Page 8 of Crowe
“In the Mediterranean,” Wolfe said. “It’s an old-school monarchy. It’s a small country, but insanely wealthy. The kind of place where the government and a handful of elite families run everything.”
“And you think someone from there is who”—he paused and swallowed like the words he was about to say tasted bad in his mouth—“paid for me?”
“We don’t know for sure, but it’s likely.”
“And you think they found me?”
“We don’t know that either, Noah, but it’s suspicious. It would make me feel better if you would come stay here with us until we sort it all out.”
Noah shook his head vehemently. “No, I can’t. Carina is counting on me. This is a big wedding.” He looked at me, eyes wide. “You saw all the flowers in there. We have so much to do today to get everything ready. I can’t just leave her in a bind like that. I won’t.”
I gave him a small nod. “I’ll stay with him until the work is done, and then we can get on the road.”
His shoulders relaxed, and he gave me the tiniest of smiles. “Thank you.”
“Okay, but as soon as possible, you head this direction. Bring enough stuff to stay for a bit. We don’t know how long this will take.”
I hung up the phone, and Noah slumped down in his seat. “I knew this was going to happen. I kept telling myself that whoever he was, he would let it go. That the risk would be too high to try to come after me now that I wasn’t being held in that fucking basement, but no matter how many times I said it, I never believed it. I knew he would come.”
“Hey,” I said loud enough to pull him back from wherever his head was taking him. “You’re safe with me. I won’t let him get you.”
He drew in a long, deep breath and nodded before pushing to his feet. “I need to get back to work, but you’re staying?”
“I am.”
“I’ll have to explain to Carina what’s going on.”
We left the break room and went back into the area where they were hard at work arranging flowers. When we walked in, Carina looked up at us.
She locked gazes with Noah and asked, “Is everything okay?”
He shook his head. “This is Jackson Crowe. He works for the men I told you about. The ones who rescued me.” The young man who’d been working with Noah’s head jerked up, eyes wide, but Noah didn’t notice. “They think it’s possible that man found me. He wants me to go back with him so they can keep me safe until they figure things out.”
“Well, shit,” she muttered under her breath as she put down the arrangement she was working on and came around the table. She gripped both his shoulders and then dropped her hands down to his wrists and held on. “I really hoped this day wouldn’t come.”
“So did I.”
She dropped his arms and took a step back. “Okay then. I guess you need to get on the road.” She looked at me. “Where are you taking him?”
“I’d really rather not say.”
“Okay, I guess that makes sense. But you call me when you get there, Noah. I want to hear from you, or I’ll be making some phone calls. I have connections.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I said.
“But I can’t just leave you here with this.” Noah waved his arm at the flowers all over the counters. “Jackson’s going to stay with me until the wedding is over, and then I’ll go with him.”
“Noah, your safety is more important than this event. We got the arch made… that was the hard part. Levi and I can handle the rest. You two get going.”
I was glad that was her response because, while I would’ve stayed with him, the truth was, I would feel a lot better if I could shove Noah in my car and drive him straight to HQ where I knew he would be safe.
Noah looked around at the mess, and I could see he wanted to argue with her, but her tone had brooked no argument, and he knew it. “Okay, we’ll go by my place and pack a bag, then we’ll get on the road.”
Chapter four
Noah
Jackson led me out to the parking lot, and I stopped short when I saw the car.
