Chapter 20
CHAPTER TWENTY
Savannah
I have to find Nicolette.
And Thayer…
If someone’s taken Nicolette and someone’s framed Thayer… my flat in Paris isn’t safe anymore. I’ll never forgive myself if my sister’s hurt. It’s my fault.
I take a left down a side street and look at the rows upon rows of vendors, one of my favorite places in Paris. I don’t feel at home this time.
For the first time in my life, I feel homeless. Alone.
I tell myself that I’ll get through this. But I don’t have the option of giving up anymore. I need to do everything I can for the people I… love.
Do I love Thayer?
It’s hard to imagine spending the rest of my life with a man so ruthless and hard.
But he softens when he’s with me.
It’s hard to imagine being with a man who doesn’t trust me, who feels like I’m an object worthy of hoarding and hiding so he can have me all to himself.
Is that really why he tracked me?
I know, even as I’m doing it, that I’m trying to talk myself out of loving him. I’m trying to logic my way out of what I know in my heart is right.
I remember that night in the room made of glass.
I remember the first time I saw through that stern exterior and realized how much he loved me.
I remember the safety of his arms, the certainty of his loyalty, the warmth of his love.
And as I walk down the streets so familiar to me I’ve practically worn grooves in the pavement, I face my biggest fear of all: If I go all in with Thayer, will he, too, leave me?
I can’t think about this now. I have to defend him in the name of what’s right and just.
Maybe we aren’t meant to be together. The thought makes my heart ache in a way I never knew possible.
I want to see him again. I want to look in his eyes and sit on his lap and frame his face in my hands so I can hold his gaze on me forever.
I want to remember what we had. I don’t want to forget. For the first time in my life I felt loved and accepted just as I was. For the first time in my life, I felt cherished.
I shake myself out of my self-pity and face what’s next.
I have to find my sister.
I push myself on and give myself the pep talk no one else is here to give me.
One day this will all be behind you.
This will all be put to rights, and soon.
Sometimes, a girl just needs to remember that the darkest places aren’t here to stay. It’s the reminder I need even as I feel my heart being rent in two.
I turn down another side street and am trying to quell the rapid beating of my pulse so I can solidify a plan when I notice a polished silver Porsche driving toward me.
I know it’s no accident.
Are they following me? I frantically look for a place to hide when I hear the car accelerate.
There’s no easy escape.
I can’t let them take me. If they take me, they win. Thayer goes to jail and Nicolette’s at their mercy.
I have to run.
I take a second to grab my gun and cock it as car doors open and I’m swarmed by armed men.
No.
I swivel to face them, my gun hand shaking.
“Leave me alone!” I yell in French. “Back off or I shoot!”
They stand still and one holds up a cell phone. “We’ve got her in front of us and she’s armed.”
A voice comes over the speakerphone. “Savannah, it’s Lyam, get in the car and I’ll explain everything.”
My heart pounds.
Lyam?
My voice wavers. “How do I know you’re not compromised?”
Lyam curses. “You have to trust me. Now get in the fucking car before someone catches you with that weapon and arrests you, too.”
They know where I am and have somehow tracked me, so I can’t escape. I can’t go to my flat, and I definitely can’t run.
Maybe sometimes the only choice is to take a leap of faith. To trust. Maybe sometimes it means defying all logic and leaping into the unknown with nothing but your parachute strapped to your back. Leaping into the air and pulling the cord, believing that you’ll land on two feet.
I’ll settle for not dying.
I point my gun down and remember where my knife is.
Lyam wouldn’t betray his family. I may not know him as well as Thayer or Fabien, but I know that Lyam would rather die than betray the people he loves.
I can trust him.
“I’ll go but I keep my weapons.”
“You keep your weapons pointed away from my men.”
Jesus, they’re all the same.
“Fine.”
I get in the car. Two men flank me, their weapons drawn, as the rest climb into the car. One taps his phone and seconds later, Mario and Lyam are on a screen.
