Total pages in book: 74
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 72692 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 363(@200wpm)___ 291(@250wpm)___ 242(@300wpm)
The Gerard family home is in walking distance of the ferry.
I wish it was the sanctuary to me it once was.
I walk down a shaded part of the Seine, trying to sort this all out and breathe deeply.
Freaking out right now solves nothing, so I have to stay in control. I can freak out later when I’m alone.
Does Fabien know Nicolette’s been compromised?
TWENTY
Savannah
I have to find Nicolette.
And Thayer…
If someone’s taken Nicolette and someone’s framed Thayer… my flat in Paris isn’t safe anymore. I’ll never forgive myself if my sister’s hurt. It’s my fault.
I take a left down a side street and look at the rows upon rows of vendors, one of my favorite places in Paris. I don’t feel at home this time.
For the first time in my life, I feel homeless. Alone.
I tell myself that I’ll get through this. But I don’t have the option of giving up anymore. I need to do everything I can for the people I… love.
Do I love Thayer?
It’s hard to imagine spending the rest of my life with a man so ruthless and hard.
But he softens when he’s with me.
It’s hard to imagine being with a man who doesn’t trust me, who feels like I’m an object worthy of hoarding and hiding so he can have me all to himself.
Is that really why he tracked me?
I know, even as I’m doing it, that I’m trying to talk myself out of loving him. I’m trying to logic my way out of what I know in my heart is right.
I remember that night in the room made of glass.
I remember the first time I saw through that stern exterior and realized how much he loved me.
I remember the safety of his arms, the certainty of his loyalty, the warmth of his love.
And as I walk down the streets so familiar to me I’ve practically worn grooves in the pavement, I face my biggest fear of all: If I go all in with Thayer, will he, too, leave me?
I can’t think about this now. I have to defend him in the name of what’s right and just.
Maybe we aren’t meant to be together. The thought makes my heart ache in a way I never knew possible.
I want to see him again. I want to look in his eyes and sit on his lap and frame his face in my hands so I can hold his gaze on me forever.
I want to remember what we had. I don’t want to forget. For the first time in my life I felt loved and accepted just as I was. For the first time in my life, I felt cherished.
I shake myself out of my self-pity and face what’s next.
I have to find my sister.
I push myself on and give myself the pep talk no one else is here to give me.
One day this will all be behind you.
This will all be put to rights, and soon.
Sometimes, a girl just needs to remember that the darkest places aren’t here to stay. It’s the reminder I need even as I feel my heart being rent in two.
I turn down another side street and am trying to quell the rapid beating of my pulse so I can solidify a plan when I notice a polished silver Porsche driving toward me.
I know it’s no accident.
Are they following me? I frantically look for a place to hide when I hear the car accelerate.
There’s no easy escape.
I can’t let them take me. If they take me, they win. Thayer goes to jail and Nicolette’s at their mercy.
I have to run.
I take a second to grab my gun and cock it as car doors open and I’m swarmed by armed men.
No.
I swivel to face them, my gun hand shaking.
“Leave me alone!” I yell in French. “Back off or I shoot!”
They stand still and one holds up a cell phone. “We’ve got her in front of us and she’s armed.”
A voice comes over the speakerphone. “Savannah, it’s Lyam, get in the car and I’ll explain everything.”
My heart pounds.
Lyam?
My voice wavers. “How do I know you’re not compromised?”
Lyam curses. “You have to trust me. Now get in the fucking car before someone catches you with that weapon and arrests you, too.”
They know where I am and have somehow tracked me, so I can’t escape. I can’t go to my flat, and I definitely can’t run.
Maybe sometimes the only choice is to take a leap of faith. To trust. Maybe sometimes it means defying all logic and leaping into the unknown with nothing but your parachute strapped to your back. Leaping into the air and pulling the cord, believing that you’ll land on two feet.
I’ll settle for not dying.
I point my gun down and remember where my knife is.
Lyam wouldn’t betray his family. I may not know him as well as Thayer or Fabien, but I know that Lyam would rather die than betray the people he loves.