We slept, tangled in each other’s arms, drifting into the darkness. Only we didn’t stay there, waking every so often to turn to each other. Gentle brushes of lips. The soft stroke of a hand, until the weight settled against me. Sleep wasn’t welcome, not when we were so raw.
When I woke in the morning, I was alone. Faint light spilled in between the closed blinds. For a second, fear moved in, making my heart hammer. I jerked my head up from the pillow, to see Caleb sitting on the chair, watching me. “Easy, princess,” he reassured. “We thought you could use a sleep-in.”
I sucked in hard breaths, trying to quell the pounding of my heart. “What time is it?”
“A little after ten.”
“Shit.” I kicked out at the blanket. “We need to—”
Caleb rose and crossed the small space between us to caress the mark on my cheek. “The only thing you need to do right now is to breathe and relax.”
The door to the next room opened and closed and it took me a second to remember that it was my room next door.
“There she is,” Tobias muttered as he stepped through the connecting door and headed for me, bending low to kiss me on the lips. “You sleep okay?”
“Kinda,” I answered.
He gave a slow nod, the dark circles under his eyes telling me he’d slept the same. In fact, we all looked the same.
“We ate all the food from last night.” T gave a shrug. “So I jogged down to the bakery to get you this.”
He lifted a small paper bag in one hand, then a coffee cup in his other. “And this.” The smell of the brew made me groan and reach for it. But he just chuckled and pulled away at the last minute. “Easy. Not so fast. What are you going to do for it, first?”
“What?”
“I mean.” He gave a shrug. “I had to run for this.”
A smile tugged at the corners of my mouth. I scowled and crossed my arms over my bare breasts. “What do you want for it?”
He scowled, squinted, then lunged, dropping the bakery bag onto the end of the bed to push me backwards. “How about you, baby?”
I let out a bark of laughter, glancing at the cup. “Better not have spilled that.”
He just smiled, then eased away and handed over the cup. “What do you take me for?”
The outer door to the other room opened and closed, and the familiar thud of Nick’s steps echoed through the door. “Someone’s wasting damn time,” he growled, looking at the cup in my hand as he came into our room. “Want to eat that on the road, I kind of want to get moving?”
“Sure.” I pushed up from the bed. “Can I grab a shower?”
“Absolutely.” He gave me a smile. “I’ll get our things together.”
I took a sip of coffee and headed for our bathroom, shaking my head the moment I stepped inside. Wet towels were dropped in a pile on the floor but there was a fresh set sitting on the counter for me. I closed the door, reached in and turned on the faucets to adjust the temperature, and stepped in. By the time I was done, I felt more alive than I had in a long time.
“Knock, knock,” Caleb murmured as he turned the handle and opened the door. “Figured you could do with some clean clothes.”
He handed me the same ones I’d worn yesterday, only this time they were freshly washed and dried. “Thanks.” I grabbed the clothes and pulled them on.
“Nick’s organized a replacement car.” Caleb leaned against the doorframe and watched me as I tugged my jeans up and reached for my bra.
“Oh?” I murmured as he stepped closer, slid the straps over my shoulders, and worked the hooks in the back, then slid his finger to adjust the band.
“He said it’ll keep us going until we find somewhere to settle.”
“Settle?” I turned around.
He met my stare. “For a while at least.”
I hadn’t thought of what would happen now. I knew The Order were going to look for us until they were given a reason not to. How long that was, I didn’t know. Caleb handed me my shirt and I slipped it on. I guessed our new life started with a new car to go with our new names.
“Promise me you’ll never forget me,” I pleaded, meeting his stare. “The real me.”
“Ryth, you’ll always be the real you to me, and to all of us. A name is just a name. Besides,” he gave me a wink. “You’ll always be our little sister.”
I laughed as I followed him out and pulled on my boots. My coffee was barely warm when we piled into London St. James’s car and pulled out of the motel parking lot. I ate, shared my bagel with Rebel, and finished my coffee as we pulled into the dealership’s parking lot.
I glanced around as I stepped out and found a row of shops across the street, then turned to Nick. “I’m going to be across the road, okay?”
Nick stopped, glanced across the street, and scowled.
“It’ll be okay.” T gave a shrug. “Buying cars bores the shit out of me anyway, and I could do with some new clothes.”
Nick gave a slow nod. “Not out of sight, okay, princess?”
I smiled, he was back to being the big brother. “Deal.”
He stood there watching as Tobias and I turned and walked away. T grabbed my hand as we crossed the road and headed for the stores. He was touchy, more than Nick and Caleb. His thumb ran the length of mine as we stepped up onto the sidewalk. “Where first, baby?” He glanced my way.
I scanned the shops and my gaze lingered on the internet cafe. “There.”
“You sure?” He cut me a look, one that said, careful.
“I’m not going to do anything stupid.”
One nod and he motioned me forward. We went inside and he broke away almost instantly and headed to the counter of the small yuppie cafe. He motioned to me, waited for the guy to start the timer for me to log on, and ordered us coffee to go. But I was never out of his sight. I sat down and pulled out the napkin Dad gave me. It kind of felt surreal now. Had that all happened? The gun fight, the terror…Dad handing himself over for the second time to keep me safe.
As I opened up the folded napkin, I knew every brutal second of it had been real.
My pulse thundered as I opened up the browser and punched in the bank ID number. A second later, I had the name Jericho Bank and a phone number for customer service, which I wrote down my own napkin with a pen someone had left behind. Tobias glanced my way as he grabbed the coffees and strode over.
