t been me.
They walked past Michael and headed into the car. The head of security looked at me and then the car. He stalked over to me and leaned down. “It’s safe right now. We don’t have any immediate threats to be concerned with. But I don’t like leaving you, so try and fix this thing with your father soon. Okay?”
I think that might have been the most he’d ever said to me in one moment. He’d always been impressively quiet. I nodded. “Okay. Thanks.”
Maybe everything would be okay.
My optimism lasted as I watched the limo drive away, leaving me on a bench in a country where I couldn’t understand a word the locals said. I even managed to find myself a taxi. It had been years since I’d been in one. If I wasn’t in a car being driven by paid staff, I used ride shares. But since I didn’t have my phone, I couldn’t do any of that, and so a taxi was my only choice.
I’d taken French in school. We’d all had to, and I’d lived in French-speaking countries, but I couldn’t speak or understand any of it. I’d never been able to. It was just another way that my brain perpetually failed me. Any language other than English eluded me, no matter what I tried to do about it. The taxi driver must have understood me enough to get me to the hotel. We pulled up to the building, and I let out the breath I felt like I’d been holding the entire time.
The cab driver spoke, and I knew enough about life in general to understand that he wanted to be paid. That was sort of universal. I handed him Justin’s debit card, gratitude flooding me that he’d given it to me.
He was going to meet me here, and everything was going to be fine. I’d never have believed it, but my brother was actually coming through for me. All the years that he’d tortured or ignored me were behind us. When I needed him, drugs or no drugs, Justin was there.
The cab driver said something else I didn’t understand and shook his head wildly. I stared at him. Something was wrong. He held up the card and repeated the same phrases plus some new ones that didn’t sound any nicer as he pushed the debit card in front of my eyes.
It took me a moment to realize the card hadn’t worked. That was impossible. There had to be something electronically wrong. Justin’s card would be good. He’d never hand me a means to pay for this taxi that was going to be denied.
Would he?
