Dane

"We'll see," John muttered darkly. "But get your ass out of there. Even if the Police or Felix don't have your number to track that phone, Chris does, and they definitely know where he is. If they put pressure on him, you don't know what might happen. So go get a fucking car and get out of there. Don't even come to my place, get on the road south. I'll get everything in place and tell you where to go. I'll have it all in place in under an hour, I promise."

​​

"I thought you needed two days?" Dane's breath was coming too fast.

"My motto is, 'under promise, over deliver,'" John said flatly. Dane would have laughed, but he was too busy trying to think. What did he need to get out of this place? He wasn't coming back.

Holy shit. He wasn't coming back.

Fuck.

Lila.

He scrambled through the apartment and back onto the bridge. "We're doing this," he said quietly. "We're leaving. Both of us. No looking back."

"You don't have a choice at this point."

"I'll be really honest, John," he said as he hit the stairs. "I don't think I want one. If I've learned anything the past couple weeks is that I'm ready for some peace. For… forever."

"Geez, it seriously took you this long? Get your ass—and your wife—out of there. Do you want the phone locked or unlocked? We need to speak securely, but if Chris can't touch in with you he might get suspicious."

Dane pounded up the stairs. "Lock this one, but unlock the Chris phone. I'll leave it here for him just in case."

"Don't tell him where you are, or what you're doing."

"I won't." His voice shook as he pounded up the stairs.

"Good man."

"Thank you, again, John."

John sighed. "Don't thank me yet. We aren't out of the woods."

"I trust you. I'm out. Call if you find out anything important, otherwise leave the line open." Then he hung up the phone and raced toward the Penthouse.

*****

Lila

Two minutes. The stupid test said you should wait two whole minutes. Two minutes had never seemed so long as Lila paced the bathroom, watching her phone tick down. When the timer finally went off, her hands were shaking and she almost dropped the test strip into the sink as she grabbed for it.

She was still standing there, staring at the test result that was shaking in her hand, her mind flipping through everything she was going to have to say, to do, while she tried to get her breathing under control—it was so loud it echoed in the tiled room—when there was a bang, like a door swinging back so hard it bounced off a wall, and a voice shouting.

Lila startled, hurriedly shoving the little plastic test thing in her back pocket and hurrying towards the door. "What the hell is going on, Da—?"

"Lila, where the fuck are you?" It was Chris's voice, distant like he was still in the living room. And he was frantic.

Lila blew out the breath she'd sucked in. "I'm in the bathroom!" she called. She ran both hands through her hair and took a deep breath. She needed to get it together. This wasn't the time to lose her shit.

"Well, get out of there, the shit has hit the fan. We have to get you out of here. Now. Before the wrong people show up looking for you," Chris yelled, his voice dark. What the hell? She froze. What could have happened? Was something wrong with Dane?

She hoped the front door was closed and the staff couldn't hear any of this. She needed to get out there. She just needed one more second.

Then it occurred to her what he'd said.

Leave? Wrong people?

"What? Why?" she called, frowning at the door. She needed to walk out there and talk to him and not mention anything about a pregnancy. Or anything else. She needed to be normal. She needed… she needed Dane.

"Something's going on with Douglas's people. I think they're onto me—which means they're onto you. We need to get you out of here and away to some place they don't know." His voice was getting closer. She wiped her hands on her jeans and started for the door.

"What about Dane?" she called through it, as it occurred to her that Chris didn't know she'd found him.

"He's safe. Don't worry. They don't know where he is. It's you we need to worry about. They know where you are—and they'll use you to get to him if they need to."

"Bullshit." She yanked the bathroom door open and stepped into the bedroom, Chris sliding to a halt in front of her. "I know he's here, Chris, he must have hidden when you came in, he must have thought you were someone else—"

Chris's eyes went wide. "What the actual fuck?" he roared. Lila took a step back. "Why the hell have I been running around after the two of you if you're together anyway? Fuck!"

That vein in his forehead was already popping. Lila was startled by the extreme reaction, but put it down to his stress. He had been carrying a lot the last couple weeks. Hadn't they all?

"I'm sorry, Chris," she said more calmly. "It was just last night—"

"Last night? Last night! You've known where he was since last night and I'm still out there running around hiding him and covering for you? The whole point of this was he didn't want you to be able to be connected with him! And neither of you thought to tell me this? What the fuck, Lila!"

"You'll stop screaming at my wife unless you want me to beat your ass, Chris," Dane said, low and dark, from the doorway. Chris whirled, his hand moving for his pocket—or his gun—until he realized it was Dane.

Dane's eyebrows popped up, but then his eyes cut to Lila and softened and she smiled. He wasn't smiling when he looked back to Chris. "It was an accident. She found me. I didn't let her know I was there. Now get out here, we have some shit to shovel." He disappeared back into the living room and Chris's face went beet red.