Page 227 of Black Reign

FATHER

Her entire body stiffens.

I silence it.

“Xavier.”

“He can wait.”

“What if this is connected?”

“It probably is.”

“Then you should answer.”

“No.”

She looks at me like I've lost my mind.

Maybe I have.

I open the rear door.

“Get in.”

“Bossy.”

“Kidnapped.”

“Temporarily.”

“Sabine.”

That does it.

She gets in.

I follow.

The privacy glass rises.

My security team takes the front vehicle.

For the first time since I received her 911, there are no other people close enough to hear us.

Sabine sits beside me wrapped in my coat.

Real.

Alive.

Mine to protect even if she never becomes mine in any other sense.

My father's name flashes again.

I shut the watch completely off.

Sabine watches.