My heartbeat slows and I blow out a tight breath. I recognize Le Luxe in the background.
Thank God I made the right decision.
I need to tell him what I know, and I need to resist any attempt he might make at bringing me back to Thayer.
I speak in a sudden rush of words, frantic to catch him up to speed and get help with what I have to do.
“Lyam! I think Nicolette’s been taken.”
He shakes his head. “She hasn’t. I just spoke with her. She’s with Fabien.”
I close my eyes as a rush of emotion chokes me. I want to cry with relief.
Nicolette’s okay. I open my eyes and draw in a deep breath. “Someone texted me from her number.”
He sits up straighter. “Did they?” He and Mario share a look I don’t quite understand.
“How can that happen?”
“It’s not hard,” Lyam says, reminding me that he’s all-too-familiar with underhanded techie tactics. “It can be done on a computer by using the person’s cell phone number. In our case, we’re lucky Nicolette broke her phone, because now we know immediately the text wasn’t from her.”
Ahh.
“So someone wanted to find out where I was.” I frown. “How did you know where I was?”
Lyam scowls into the screen, looking not unlike his brothers. “Do you think my brother was stupid enough to use only a collar as a tracking device on you?”
I stare at my body, as if an arrow with the word tracker would flash.
“How did you know about that?”
Lyam blows out an impatient breath. Now he definitely looks like Thayer.
“Savannah, the trackers he put on you were in case of abduction, not because he thought he couldn’t trust you.
” He shakes his head. “Jesus. The phone you’re carrying has a tracker.
The knife and gun have trackers. Even the clothing and wig have tracking devices embedded in them. ”
I feel my eyes go wide at this.
“And that haircut Cosette gave you? She wasn’t just cutting your hair.”
I stare at him before I trace my fingers around my scalp, looking for a microchip or something that would give it away.
“You won’t find it. Thayer spent a lot of money making sure you wouldn’t.”
I slam my lips together and stare at the handle of the car door, wondering how I can escape from his hired help, but Lyam sees me.
“I watched footage of you leaving. If I hadn’t been so distracted by Thayer’s arrest, I would’ve prevented that. Why did you leave?”
“I don’t owe you answers,” I begin, but he shakes his head.
“Don’t you see what’s going on here? They framed Thayer as the murderer to draw you out.
The Chabert family knows that you’re a couple, and taking Thayer into custody was the best way they had to convince you to come forward.
They couldn’t storm the castle and take you, not from a place as secure as Le Luxe. ”
“And yet Cosette tried, didn’t she?”
“Cosette?” Lyam asks. “What do you mean?”
I tell him everything that happened. He curses and lifts his phone, sends a few messages, then returns back to me with effort. He keeps glancing at his phone.
Are Lyam and Cosette a thing?
“First things first,” he says. “Thayer put these trackers on you so I could find you if he was hurt, because that’s the only damn way he’d let you go. I know you’re in Paris, and as luck would have it, so are Fabien and Nicolette.”
I swallow hard, so overcome with emotion I can’t speak for a few moments. “We now know that someone’s tried to pose as Nicolette, likely attempting to get information from you.”
“They kept asking where I was.”
“Of course they did,” he says under his breath. “God. So we need to get you with Fabien and Nicolette as soon as possible. The Chaberts want you out of hiding, Savannah. They want you to show your face so they can kill you.”
I nod, processing all of it. “So I draw them out,” I say. “I let them think I’m not aware it isn’t Nicolette. I tell them to meet me somewhere, then we see who we’re really dealing with.”
Lyam shakes his head. “Too risky.”
“No,” I insist. “It’s the only way, Lyam. I need to testify against them and free Thayer. But I also need to make sure Nicolette is safe, and ultimately that I am, too.”
Lyam nods. “Thayer would fucking kill me, but I think it might be our only choice in this case.”
I take out my phone and send a text to Nicolette’s number.
Me:
Hey, it’s me. I’m guessing you couldn’t call, no worries! I miss you so much. It’s been a scary time. Where are you?
