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“Me too,” Emily declares. “If you want to come to Jersey with Noah and me, that is.”
I give them a grateful smile. “Thanks. But I wouldn’t want to cause trouble. And you guys need Arran in the alliance. He won’t do that if I’m around.”
“So then what?” Carina continues her pacing. “Do you have any ideas where Arran might be hiding Clive? I’ve discovered the last two places, but—”
“Maxton House,” I blurt. “He’s at Maxton House.”
Carina stops and looks at me with utter confusion, her brows pinched so tightly together, they look like one slash across her forehead. “Where in Maxton House?”
“Underground. There are offices and other facilities down there. I saw a nurse coming out of a room with pills and food. Immediately, I knew that’s where he is.” But I pretended not to. Deep down, I knew it the instant I saw that woman, but I looked the other way because Arran had just saved me from getting raped.
“Wait a minute.” Carina lifts a finger, her mind working. “But I’ve gone over the blueprints for Maxton House. There’s nothing about an underground.”
Emily wrinkles her nose. “Why are you going over the blueprints? And how did you even get them?”
“I wanted something to hold over Arran. Show him that if I can find Clive’s location, so could Gideon. It was supposed to be a hard nudge into agreeing to join the alliance.” She grins. “But he’s even smarter than I thought.”
“You scare me sometimes, Carina,” Emily says.
“So he’s at the auction house. That means you go to Gideon and tell him exactly that. Get your sister and run.”
I think back to everything Arran and I shared over the last week. About his threats and hatred of my father. I also recall the way he made me feel. How protective he’s been, to the point where he’s shielded me with his own body.
He’s an enigma that confuses my senses and I can’t be sure if I hate him or I…
“All this time, I’ve wanted nothing more than to save my sister. I now have the ability to, and I’m hesitating because of Arran, even after what he’s done,” I say. “Because it will gut him all over again, and there’s no telling if Gideon will stop there. What if he kills Arran too?”
And there it is, spoken aloud. My real fear that Arran will pay the ultimate price. The women glance at each other but say nothing.
“What does that say about me?” I ask.
“It says you fell for the ass,” Carina tells me sadly. “It says life is fucking unfair when it makes you choose between two people you love.”
“So what do I do?”
“You save your sister,” she says with vehemence. “Let us handle saving Clive. Whatever plans Gideon has for him, they’re not going to be immediate.”
“Arran won’t agree.” Why would he? Now he sees me as a traitorous spy on top of being the daughter of the man who murdered his sister.
“He won’t know until it’s too late,” she retorts. “The question is, how are you supposed to contact Gideon?”
“I’m supposed to go to a warehouse right outside of Philly. It’s empty, but he has cameras. When I show up, so will a driver.” I repeat the address he forced me to memorize by turning it into a stupid little tune. “That means I have to go alone.”
“I figured that much. It will be imperative that we don’t attack too soon, but we can only wait so long.” Carina tugs her phone from her pocket. “You take this. Em and I will be in touch with you as long as we can. I’m sure that once you arrive, Gideon will have you searched.”
“How will I get there?”
She wraps an arm around my shoulders and guides me to the door. “You’ll take one of our cars. A mile before you reach your destination, pull over and call me. Then find a place where you can hide the phone. If you can go back to that location, you’ll still have a means of communication.
“When I get that call, I’ll set a timer for one hour. The first thing Gideon will do is confirm what you’re telling him. Once he does, he might want to hold on to you for insurance. I don’t care what you have to do, Skye, but you need to get away. Promise him the world, I don’t care. Be gone as fast as you can.”
I cover my face with my hands and dig my fingers into my eye sockets. “I was just supposed to be a lawyer.”
“Then use your argument skills to get out of there.” She paces to the bed and back, drawing up her plan in her mind. “Once you call me, I’ll wait an hour and then let the men know what’s happening. The first thing Arran will do is have his father moved. So I don’t know how you need to do it, but you and Maisie have to be gone by the time Gideon discovers Clive is no longer at Maxton House.”
I inhale deeply, then exhale slowly, doing my best to calm my nerves. “Okay.”
“Where will you go after?” Emily asks.
