There would be no thanks, but I followed her out of the holding room. We went down a row of full cells, and then out into the busy police station. She offered a smile and nod to the suited man who’d helped her free us, and he went on his way to an office in the corner of the room.
We continued on, out of the building and into a car. Conrad was laid out on the backseat. “I’m not going to fit in the back with him,” I said, looking at Lavinia. “Should I sit in the front?”
“Yes. Get in.”
I settled myself into the passenger seat but stiffened when she got into the driver’s side. I’d assumed it would be one of her muscle guys driving us, considering we weren’t allies to the Alfieris.
Not the daughter herself.
Was she crazy?
Getting into a car alone with two alphas? She could be a black belt and she wouldn’t stand a chance. All we would need to do was bark.
“You shouldn’t be driving us,” I said, staring at her.
She turned the key and the car rumbled to life beneath us. “Why? Planning on hurting me?”
“It’s not safe. I hope you don’t do this with all the criminals you free from jail, because some of them might be more nefarious.”
“Let’s just say you’re a special case.” Lavinia had a knowing smirk on her face. Pulling out of the police station parking lot, she headed in the direction of Seamouth—the area of town the Alfieri family ran.
When we arrived wherever she was taking us, we were dead.
I needed to at least leave a goodbye voicemail for Talia. She couldn’t think we’d abandoned her after all this.
“If we’re a special case,” I started, “can I please have a phone call?”
“Who are you so desperate to call?”
I hesitated. Disclosing that we had an omega could be dangerous for Talia—I would never have done it if a Windsor or O’Connor were in the front seat with me. But the Alfieri family… They were well-known for limiting punishment to those who did wrong. It was very rare for them to go after innocent family members and mates.
Our crime wasn’t so heinous that they were likely to break that trend now.
“My mate,” I admitted quietly.
It wasn’t technically the truth, not yet, but I wanted it to be.
Lavinia stiffened. “Your mate?”
“Yeah. She’s not involved in this at all, but if I’m going to die, I need to tell her I’m sorry.”
“You seem very convinced you’re going to die, considering I haven’t said anything of the sort.”
“I know what we’ve done.”
I knew what we’d been framed for, anyway.
Taking her phone out of her trouser pocket, Lavinia unlocked it while stopped at a red light and handed it to me. “Fine. Go ahead and make your call.”
I held the phone and stared at it for a second, hesitating. When the screen darkened, threatening to go black, I tapped it and keyed in Talia’s number.
The number was in the phone. A contact.
Why?
I pushed down thoughts of dread as we grew closer to the border between Villem and Seamouth. I only had a few minutes before my chance was lost. Ignoring the contact, I hit call.
Someone actually picked up.
