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Underneath all of the urgency, I really am glad to see Ashley. I know Timofey isn’t fond of her, and she definitely has her problems, but she has a good heart.
Maybe it took Noelle’s betrayal for me to see exactly how good.
“It might actually be better if I talk to you without my grandma first.”
Ashley can handle whatever is coming. I’m not sure the same can be said about Gram. I don’t want to stress her out if it isn’t necessary.
But suddenly, Gram is standing on the porch.
Her fists are planted on wide-set hips, and she is beaming down at me with her mouth wide open. “You aren’t doing a darn thing without me, Piper Quinn!”
For just a second, the panic ebbs. I didn’t realize how much I’ve missed her until this very moment. Seeing her brings literal tears to my eyes.
I take the steps two at a time and throw my arms around her waist, doing a pretty good impression of Ashley when I first arrived.
“Are you okay?” I ask, pulling back a bit when she wobbles.
She hugs me tighter. “The harder you’re squeezing, the better I am. What are you doing here?”
“She hasn’t told me yet,” Ashley chimes in.
“It’s a long story.”
“Well, we have all the time in the world.” Gram kisses my cheek and grabs my arm. “Come inside. They have good coffee in the drawing room.”
I want nothing more than to sink into this daydream for a minute. I want to sit at a table and drink coffee and talk to Ashley and Gram. I want to hear about their friends and what they’ve been doing. I want to make sure Gram has been taking her vitamins and doing her stretches. But…
“There isn’t time.” I’m speaking to myself as much as to them. “We have to go.”
Gram frowns and glances at Ashley.
“Go where?” Ashley asks. “You just got here.”
I take a deep breath. “I know. It’s all—It’s a mess. But you know why I sent you here in the first place.”
“Not really.” Gram shakes her head. “It was all a bit confusing. Some kind of trouble with you and Timofey?”
“But we’re here on his dime, right?” Ashley asks. “He’s paying for all of this?”
“What? No, he’s not.”
Her eyes go wide. “Areyoupaying for it?”
“Yes! I’m paying for—I’m the one who sent you here.”
It all happened pretty fast—buying the tickets, getting Ashley and Gram on the flight, booking the bed and breakfast. I guess I didn’t explain myself that well. But I assumed if they agreed to get out of the country that they understood what they were doing here.
“I thought you were coming with us,” Gram says. “I thought we were going ahead and you were coming after.”
“I had to stay behind to watch Timofey. To make sure…”Nothing happened to Benjamin.
Failure hits me square in the chest.
Benjamin is missing and it’s all my fault.
Timofey is threatening my family and that’s all the Albanians’ fault. Maybe Noelle’s, too. I don’t know anymore.
Everything is a disaster, and I don’t know how to fix it. I don’t know how to fix any of it.
