Chapter 35
Chapter thirty-five
When I opened my eyes, Lucian was once again crouched in front of me, fully dressed, brushing hair away from my face.
“Time to wake up, Scar. We’ll be landing soon.”
I smiled. I was on top of the world in more ways than one.
No matter what awaited us on the ground, he would be there. My protector. My champion. My love.
I stretched and took my time dressing back into the flight attendant’s uniform; I’d left my other clothes in the bathroom. Lucian’s gaze lingered, approving of the outfit, and I laughed.
He slid the cabin door open and asked for two bottles of water. The flight attendant handed them over and gave us a bright smile.
“Sunny and mid-fifties in New York,” she said. “Perfect for early January.”
She paused, then added, “We’re passing through ten thousand feet and securing the cabin for landing. Please take your seats and buckle up.”
Lucian opened the bottle and then handed it to me, reaching for my other hand as we prepared to land.
The intercom crackled just as we settled back into our seats.
“Mr. Byrnes,” the captain’s voice came through, tight and clipped. “We’ve just received notice through FMS. There’s a security detail waiting at Teterboro. They plan to board as soon as we open the door.”
My stomach dropped.
Lucian didn’t blink. “What kind of security detail?” he roared, his words echoing in the tight space.
“Federal task force,” the captain replied.
“They’re rolling heavy. To buy you a few minutes, I told them we’d meet them at Jet Aviation.
It’s on the manifest. I’ll taxi to Atlantic Services on the other end instead.
That should give you a short head start through the FBO before they realize what’s going on. ”
Lucian was already unbuckling and tapping away on his phone.
“That’s really bad,” I whispered to myself as I unbuckled too.
Grimacing at his phone, he tapped some more and shoved it into his pocket. He had that look of half fury and half determination. The same one he had that night at The Black Ledger. This was so bad.
He took my hand and pulled me toward the cockpit.
The crew’s faces told me all I needed to know. We were about to end up in jail or worse.
“I need you two to get Scarlett out of here. No matter what, they cannot get their hands on her,” Lucian ordered the pilots.
He turned to the flight attendant. “You too. She walks in with you as part of the crew—straight into the FBO. I’ll have someone ready to take her from there.”
The flight attendant stepped forward. “They’ll be looking for both of you, so I’ll go with you. I can wear her clothes, and they’ll think I’m her.”
She disappeared into the lavatory without waiting for a response.
Lucian turned me away from him in the galley. The plane dipped as we hit a pocket of air. My hand shot out to steady myself.
“Let’s hide your hair,” he said, gathering my hair quickly, fingers moving over my scalp, and began French braiding it down my back just as he had in the hotel. He untied the scarf at my neck and used it to tie off the braid.
The engines whined as we began our descent.
“This is serious,” he said quietly as he turned me to face him. “You’re going to have to trust me. No hesitation.”
My throat tightened. “What are you going to do?”
He crossed to the small storage closet and pulled out the backpack. He pressed it into my hands.
“Inside are the drive and the documents. You get them to Nik. No matter what.”
“But what’s going to happen to you?” I insisted.
“I’m about to be arrested.”
The plane jolted again as the landing gear deployed.
“By now, I’m sure they’ve been told of our visit to the monastery and assume we took information tying key players to the sex-trafficking scheme.
If they don’t know where the evidence is,” he continued, his hands grasping my arms, “they won’t kill me.
They’ll use me as leverage to keep it buried.
They’ll wait to see what we do with it and exactly what we know, so they can do damage control. ”
“And if they don’t care about the stuff we took?” I shot back.
He stepped closer. “Scarlett.”
He lifted my chin with two fingers.
I swallowed.
“You walk into that FBO with the crew, shoulders back as if you are just one of them. Through the lobby. Out the front. Either Nik or Lach will get you.”
“What if they’re not there in time?”
“Then you fight and you run. You do not go with anyone else.”
My pulse hammered.
“They’ll shoot you,” I said. “They’ll claim you resisted. That’s happening every day. You know my father will push for it.”
“They won’t,” he said. “Not yet.”
His confidence should have comforted me.
It didn’t.
The flight attendant emerged wearing my clothes. She gave me a quick nod.
“Hurry,” she said. “We all need to buckle up.”
We returned to our seats. The tension in the cabin was suffocating.
The runway rushed up to meet us.
The wheels hit hard, and the cabin rattled.
As we taxied, the jet took a sharp turn, veering toward a terminal.
Lucian was already on his feet.
