The Negotiator (Professionals 7)

Eyes shooting open, I found Christopher sitting off the edge of the bed, fully dressed in a deep gray suit. Meaning he’d been moving around in the room getting dressed while I had been passed out.

“What time is it?” I asked, voice groggy.

“After ten,” he told me.

“What’s going on? Is my room ready for me to go back to?”

“Yes, it’s ready. But, no, you’re not going back to it.”

“Why not?”

“Come on. Let’s get you breakfast,” he offered instead of answering, the bed bouncing a bit as he got to his feet, reaching over to flick off my covers.

With a grumble, I folded upward, sliding off the bed. “Alright. Just let me go get dressed.”

“You’re fine,” he insisted, leading me into the hall. “Let’s go.”

He left little room for debate. And I was honestly hungry enough not to care about near nudity around his men.

The house, though, was surprisingly quiet compared to the hubbub of the night before.

“Ah, there she is!” Cora greeted, rushing toward me, arms outstretched, pulling me in for a hug so tight I found it hard to breathe. “How are you? Are you alright? You poor girl!”

“I’m fine, Cora,” I insisted, offering her a convincing smile. “Really,” I added when she kept giving me small eyes.

“And to think,” she said, turning away, going about making me a plate, “you gave that man extra food.”

The smile was immediate and big. Turning to Christopher, I saw a similar light in his eyes.

“He had us all fooled, Cora,” Christopher said, tone apologetic. “Most of all me.”

“Good riddance to him,” Cora snapped, turning, putting a bowl of fresh fruit and yogurt in front of me. “Eat up, dear, you have a long day ahead of you.”

“I do?” I asked, turning my attention to Christopher, waiting for an explanation.

He moved around the other side of the counter, accepting the coffees from Cora who excused herself into the garden, leaving us alone.

Christopher passed a coffee to me, taking his, and leaning back against the sink. “We are leaving,” he told me. “In one hour.”

“Leaving to go where? Are you sending me home?” Was that disappointment in my tone? When there should have been relief?

“I’m not,” he told me, and there was no accounting for the wave of relief I felt.

“Then where are we leaving to?”

“Somewhere safer for the time being,” he informed me.

“Am I going to be told where?”

“The fewer people who know right now, the better.”

“Do your men know?”

“They know we are leaving. Only three know where. Only three will be taking the trip with us.”

“What about Cora?”

“Cora will stay with her husband. She’ll be safe.”

“You’re sure?”

“I wouldn’t leave her in danger.”

“How are we going to eat?” I asked, making a strange laugh/snort escape him.

“You’ve been learning.”

“I have no recipes.”

“We’ll figure something out.”

“Where is Alexander?”

“Laird took him to town a few moments ago. Until we are certain of things, not all moving at once is safest. You’ll eat. We will pack your things, and then we will go.”

“I have no say in this, huh?”

“I have to keep you safe, Melody.”

I had almost forgotten I told him my name. And the shock of it made a shiver move through my system. Thankfully, only on the inside.

“I get that,” I agreed.

“You’re not going to argue with me?”

“Not this time, no,” I told him, finishing up my breakfast, bringing it over to the sink, feeling a momentary pang of regret that I wouldn’t be able to cook with Cora anymore for the foreseeable future. “I’ll go get dressed. Do you have some extra luggage? Or, I don’t know, a box or something? I can just pack a few things.”

“Pack it all. I put luggage in your room.”

“Oh, okay. Great. Um… I just need like twenty minutes,” I told him, going toward my room.

I stopped inside the door, gaze immediately going toward the spot where Christopher had bashed Niko’s head into the wall.

The window had been patched.

The blood was completely gone.

There were nicks out of the wood, though, evidence of the events of the night before.

Taking a deep breath, I smelled bleach.

Forcing my focus away from the whole ordeal, I grabbed the oversized luggage Christopher had left me, filling them up with all the things he had acquired for me, picking out a long white skirt and a black tank top for the day, and getting myself ready.

“I can grab one,” I insisted when Christopher took the bags.

He said nothing, just turned and walked out of the room, expecting me to follow.

And without anything else to do, I did just that.

Once outside, he handed off the bags to two of his men, the two I imagined were coming with us, along with Laird.

“We’re doing this quickly,” Christopher informed me, letting one of the men go in front of us, and I could feel the other move in behind.