Nicolette:
I’m in Paris. Where are you?
Me:
Paris!!
Nicolette:
Oh perfect. I want to see you!
My heart thrums at what might happen next.
I look up at Lyam. “She wants to meet. How many are there?”
Mario speaks up. “Only two. That’s the good news.
Their captain didn’t take too kindly to them murdering an officer without permission.
It put their entire posse in a compromising position.
So there are only two—the two you saw the night of the murder—at large.
The bad news? They’re pissed off enough they’re ready to kill on sight. ”
Oh, isn’t that lovely.
“How’d you find that out?”
Mario smiles in a way that makes my skin prickle. “We have eyes and ears everywhere.”
I swallow. “Okay.”
Nicolette:
Let’s meet at the Louvre at noon
I read it out loud to Lyam.
“Keep control of the situation,” Lyam warns.
I swallow and shake my head before I text back.
Me:
It’s too busy there. Let’s meet at Le Square Du Vert-Galant.
Nicolette:
I’ll be there
The triangular public park, near Notre-Dame and the Louvre, is one of my favorite haunts.
Raised in tribute to Henry IV, the beautiful square is situated smack dab in the center of the capital.
It’s not uncommon to see people taking romantic strolls or having picnics, or for couples to take little boat trips for views of the Seine.
Lyam’s men can easily hide themselves behind the flowering bushes and majestic trees. And I, for one, will have to be regrettably late for meeting up with my sister.
We go over the plan again, and again, and again.
“And when this is over,” Lyam says in a tone that he likely thinks is threatening, “you’ll come back here with Thayer, where you belong.”
“Oh no I won’t,” I insist. “I’ll go where I think I need to, and I’m not sure where that is yet.”
Lyam grits his teeth. “I’ve never seen my brother so invested in someone so much in my life.”
“I don’t want him invested in me,” I snap. “I want him to love me.” I swallow the lump in my throat. “Like I love him. And if he thinks the only way to keep me—”
“I already told you why he tracked you,” Lyam begins, but I shake my head at him. I have no interest in arguing this point.
I had no idea I was being tracked. I didn’t know literally everything I touched was some kind of way to keep me connected to him.
“Question,” I say to Lyam. “Before we continue any of this.”
“Yes?”
“Can I speak with my sister?”
Lyam clenches his jaw and nods. “Of course.” He taps his phone and orders, “Call Fabien.”
I want to cry in relief when I hear Fabien’s voice on the other end of the line as Lyam joins me to the call. I didn’t know how tightly wound I was. I didn’t know how emotional I’d be just hearing his voice.
Lyam fills Fabien in. “Can you put Nicolette on the line?”
A few seconds later, I hear her voice.
“Nicolette,” I cry into the phone. “Oh, I’m so happy to hear your voice.”
I tell her everything and finish up with getting the imposter texts from her. Fabien growls.
“Her phone was destroyed by accident. Someone else sent those texts.”
“We’ve figured that out by now.” I frown. “I wonder, if we tapped her number, would we be able to trace them?”
“Possibly,” Fabien says. “Lyam’s the one to ask. Where are you going now?”
I tell him.
“Lyam, what the hell?” she spits out. “That isn’t safe. She doesn’t have enough people… My God, Thayer will kill you!”
“She’ll be safe,” Fabien interrupts. “If we leave now. Savannah…” He pauses. “We’re on our way.”
He hangs up the phone. Lyam stares at me on the screen.
“Savannah. I want you to tell me who you saw kill Officer Leguerre. Be specific, I’m recording.”
I tell him everything I remember, the way they looked, our location, the description of the woman they had with them.
“Did you see Thayer kill Officer Leguerre?”
“Of course not. He was with his mother at their family home in Paris.”
Lyam nods. “Thank you.” He flicks a button on his phone. “This is going to our lawyer and a friend we have on the inside. Thayer’s on his way out, thanks to you.”
I nod, feeling strangely relieved and apprehensive at the same time. I wanted him out. I want to be safe. But where does that leave us?