“Yes I’m monitoring your emails. But if I hadn’t, I’d have seen your reply to him in his emails. I’m also monitoring his credit cards, his—”
“You’re monitoring my emails?”
Of course I was monitoring her emails. What did she expect? “I’m trying to keep you safe. How else was I supposed to figure out what was going on with the false transactions on your bank accounts?”
“It’s one thing to keep an eye on my bank accounts, but my email? Without my permission? That’s a step too far, even for you.”
“Not like creeping off to meet your ex who walked out when he decided you weren’t rich enough.”
“I’m not creeping off anywhere, and I’ve not even decided whether or not I’m going to go.”
“Why is it even a consideration? You should have come to me right away when you heard from him. I told you yesterday that he was the one taking the money and breaking into your flat. You didn’t say anything. Why not?”
She stood and headed to the dishwasher. “I had other things on my mind. Just because I said I’d meet him doesn’t mean I was going to. I hadn’t decided. I still haven’t.”
She had to be kidding me. “What do you mean, you still haven’t?”
“Well now I need to confront him about the cameras, the rose, and the payments.”
“Jesus Christ, Parker. Why would you deliberately put yourself at risk like that?” I swallowed down my frustration. I really didn’t want to tell her the next part, but she deserved to know the truth. And if it would keep her from meeting Mike, she needed to know.
“It’s a public place. What harm can I come to? It’s not like I’m going to be taken in by his charms again.”
“You should know that he’s planning to kidnap you. He’s formulated an ambitious plan to . . . take you from your flat.” I had to push down the urge to vomit at the thought.
“Take me?” Realization sheeted across her face. “Kidnap me?”
I nodded. “Hence the cameras. He could make sure you were alone and at your most vulnerable.”
“Are you sure? Mike was shallow and selfish, but I can’t believe he was capable—”
“He’s gotten himself into debt. And he’s been in contact with some people who—well, some dangerous people.” If she asked, I’d tell her more, but she didn’t need to know that after he’d gotten his money, he’d planned to sell her to a third party rather than release her. I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to block out the thought.
“We need to go to the police with what I have—although a lot of it I’ve obtained illegally. I also want to speak to your father.”
“You’ve not done that already? I would have thought he’d have been your first call.” She was still angry. “The last twenty-four hours has been . . . a lot. A lot of revelations. A lot of old memories. I need some time to take it all in. I think I might go to a hotel for a night.”
My body turned to stone. I couldn’t move. “Stay,” I pleaded.
“I just need some time to process all this. I’ll go to my parents’. They have security. I’ll be safe there.”
The churning in my gut that had been there since she’d walked through my front door yesterday evening, her face full of disappointment and anger, took over my entire body. “You’ll be safe with me.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know who I can trust at the moment. I just want to— I want to go.”
She was safe here. With me. She could trust me. But that didn’t matter. She’d been prepared to put herself in danger in a way I couldn’t comprehend and I would never be able to live with. It was better that she went back to her parents. If I hadn’t seen the emails between them arranging the coffee, she may have been taken—kidnapped—and who knew what else. Every version of the future we might share could have disintegrated in an instant.
“What?” she asked.
What could I say? Her leaving was for the best. She’d be safe from Mike and I’d be safe from my world burning to the ground if anything ever happened to her. I’d spent my life not getting attached to women for this very reason. My feelings for Parker had crept up on me. Maybe the space she needed would give me room to extinguish them.
“Nothing,” I replied. “You’re happy for me to talk to the police and your father?”
“Yes,” she said, disappointment in her tone.
“I’ll get Sergei to drive you. He and his team are outside. You’ll be safe with them.”
This was better. Saying goodbye now would be easier, even if it was still sure to rip out my heart.
Thirty-One
Parker
My limbs didn’t move as quickly as they normally did, like I was stepping through syrup or wading through treacle. I opened my bedroom door and came face-to-face with Sutton.