25. Chapter Twenty-Five
Isaw a familiar face in the crowd. Unlike the rest of the pale faces of the native Irish, her deep tan and plump lips gave her away. She caught my eye because she looked like Rose. So much so that I almost cried out my stepdaughter’s name in my desperation.
“Lea, right?” I asked her, as she flipped through the newspaper, her ankle crossed at her knee.
“I told him it wouldn’t work,” she sighed. “You know exactly what I look like. I was at your wedding, for fuck’s sake.”
“What?” I asked, confused.
“He put me on your security because he wanted you to ‘have the best’.” She mocked Jericho’s deep voice and his authoritative tone with the last phrase and I wanted to laugh. She continued her mockery. “Twenty-four hours, Lea. I mean it, Lea. You’re in charge, Lea.” She shut the newspaper. “Ugh, he’s insufferable.”
“W-Why would he put you on my security?” I asked. “Why wouldn’t he keep me secure?”
Her head fell back, her black shoulder-length hair spiked around her ears. She moaned in irritation.
“I’m gonna lose my commission for this. Ah, but fuck it. I’m an assassin, not a bodyguard. What did he expect, right?” She phrased it as a question, but she didn’t wait for my response. “Right.”
She nodded to herself, then leaned forward in her seat, regarding me up and down.
“Lady, I’m doing this because I owe him a favor, and that’s it. Okay?” She chewed on her lip in contemplation. “Are you in love with the bookshop guy?”
“What?” My eyes went wide.
“Answer the question.” She commanded. Did all of Jericho’s colleagues speak like this? All… bossy.
“No!” I said. “I love Jericho.”
She nodded, as if she expected that answer all along. “Good.”
She fished an envelope out of her pocket and handed it to me. I tore it open in my shaking hands and read the plain words written on the paper.
“He’s divorcing me?” I looked at her in disbelief. “Why?” My heart was breaking. “What did I do wrong?”
“Nothing!” she said, smacking her forehead. “You’re as dense as he is.” She stood up, but even at her full height she only came to my shoulder. “He thinks you want a normal life, so he’s giving you one. He’s divorcing you because he thinks it’ll make you happy. So you can get away from our life and all the danger it is.”
She made bunny ear air quotes with those little phrases and I understood why Jericho both admired her and disliked her in equal measure. She was kind of a bitch.
“But…” I sputtered. “I don’t want that. I want him.”
“Cool.” She shrugged. “He’s at the airport.”
“He’s leaving?”
“Yeah, what did you expect him to do?” She shrugged again. “He thought he was dropping you off with your future husband in that bookshop.”
“What?” I looked around, ready to run to the apartment, then changed my mind. The airport was the other direction. But I couldn’t walk. What was I thinking? I needed a car.
As if reading my mind, Lea rolled her eyes and pulled out car keys from her pocket, dangling it in front of my face.
She clicked the button, and a little Audi S6 beeped to life. “Ride?”
“Yes, please!”
“Cool. But … sit in the front. I’m not a chauffeur.”