by Alison Ryan
“QB, Weston. What the fuck are you going to do now?”
Nolan looked ashen.
“And Adrianna? Was that QB, too?” Nolan asked.
“Fuck no, she was too small time to even be on his radar. Nice piece of ass, though.”
Nolan raised a hand to strike when Nicholas summoned his last reserve of energy and somehow flipped over, dislodging Nolan from his neck. With what seemed like superhuman strength in his one good arm, he lifted and threw Nolan into the nearest wall.
“Skirts will ruin us all. You fucked up because of Hunt’s daughter and I took this job to get into Jessa’s pants. You’d think we’d learn. Fuck it. You’re dead. I’ll get what else I need from Camilla. She doesn’t have the balls to shoot anybody.”
Nicholas charged Nolan, his bulk crushing him up against the wall and pinning him there as he threw wild punches with his good arm and head-butted him over his left eye.
I wanted to shoot, to end the nightmare, but Nolan was too close. I couldn’t risk it. I backed up against the wall and into… someone. I spun with the gun in my hand, only to have my arm intercepted and lifted out of the way by the woman I knew only as Krav Maga, my other security escort. She dispossessed me of the weapon, and I knew then that we were surely doomed.
As Nicholas and Nolan exchanged blows, Krav Maga gave me a… smile?
She flew across the room, landing a devastating series of strikes to the small of Nicholas’s back. The large man froze and staggered back, and Nolan delivered the deathblow directly to his throat.
When it connected, the man collapsed straight down like I’d seen hotel towers fall in on themselves when imploded in Las Vegas. He crumpled, motionless and soundless.
The room looked like a tornado had blown through it. Nolan’s face was puffy and battered, and he held his side as he limped toward me. We embraced, as I openly wept.
I was vaguely aware that Krav Maga was on her phone.
“Richard, there’s been a problem,” she said.
Richard? How did she…
I pulled back from Nolan, puzzled. He wiped blood from a gash on his eyebrow, glanced at Krav Maga and back to me, and nodded his head.
Chapter Thirteen
“He called Jessa Ladson. She’ll have dispatched a team to Jo’burg by now. Set up a welcoming committee.”
Nolan was filling in Krav Maga on the events of the evening.
“South Africa? Leonard and his team were in Pretoria last week. Hopefully they’re still nearby. I’ll arrange it. Are the two of you well enough to travel?” Krav Maga looked us up and down.
“I just need to get cleaned up. I’ve got broken ribs. At least two. Everything else is superficial. Camilla?” Nolan looked over at me.
I was completely shell-shocked, but physically unharmed. I managed a whisper. “I’m fine.”
Krav Maga stepped out and returned moments later with a small bag. “Use the stuff in here. Be downstairs in thirty minutes. A car will be outside.” She took a long look around the room. “Nolan, don’t forget to leave a tip for the maids. You’ve trashed this place.”
With that, she was gone.
Nolan rose with a wheeze, and I helped him into the bathroom. I dabbed a wet washcloth to the injuries on his face, trying to make him presentable.
“Get the bag, Camilla. Hurry.”
I returned to the bathroom and gave him the duffel, which he unzipped, revealing changes of clothes for both of us, a wig for me, and a hat for him. A wallet and pocketbook were also inside, with Canadian identification and passports for both of us with new names. As we changed, I questioned Nolan about our benefactor.
“Nolan, how did you do all that? Was that Krav Maga, too?”
“No, aikido, mostly. I picked up some silat in Indonesia. I’ve trained all over the world.”
“And who, or what, is ‘QB’?” My mind was flooded with questions.
“Too much to get into right now. He’s a bad, bad guy. Well, not necessarily bad, but he has no scruples, no conscience. His moral compass points in only one direction; towards money. He’s at the top of the food chain. We need friends. Quickly.”
“So, we can trust her? The Krav Maga girl?””
“Emma? Absolutely,” Nolan reassured me.
“I didn’t know her name, she wouldn’t tell me.”
“Emma Sahar. She’s American-Israeli. She’s one of your father’s most trusted… employees.”
“I thought she worked for Emerson Titan?” I asked, adjusting my blonde wig.
“She does. Or she did. She’s with the firm now. Or what’s left of the firm that hasn’t been corrupted. I trust her with my life. And yours.”
“She made a phone call earlier. I heard her say my father’s name. Was that him on the phone?”
“Richard isn’t an uncommon name, Camilla.”
I frowned, tired of the endless doublespeak and half-truths. Nolan relented.
“Yes. She was speaking to your father. She’s part of the inner circle.”
I tried to put together all the pieces of the puzzle that the past week had made of my life, but nothing fit.
“The next plane you board will be met by him when it lands,” Nolan stated, gritting his teeth as he pulled on a shirt over his damaged torso.
“In Johannesburg?”
“Not exactly.”
With that, Nolan and I (otherwise now known as Mr. and Mrs. Andre and Daphne Manley of Ottawa) proceeded down to the lobby to catch a ride to the airport.
Chapter Fourteen
What is there to say to the woman who saved your life and the life of the man you love?
