“I’m sorry, but your thoughts will have to wait.” She sounds just like her father. “My dad hates when people are late.”
My eyes flutter open, and I stand on my feet.
I follow her down the aisle and look at Hannah as we approach the exit.
“Hannah?” I say.
She keeps her gaze toward the galley.
“Hannah?”
“Oh wow. How rude of me.” She picks up a thermos and walks over to me. “I forgot to give you this before you make a run for it.”
She turns away before I can respond, but I heard her message loud and clear.
As someone outside opens the door, Adele takes my thermos and hands me an umbrella.
“Let it up on the count of three, and we’ll walk down the steps together on the count of five. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Below us, a row of sleek black town cars awaits, but only one parked at the edge of the staircase has its back door open.
“One,” I say, “Two….”
“Three!” Adeline beats me to it and guides me down the steps.
When we reach the ground, the driver moves to the side so she can slip into the car.
“Welcome back to Seattle, Little Miss Rochester,” he says.
“Thank you, Benny!”
I grip the umbrella tighter and look around. The laser lights are focused on something else now, and I’m convinced that I can make a decent run for the brick building that’s on the other side of the hangar.
I can tell these people that “Mr. Rochester” gave me something else to do, and they’d be none the wiser.
“Are you heading back to the estate with us, Miss Jane?” the driver asks.
“No,” I say. “Something came up. Please send Mr. Rochester my regards.”
“I will, Miss.”
“I appreciate that.”
“My pleasure.” He steps closer and lowers his voice. “Get into the fucking car, or I’ll stuff you into the trunk.”
“What?” I gasp. “I don’t think your boss would approve of that.”
“Who do you think gave me that order in the first place?”
I don’t need to guess.
I slip inside and buckle my seatbelt.
Several minutes later,the driver pulls onto the winding road that leads to Ryder’s estate.
Behind us, two cars follow, but they idle at the gate.
