The blonde bombshell was going to get us killed if she continued with her stubborn streak. I hadn’t yet learned who was behind all of this. I could assume, since I’d been able to bargain for her, that she wasn’t the target. But what if whoever was behind this was smarter than I gave them credit for?
The scheme might be more elaborate than that. I could be leading them exactly where they wanted me to. It didn’t help that we were leaving a digital footprint. The dance club had security, and I knew better than anyone that any system could be hacked with enough patience and time. The fact that I owned the building gave me access into all spaces.
If I’d been alone, I could have faded in the background. But Lizzy in her bridesmaid’s dress—which was a little too long for a place like this—would stand out. If I’d planned to hole up here, I would have cut the thing off her at mid-thigh. As it was, we were only passing through. I had to hope we had a lead on anyone who might have followed us.
She didn’t like me holding her hand, which I’d snagged once we were through the door. She’d tried to shake me off, but I held firm and gave her a warning glare she’d received. I was damn sure she’d make me pay later.
We wound around the fringes of the room until we got to the exit. It led to a garage in the building across the street from where I’d parked my bike. If someone had been on our heels, they would be searching that building instead of this one.
“You are Tom Cruise,” she said when I unlocked the doors of an SUV with blacked-out windows.
“Get in. We don’t have time.”
Gratefully, she got in without any more comments. But if I’d thought I was off the hook, I was wrong. She waited until after I’d peeled out of the garage as though our lives depended on it, which they did, before laying into me.
“What the fuck is going on?”
“You tell me, princess. One drunken minute, I’m about to get a happy ending. The next, I see you and your brother getting taken and I’m forced to play Liam Neeson’s role, drumming up a particular set of skills to get us to where we are now.”
“You think you saved me?” she asked, though she wasn’t looking for an answer. “I saved you. That girl was all teeth.”
“Maybe I like pain.”
“With those horse teeth, she would have bitten your dick off.”
“Jealous?” I asked, but she just glared at me. “You did focus on the woman-on-her-knees part of the conversation instead of the fact that I saved your sweet ass.”
“No, I was saving you from lying again because we both know Griffin set this all up.”
I ground my molars but didn’t bite my tongue. “I know you think the world of your boyfriend, so I let you believe what you want.”
Though Griffin swore there was nothing between them, I needed to hear it from her.
“He’s a better man than you.”
I tried not to feel the dagger she’d slammed into my heart. “How so?”
“He’s never lied to me.”
“Funny how lying bothers you so much, but you lie to yourself. You won’t admit that I would have told you the truth, but you didn’t want to know. And if I had later, then what? You would have told yourself I wasn’t the best lay of your life because what? I’m rich? That makes you worse than a liar. You’re a hypocrite. And trust me, I can’t wait to put you back in Griffin’s arms and be done with you.”
When my little speech silenced her, I had a moment to wonder if I’d gone too far. But then, we got to the Holland Tunnel.
“Where are you taking me?” she asked.
“Safety,” I said.
“What does that mean? And don’t tell me you don’t have time.”
“We don’t,” I said, slowing behind a pair of blinking lights.
“What? You’re going to help a broken-down motorist? While that’s admirable considering who you are, I thought we didn’t have time.”
I’d come to a stop, drivers honking as they made their way around us. Time was at a premium. Tunnel authorities would be on scene within minutes and we needed to be gone before then.
A woman holding a bag exited the car parked ahead of us and came our way. When I popped the locks for her, Lizzy’s eyes grew to the size of saucers.
“Here,” the woman said, shoving a bag at Lizzy once she slid in the back seat.
“Change,” I said.
“What?” Lizzy said, her voice going up an octave.
“Take your dress off, give it to her, and put on clothes from the bag. And don’t argue. We are on the clock. Less than thirty seconds.”
“I can’t change in that time.”
“You can’t if you’re talking.”
The look Lizzy gave me would have melted the skin off a lesser man. She whipped the dress over her head, all while glaring at me, and tossed it back to the other woman without glancing in her direction.
It was probably wrong that I grew hard with her laser eyes focused on me. Then again, who would blame me if they could remember the fuck-to-kill session we’d had at her gallery after she’d gotten pissed at me?
I shifted in my seat as Lizzy asked, “You work for Griff, I assume?” Though her eyes never left mine, she was talking to the woman behind us.
“Yes,” the woman said.
“That’s what I thought,” she snapped as she pulled a T-shirt over her head.
If I hadn’t only had eyes for the blonde, I would have peeked at what was happening in the back seat as the woman changed into the dress Lizzy had taken off.
“I guess we’re playing switcheroo?” Lizzy snapped.
I nodded. “We’re going to get in that car and wait a second for them to pull out in front of us. Hopefully they’ll be able to make up the time so it appears they—we—never stopped. And we’ll leave before the Port Authorities show up.”
“Go,” the woman said as soon as Lizzy shimmied pants over her amazing legs and ass.
I got out, and the man in the car opened the door to a chorus of honks as cars zoomed past. Thirty seconds after the SUV pulled around us, I drove off at a leisurely pace. I spotted blinking yellow lights in the rearview mirror. The service van was looking for us. The stopped car had probably been reported by a good Samaritan—or a pissed off one.
“Where to now?” Lizzy asked.
After we passed the EZ-Pass toll, I hit the gas. “We fly.”
When I pulled off the exit that led to a private airport, she said, “You can’t be serious.”
“I didn’t lie,” I sneered.
“You can’t believe I’m going anywhere with you. Besides, I didn’t pack.”
I hooked my thumb toward the back seat, where I presumed the woman who had traded places with Lizzy had left a bag for her.
“I’m not going anywhere with you, especially without my brother.”
“Your brother’s fine.”
“How do you know?”
“I would have been alerted otherwise.”
“Give me your phone so I can confirm for myself.”
“I can’t,” I said.
“Why?”
“Two reasons. One, if the operation is ongoing and he still has his phone, you may alert the bad guys where he’s hiding.”