“Thank you,” I said to Emma as we slid into the backseat of an SUV she was driving. “If you hadn’t been there…”
“You would have shot the bastard,” she said, glancing at me in the rearview mirror. “I saw the look of rage in your eyes. You would have done it, Camilla.”
I looked over at Nolan and his bloodied face. It killed me to see the damage that had been done to him, but I had never been so relieved to know someone was still alive. It had been absolutely terrifying being in that room with the monster that was Nicholas.
Emma was right. I would have shot him. But I was glad I didn’t have to. Nolan had deserved the kill shot on that one.
I hoped Nicholas was rotting in hell.
I thought about what the monster had said about Adrianna. What he had done to her. The look in Nolan’s eyes when he’d heard the horrifying truth.
I touched his leg tenderly.
“I’m so sorry,” I whispered. “About Adrianna. It makes me sick…”
Nolan raised his hand to stop me. “I can’t. Not now. I’ll think about it another time. It’s too much.”
I nodded, understanding.
We rode in silence as Emma drove us toward what I assumed was Reykjavik. The blonde wig I was wearing was itching my head. I held Nolan’s hand as I spoke.
“So where are we going?” I asked. “Not Johannesburg?”
Nolan shook his head. He was so solemn now, I assumed over the news about Adrianna. “No, Camilla. You’re going somewhere you’ve been before with your father. Where you first saw me years ago.”
Salzburg.
“What’s he doing there?” I asked.
“You know your father well enough to know,” Nolan said, squeezing my hand. “Salzburg is his favorite city. And that trip with you was one of the great memories of his life. So he returned there under a new name and started a new life. And I know he’ll be happy to see you.”
“Us,” I corrected him. “He’ll be happy to see us, you mean. Right?”
Nolan didn’t say anything. He just stared out the window as the Icelandic outback sped by our window.
“Nolan!” I cried out. “You’re leaving me again?”
He was squeezing my hand harder now. “You have to see Richard. And I can’t be with you. It’s too dangerous. Now that Nicholas is dead, they’re going to come after us with everything they have. I have
to go into hiding.”
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. “Then I’ll go with you! I’ll be where you are. It’s not a hard choice for me. I don’t need to see my father. All I need is to be with you.” I was almost begging now. “Nolan, I lived without you for months and it almost killed me. I can’t go through that again. At least tell me where you’ll be!”
I was sobbing now. Everything that had happened in the last 48 hours was catching up to me. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack. I could feel Emma’s eyes on me.
“Camilla, Nolan is right,” she said. “There’s too much heat on us right now. I’ll go with you to Salzburg so you can meet with Richard. Nolan will contact you when he can.”
I looked back at him. “This can’t be happening. Nolan… Please. I love you. I can’t even breathe without you. You promised me you would love me forever. And longer.”
“And I will,” his eyes were on me now. “You’re the last face I see every night, Camilla. It’s been that way for years. Which is why I can’t go with you. As much as I hate to leave you again, I love you too much to put you in danger.”
I was sobbing now against his shoulder. I understood it and I also didn’t. The thought of him being somewhere alone and on the run scared the shit out of me. If people like Nicholas worked for the firm I couldn’t even imagine what we were up against.
I wept for the rest of the ride, the hair from my wig sticking to my cheeks. I felt completely ridiculous. I wanted to rip the wig off and just take our chances being ourselves, together.
But I knew it was nonsensical; I had to see things as they were and not how I wanted them to be.
Something I should have been used to by now.
Chapter Fifteen
Saying goodbye to him was hell.
Emma had somehow arranged travel for us on a small private jet under an alias. She assured me no one knew about this particular departure. As far as the IACO (the international aviation administration) knew, we were just a couple of Canadians on our way to Austria.
I sat in the SUV on the tarmac with Nolan for a long time just letting him hold me. I was inconsolable. I just wanted to wake up and be back in our hotel near the blue lagoon with the monster, and all that had happened since, being a distant nightmare that I would forget as soon as I opened my eyes.
Instead I was being forced to say goodbye. Maybe forever. I couldn’t know for sure.
“You’re killing me,” he whispered into my ear as he stroked my hair. “You’re about to see your father. That should make you happy.”
“Nothing will ever make me happy the way you do,” I said. “I resent him for putting us in this position.”
“He didn’t,” Nolan replied. “Your dad is one of the few good men left in all of this. Don’t ever forget that. He would die for you. And so would I.”
“I don’t want anyone to die for me!” I cried out. “I want to live for once! Really live! How will I ever see you again?”
He took my face in his hands and stared into my eyes.
“I have given you all the information you need,” he said. “If it’s safe, and your father will know when, you’ll find me at the one place we’ve both never been. Remember everything I have told you. Keep it in your heart, Camilla. That’s where I keep you. Forever.”
He kissed me then, a long passionate kiss.
The kind of kiss that’s the last one you’ll ever give someone.
He let go of me then because he knew I’d never have the strength to do it myself.
“Camilla,” I heard Emma say. “We have to go.”
I hung my head. I wanted to be dragged out kicking and screaming. Because in my heart, that’s what was happening.
