In the safe wasn’t a leather bound book inscribed with two-hundred years of deadly secrets. Inside were piles of neatly arranged stacks of money.
This definitely wasn’t a dream.
The book was gone, the senator wanted me dead, and my son and I would never be safe.
“What is this?”
“It’s the money the senator paid me to kill you. All accounted for and yours. All it needs is a code to protect it.”
I turned away from the money to look into Angel’s eyes. There was no deception in the mahogany depths, but still, I wavered. “What do you want?”
“Trust.”
Instead of feeling free, I felt the walls closing in and my shackles tightening. To bestow trust is welcome deception. What if Angel’s offer of control was nothing more than an illusion to gain my trust? He was willing to risk losing so I wouldn’t fight him.
What would he be willing to risk so I wouldn’t win?
I turned away so he couldn’t see my doubt. I closed the safe door and keyed in a new code that only my eyes could see.
Angel wasn’t the only one who could create illusions.Chapter FiveMIAN
PresentMY ARMS STRAINED as I lifted the painting of Angel. Deja vu slammed into me when I almost toppled over under the weight. I managed to hold my footing and blinked away at the sting of sweat pouring into my eyes. I didn’t have much time to get into the safe and out of the house with Caylen. Anna was currently keeping Z and two of Angel’s guards distracted, but it wouldn’t be long before Z would get suspicious. Lucas had fortunately stayed behind at the hospital with most of Angel’s guard.
My fingers trembled as I keyed in the combination I set the night Angel took me to his bed for the first time. It took me three tries to calm my nerves enough to key in ten-thirty-one—his birthday, and the night my world crumbled around me.
I unhitched one of Angel’s old backpacks from my shoulder and quickly filled it with money.
My money.
Caylen’s money.
The money Senator Staten paid to have us killed rather than use to help feed his grandchild. The reality that my son shared blood with someone so evil made me sick to my stomach.
Once the safe was empty, I zipped up his ratty backpack and quietly stepped down from the chair. I didn’t have time to right everything, so I didn’t bother. Angel would know I’d been here anyway. It was the very risk he took when he bargained for my trust, and I would never in a million years feel bad that he lost.
As I slipped through the office doors and made my way back to the guest room, I listened to the sound of Anna’s giggles and the chatter as it drifted up the stairs. Every now and then, Z’s amused voice would respond to something she said.
Caylen was sound asleep as I grabbed as many diapers, bottles, and formula as could I fit in the limited space of the backpack before carefully wrapping him in a blanket. I said a prayer he wouldn’t wake before slipping out of the nursery. I strained to hear their voices, but in the matter of minutes it took for me to gather the supplies, the house had fallen deathly quiet. Part of the plan was for Anna to ask for a ride back home with the excuse that I had gone to bed early with a migraine, so I wasn’t alarmed by the silence. Z wouldn’t bother me until morning and Anna would be safely home. Before we put our plan into motion, she’d called Joey, who had agreed to pick me with the promise that he’d get a second date with Anna. It was even more difficult this time to convince her even though she’d swear it wasn’t because of a certain brooding criminal with silver eyes and a killer smile.
I was able to slip from the house and immediately shivered from the cool night air. Wrapping Caylen’s blankets tighter, I escaped into the night. I made sure to stay in the shadows as I made my way to the end of the driveway where Joey would be waiting for me on the other side of the gate. The path seemed to stretch forever, and every other step, I expected someone to jump out of the shadows to catch me. The gate finally came into view, and when I squinted, I could just make out the rusted metal of Joey’s car waiting along the edge. He wisely kept the engine and the headlights off, which meant Anna told him just enough to keep him smart.
I quickened my step, eager for freedom, and after some fumbling, found the button to release the gate. The soft purr of the gate’s automatic locks made me cringe.