“Let’s go,” he shouted.
The flight attendant opened the door, and the steps unfolded as the engines finished powering down.
Lucian was out the door first, followed by the flight attendant.
I swung the backpack over my shoulders and stepped in line between the pilots.
As soon as I stepped out of the fuselage, I could see Lucian running, and the flight attendant trailing behind him. At the other end of the airport, a swarm of dark vehicles tore across the tarmac. Doors flew open. Men in tactical gear spilled out with rifles raised.
Lucian didn’t slow.
He ran straight toward them.
The pilots pushed me forward.
I couldn’t take my eyes off him. He didn’t so much as hesitate as he powered on, head down. The flight attendant, bless her soul, abruptly stopped and shot her hands up in the air.
Then the melee of masked men in dark clothing converged on them. One agent slammed Lucian into the concrete. Another drove a knee into his back. Fists struck his ribs. A boot connected with his shoulder.
He fought them.
Hard.
But there were too many.
The flight attendant screamed as they forced her down too.
My chest constricted.
Don’t stop.
I forced my feet to keep moving through the back entrance and into the lobby.
People milled around unaware, sipping coffee, scrolling through phones. No alarms. No panic.
One of the pilots squeezed my arm. “The front door is just through there,” he said, gesturing to the left. “Good luck.”
He moved toward a hallway with the other pilot as I hefted the backpack up higher on my shoulders.
After a few more steps, the front doors loomed ahead.
Outside, the cold air hit my face.
I scanned the parking area.
A black SUV hooked right and sped straight toward me.
Seconds later, the passenger door swung open.
My feet stumbled, and my heart shattered. The last images I had of Lucian were of him getting beaten.
Because of me.
I’d done this to him. Dragged him into the nightmare of what it meant to be Andrew Hayes’s daughter.
My shoulders turned to go back.
“Let’s go, Scarlett!” The voice cut through the noise of my thoughts.
I turned toward the voice—dark hair, brilliant blue eyes, and lots of tattoos; he had one hand gripping the steering wheel.
Nik.
I recognized him from the safe house, though hearing him was different. His Russian accent was rough and commanding.
He motioned sharply. “Move!”
Lucian told me to go with Nik.
I trusted Lucian.
So I trusted Nik.
I yanked the backpack off my shoulders, ran the last few steps, and dove into the passenger seat. The bag dropped between my feet as I slammed the door shut.
Nik was already accelerating.
The SUV peeled away from the curb, out of the parking lot, and merged into traffic before I could even turn around to look back.
My chest burned.
“What has he done?” I asked.
Nik’s jaw tightened. “What he always does. The right thing, no matter what it costs him.”
The SUV took a sharp turn toward the highway.
“I knew he would play the hero,” Nik continued, eyes fixed on the road. “But this time he may have overextended.”
My stomach twisted.
“He’s in serious trouble,” Nik said bluntly. “If what you two found isn’t enough to make Hayes and the others negotiate, they’ll do something reckless. And reckless men with power tend to kill first and clean up later.”
The words cut into me.
“He’s not dying,” I snapped.
Nik glanced at me, one brow lifting slightly.
“Good,” he said. “Let’s hope you have the data to back it up, because that will be the only thing keeping him breathing.”
“You don’t get to talk about him like that,” I shot back. “You’re supposed to be helping him.”
A corner of his mouth twitched.
“I am helping him,” he replied. “Sugar coating shit gets none of us anywhere.”
“You’re an ass,” I muttered.
He huffed something that might have been a laugh. “That’s not the first time I’ve been told that.”
The city swallowed us as we crossed into Manhattan.
I stared out the window, replaying the image of Lucian hitting the pavement. The way they’d driven a knee into his back. The way he’d fought.
He hadn’t gone quietly. He’d done it to distract them from me. And at that moment, I hated him being my hero. I’d rather it be me, the mayor’s not-so-saintly daughter.
Nik guided the SUV down into an underground garage beneath a towering building overlooking Central Park South. The gate opened automatically. Cameras tracked us as we pulled into a reserved space.
He killed the engine.
“Stay close,” he said.
We exited, Nik taking the backpack with him and moving toward a private elevator tucked behind reinforced doors. Nik stepped in front of a camera, and the doors slid open.
The ride up was silent.
The doors opened into a vast penthouse. Floor-to-ceiling windows, similar to Lucian’s, faced the park. A long sectional anchored the living area.
Then I saw the small crowd gather around a massive television anchored to the wall, breaking news stories flashing across the screen.