But I also wanted to be the woman my mentor could be proud of. With that in mind, I slid out of the car and didn’t look back as I walked up the air stairs into the cabin of the plane and off to a destiny I wasn’t sure I wanted any part of.
Chapter Sixteen
I almost asked Emma if she could sedate me for this flight as well. I thought about half-jokingly bringing it up, but I was too emotionally exhausted to even speak to her. Or anyone.
Landing in Salzburg for the second time in my life was surreal. I couldn’t help but think about the first time I’d been on a plane to Europe, my father by my side. Where had Nolan been then? Was Adrianna still alive? Had he been happy?
I missed him so much that it hurt.
And as excited as I should have been to see my father, it was hard to muster up any sort of enthusiasm in light of what had happened around me.
I was exhausted in every way a person could be exhausted.
But it was time. To confront my father about the past and start planning for some kind of future. Even if that future might not be with Nolan Weston.
Emma and I drove away from the city proper. She was clearly an expert in the area and knew it well. We didn’t speak much. I appreciated that she wasn’t a chatty woman. It was the last thing I needed at the moment.
We finally reached a lovely cottage in the country. It was a house that was made to look quaint on the outside, but that I suspected was very modernized on the inside. That tended to be what my father liked most about his homes. The veneer made you think one thing, while the inside was completely different.
Like his life. And my own.
As I slowly slid out of the passenger side seat I heard him.
“Camilla.”
I knew that voice anywhere. I turned around and there he was.
My father.
I had thought of this moment so many times. Even when I thought he was dead, I had imagined what I would have said if I’d just had five minutes.
And once I knew he was alive, I would rehearse all the things I would say. I imagined them all coming out at once, everything rushing to get out before he was gone again. Just like when I was a kid. On our rare visits, I would talk so much and so fast that he would laugh and have to tell me to slow down and catch my breath.
But I was always afraid of not telling him everything he needed to know. Because I never knew when I would see him again.
But curiously, I was speechless now.
He looked the same, although he’d clearly dyed his hair. He’d always allowed it to gray but now it was dark brown. It made him look younger, like the father from my childhood. His face was different though. There were lines around his eyes and mouth and very distinct lines in his forehead. It was clear the last year had aged him. He looked ten years older than the last time I had seen him. His face didn’t match his young hair.
“I’ve been hoping,” he said. “And wishing that you’d somehow find me.”
I shook my head, tears stinging my eyes. “The only reason I did was because of Nolan. You weren’t going to tell me anything. You wanted me to think you were dead.”
My father ran his hands through his hair. He was nervous.
“I didn’t want any of this,” he waved his hand around. “For you. I feel like because of me, your life isn’t your own. And you didn’t ask for that, Camilla. And this was my weird way of giving you your life back. Because if I’m dead, they don’t need you anymore. There is no purpose in hurting you. You can’t be used as leverage.”
I laughed, caustically. “But you left me the firm, Dad. So you just made your past become my future. How the hell does that make sense?”
“Nolan was supposed to take care of that,” Dad said. “I wanted him to arrange it so you could be bought out. You could live the rest of your life with the kind of freedom most people only dream of. Somehow it didn’t work out. I had no idea what was happening at my own firm.”
I nodded. “It’s a mess. Nolan and I are basically on the run. So many people want us dead.”
Dad’s expression was scared for a moment. “Are you okay?”
“No,” I replied. “But I will be. We’re going to be okay.”
“We,” my father said. “You and Nolan?”
I knew what he was asking. And su
ddenly I was his daughter again.
“Yes,” I said. “I love him.”
My father sighed. “He’s not good for you, Camilla. You’ll never be safe if you’re with him. Nolan is a dead man walking and he knows it.”
“Yep,” I said. “It’s why he’s not here. He left me. Said it was for my best interests. Like someone else I know, he chose the firm over me.” I was trying my best not to shake. “But I’m used to it. If your own father doesn’t want you, who else would?”
I wanted the words to hurt him, but as soon as I said them, they felt wrong on my tongue.
“Camilla,” my father said. “How could you ever think that?”
“How could I not think that?” I raised my voice. “I saw you maybe twice a year most of my life. I was shipped off to boarding school before I even hit puberty. I was a loose end in your life. Do you know how that feels? To know you’re an inconvenience to your own father? To know his affection is out of obligation… That I was an obstacle in your life? It makes you feel worthless.”
I had never said any of these things out loud to anyone.
With those words came such a sense of release. And relief.
My father, however, looked like he might cry.
“I can completely understand why you would feel that way,” he said. “Actions are what matter. And I did not act like the father you deserved.” He paused for a moment as if he was gathering his thoughts. “But I won’t allow you to believe for even one second that you were an inconvenience. My job was the inconvenience, Camilla. You were the light in what was a very dark life. And I wanted nothing more than to quit the firm and stay with you forever. I missed out on so much. Every time I got to see you was like Christmas times a thousand. You are the greatest accomplishment of my life. Above anything else.”
I was crying now. I wanted to believe him so much.
“So why didn’t you just quit?” I asked. “If I was that important and you were that miserable?”