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She shook her head, tears sliding down her face.
‘We have to go. The cops will have had your mum’s phone tapped. Hopefully The Devils haven’t gotten round to that yet.’ He caressed her shoulders. ‘But it’s just a matter of time before they find out. They always have someone on the payroll.’
‘I don’t know what to do,’ she sobbed.
Alex moved closer and wrapped his arms around her. ‘We’ll work it out. You just need to trust me. I will keep you safe.’ The final words were muffled by his lips on her hair.
Sarah let him hold her, for lack of other choices. Whatever ground she thought they’d made over the last two days, seemed uncertain again. Was this what the rest of her life was going to be like?
They returnedto the hotel long enough to pack their belongings into the small backpack and check out. The short walk to the train station was uneventful. Sarah and Alex blended in with everyone else in a hurry to get where they were going.
Alex bought two tickets to France. They had an hour to kill before the train departed. He suggested food but Sarah had lost her appetite. They stood on the platform with other commuters. As each group of travelers left, they were soon replaced with a new crowd, jostling for prime position.
Finally, their train pulled into the station. The purple and gray fabric seats on the regional trains were mostly arranged in groups of four with tables in the middle. Sarah and Alex started the journey with no one sitting opposite them, even though the carriage was almost full with a mix of tourists and professionals, all of them engrossed in smart phones and tablets. Fearing they could be recognized, Alex pulled his cap down firmly and kept his sunglasses on. Sarah had her hair swept up in a gray beanie that sat just above her eyes. A tour group with too much luggage decided to rearrange their bags fifteen minutes into the trip, recreating the chaos of when they embarked. A young German tourist with a flat smartphone wandered from group to group testing the electrical outlets. Sarah grunted to herself, at least that was one problem she didn’t have.
Sarah shifted in her seat, slouching down further in her own misery. Everyone thinks she’s dead. And not because she got involved with a bad guy. Sarah wouldn’t do that. Clearly, she was in the wrong place at the wrong time and ended up collateral damage. How long would they wait in cases like this before holding some kind of funeral or memorial service? God, she hoped people turned up to that. For her mother’s sake.
Sarah felt Alex edge closer to her. He placed his hand on her knee. She didn’t know if he needed to feel close to her or he was trying to comfort her. All she knew was he was the only person who knew her, knew her secrets, her desires, her fears. He was the only one who made her feel truly alive, and loved.
He was also the one who’d put her life in jeopardy.
ChapterFifteen
She’d run from him again. Worse, she’d called her family. Which was as good as phoning the police. He got it; this was not her world. A normal person would want to call home and let their mother know they were alive. But he wasn’t a normal person. He needed to remind himself that Sarah was normal, and terrified and angry. And it was all his fault.
Mick said he’d keep his ear to the ground and run damage control if it was needed - and if he could. Alex had to suffer Mick’s advice to keep a tighter rein on Sarah, as she’d potentially put him and his business in jeopardy as well. Mick’s men swept the area and assured Alex they were in the clear. Except for the phone call.
Frustration shuddered through him. He thought he’d gotten through to Sarah, made her understand that he would keep them safe if she would only trust him. Clearly, he’d failed. It hurt more than he wanted to admit that she didn’t trust him.
Fuck!
How could he make her understand she couldn’t trust the police? There was always someone on the take. Money talked. And if that failed, a bullet always worked.
There was only one option. Stick to the plan and keep them both alive. Anything less would get them both killed.
Alex watched as she stared at nothing out the window, lost in her own thoughts. Sarah had never spoken much about her family. He knew she had a younger brother. They’d never visited, or even phoned when he’d been at her place. Alex hadn’t thought too much of it. He had no family, no one to call or visit. That was his normal. He would’ve found it confronting if she’d been close to her family and wanted him to meet them.
Last night at the hotel in Rotterdam had been a dream, one he hated waking from. They’d been together again, but he knew it wasn’t real. The Devils and the reason they were holed up in a hotel room in The Netherlands was not discussed for those few precious hours. Pretending they were who they used to be, before she learnt the truth about him.
What they’d shared last night had been primal; both a distraction and a release from the almost crippling fear that walked beside them. It had felt like a new beginning, but now he wasn’t sure. He could live with losing her love, as long as he could keep her safe. At least, that’s what he told himself.
He reached across and squeezed her knee. She didn’t move away so he left his hand there, drawing strength from her nearness as he contemplated the journey ahead.
After two anda half hours the train pulled into Paris Gare du Nord, the main station in the French capital. They had to change trains, with a fifty minute delay. At a little after five thirty in the afternoon, it was commuter peak hour. Sarah had traveled to Paris a few times and was familiar with the station. Familiar enough to know to ask one of the metro staff where they needed to be to catch the six twenty-three train to Dijon Ville. Alex took the lead again after allowing her to ask directions in her limited French.
‘Hungry?’
Sarah was famished. They really needed to eat more regularly. She nodded and let Alex take her hand as he marched confidently towards a black and white Paul store. They ordered baguettes with tomato and mozzarella, and coffee, finding a table just outside the cafe.
Alex leant across the table and took her hand, turning it over and studying her palm, as though he could see her future.
‘Sarah,’ he began. ‘I asked you to trust me before. But I think it needs to go both ways. I need to know I can trust you.’
Her mind turned his plea over. He needed to be able to trust her?
‘Please, please promise me you won’t try to contact anyone from home, or even London.’
Sarah closed her eyes and weighed her options. She wanted to let her mum and Heather know she was alive. Hell, she even had a weird need to let Marisa know she was okay. But Alex had been clear, the people she cared about could be used to try and track them down. Sarah couldn’t stand the thought of The Devils turning up on her mother’s doorstep, or Heather having to relive the nightmare again. Or worse.
