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‘Quarter of a million. Cash. Upfront.’
‘Or...?’
I swallow. ‘Or I’m not going with you. Nor is Lukas.’
It’s a bluff but one I have to make.
To my astonishment he doesn’t instantly get angry. He blinks but the smallest quirk tilts his lips. Surely he’s not amused?
‘How will you stop me from taking him?’ he asks blandly. ‘And you, for that matter. You know I could bundle you both onto my jet and—’
‘You’re not a bully. You’re not a criminal. And you don’t have passports for either of us yet,’ I say.
‘The passports are less than twenty-four hours away and if you think I’m such a straight-up good guy why didn’t you try harder to let me know you’d had my son?’
I don’t want to admit my shame. I take a breath. ‘This is my price. I won’t ask for anything more. Not for me. Ever. But I need all of it. Upfront. Before leaving.’
‘You want it in unmarked dollar bills? Untraceable bags?’ His smile deepens.
I purse my lips. I need to remain serious so he finally gets that this isn’t a joke. ‘Bank transfer will be fine.’
‘Sure.’ He keeps his gaze drilled on me as he pulls his phone from his pocket. ‘I need your account details.’
He says it so matter-of-factly I just stare for a moment.
‘You’re doing it now?’
‘You want the money, don’t you?’
I fumble for my phone and pull up my banking app and read the numbers to him.
He taps his screen for a few moments then glances up at me. ‘The money’s gone through.’
I just gape at him. ‘What?’
‘Refresh your app,’ he says. ‘It should be there.’
I really don’t want to believe him, but I do it. And there it is. I break into a sweat. My account has never seen so many zeros. There’s a quarter of a million dollars—plus the meagre few hundred I had saved in there. I drag in a breath but still feel as if I’m suffocating. The sweat trickles down my spine as I tap the screen to forward the payment to Ava right away. I’ll call her and explain it all later. I just want that money out of my account now. Because I feel bad about this. So bad. I’m barely aware that Dain’s now standing beside me, silently observing over my shoulder.
But the payment doesn’t go through. I frown at the ‘transaction denied’ message.
‘I put money into that account all the time,’ I mutter. ‘Why won’t they let me do it today?’ I tap the app and try again. A big bright red alert message appears at the top. ‘It’s been “blocked for unusual activity”.’ I read it aloud in frustration. ‘I have to phone them. Or go into a branch and take photo ID with me.’
‘Your bank is right to query such a large transfer,’ Dain says, way too calmly for me to handle.
‘Because I’m usually so destitute an amount like this has to be some kind of fraud?’ My eyes fill. I was so close and I’m frustrated. And I’m kind of blown away that he’s just done that with no questions asked and I’m horrified with myself for asking him to in the first place. I feel as though I’m about to vomit.
Dain pushes me into the seat and hunches down before me.
‘Breathe,’ he instructs calmly. ‘Just breathe.’ Reaching up, he wipes a rogue tear from my cheek.
‘How about you just tell me what it’s for?’ he says after a few moments. ‘Are you in trouble—is it debt collectors?’ He growls. ‘I can help, Talia. I have a whole team of people who can help. It’s not hard for me. I have an appalling amount of privilege. Let me help you with whatever the problem is.’
I stare at him and simply feel worse.
‘Because there’s obviously a problem,’ he adds. ‘Talia?’ he prompts.
‘It’s for my sister,’ I blurt.