“Do you think I can use your phone?”
“Sure, baby.” He handed it over, then glanced at the computer screen before he whispered. “I’m just going to be over there if you need anything.”
He took his coffee and headed to a bulletin board to give me a little space. I grabbed his phone, called the number listed, and waited for it to be answered. A few minutes later and a number of personal detail questions, I waited while she verified my answers and retrieved the information about the account.
“Ms. Castlemaine?”
“Yes?”
“Um, sorry for the wait. I had to verify the details of the account were correct.”
My stomach sank, please don’t tell me this money is tracked by the goddamn CIA. “It’s fine,” I muttered.
“Because there is quite a substantial amount of money in this account and I wanted to make certain you were who you said you were.”
Quite a substantial amount? “How much are we talking about here?”
“Fifty million dollars.”
My knees trembled. “What!”
“The amount, Ms. Castlemaine. It’s just a little over fifty million, three hundred thousand.”
“Jesus.” I reached out and braced myself on the desk. “Are you sure?”
Tobias glanced my way, scowled, then scanned the cafe.
“Yes, ma’am. Did you need me to repeat that number again?”
Yes. “No,” I murmured. “And I can take out that amount whenever I want?”
“Well, there are procedures we’d need to put into place. We only keep a certain amount of funds at the bank at any given time.”
But my mind was already drifting, not even processing what she was saying. “That’s fine. I appreciate your help.” She was still talking when I lowered the phone and ended the call.
Tobias, watching me from across the room, came closer. “Everything okay?”
For a second, I couldn’t speak, then I slowly nodded and lifted my gaze to his. “Holy shit, T.”
His brow creased deeply, but there was a twitch in the corners of his lips. “I take it that’s a good holy shit?”
My hands were shaking when I handed his phone back to him. “Let’s just say that if Nick has the rest of our lives covered, then I’ve got the next two, as well.”
His brows shot up with a look of surprise. “Jesus.”
I gave a laugh, glanced around the empty store, and picked up the coffee he’d bought me, then I took a sip, not that I needed the extra rush. “I guess we need to get back.”
“I guess we should.” He looked at me strangely, then laughed, grabbed my hand, and hauled me toward the door.
By the time we’d made it across the street, the idiot beside me was beaming. “I think I’m going to start my Christmas list early this year.”
I shot him a glare. “Oh, yeah?”
“Yeah, little mouse.” He turned that grin to me and my heart fluttered with the look, right before he lowered his gaze to my breasts. “You owe me.”
I bit the insides of my cheeks to stop from laughing and turned back to the others as Nick and Caleb strode away from a salesman, Nick with a set of keys to a brand new truck in his hand.
“Our sister has something she wants to tell you.” T broke the news first.
I gave him a playful punch to the ribs, one that made him wince. He was covered with bruises. We all were battered and beaten, but still alive…and now, now we had the means and the determination to survive.
“Oh, yeah?” Nick scanned the street behind me then brushed his thumb along my cheek, staring down into my eyes. “You have something to tell us, princess?”
My heart thrummed at his stare. I wasn’t just falling in love with my brothers anymore. I was plunging headlong into an abyss that had no bottom.
“Ryth?” Caleb murmured, stepping closer. Concern flared in his voice. “What is it?”
I swallowed and licked my lips. “Dad has left me a substantial amount of money.”
“He has?” Nick glanced across the street to the cafe. “That’s what you were doing?”
I nodded.
“When you say substantial, how much are we talking here?”
“Fifty million dollars,” I whispered.
They said nothing.
I don’t think they even breathed.
Even Nick’s brows rose at the sum.
“Damn,” T muttered. “Now I really am going to need to work on that Christmas list.”
But Nick shook his head. “No, you won’t. Because we’re not touching that money.”
Confusion flared and mingled with anger. “Why?”
Nick moved closer, slid his hand around to cup the back of my neck, and tilted my head up to him. “Because that’s your money, princess. Your money your father left you. He wanted you to have a way out in case you needed it, so that’s what it’s going to be, your way out.”
A pang of pain cut through my chest. All I could hear was his words when he’d told me one day I’d want more. But even though the pain took hold, I saw the desperation in his eyes. He wanted me to be strong, to be careful. He wanted me to be safe…and this was his way of doing that, of making sure that I was never dependent on anyone else again for the rest of my life.
“So you keep that information somewhere safe. I’ll get you a new phone at the next stop and we can set you up with a One Password account. How’s that sound?”
“Then all we need to do is find a place to live.” I stared into his eyes.
“Speaking of…” Tobias muttered as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a brochure he’d somehow stashed away. “I found this.”
He handed the folded brochure over to Nick. All I saw was green…and the most stunning mountains I’d ever seen in my life as Nick released my neck and took the paper.
“Apparently, it’s a new town and new community. It says ‘We pride ourselves on protection and privacy’. They’re calling it—”
“Tutum?” Nick muttered.
“Safe.” Caleb’s voice made us all turn toward him. He met our stares and motioned his head to the brochure in Nick’s hand. “My Latin is a little rusty, but I’m pretty certain it means safe.”
Tobias grabbed his phone and punched in the details. “Yeah, you’re right. So, what do you think?”
The view of the mountains alone was enough to make excitement soar inside me.
“Then it looks like we’re heading to Tutum,” Nick muttered. “We look, if we don’t like it, then we move on, okay?”
I nodded, knowing in my heart we weren’t just going to like it…we were going to love it.
