Demand (Careless Whispers #2)(49)

“Are we just going to hide in the stall while the Bastard is in the building?”

“We’re waiting for Kayden to call,” she says, and as if on cue, my phone rings.

I reach for my purse and my shaky fingers fumble on the zipper. “Stupid adrenaline,” I murmur, while Sasha reaches down and opens it, handing me my phone. “Thank you.” I slide my finger across the screen to answer, and will myself to be my father’s daughter and get a grip. “I just heard,” I say. “What’s the plan?”

“Are you okay?” Kayden asks.

“Peachy,” I say, repeating a word I somehow know was my mother’s.

Admiration fills Sasha’s eyes with my flippant remark, but Kayden isn’t as won over by my bravado. “Ella, sweetheart—”

“I’m fine. I promise. What happens now? Do I march out there and let him see me?”

“That is the last thing you will do,” he says, his voice a hard command.

“It gets it over with.”

“It puts you within his reach, before I can ensure that you won’t be in the future. Sasha is going to take you out a side door, where Adriel is waiting with a car.”

“Why not you?”

“If Niccolo sees me, and hears my woman is present, he’ll want to meet you. I need to stay out of sight.”

“Won’t it be weird that I just disappear, and you leave alone?”

“We’re going to make Niccolo think you’re leaving with me.”

“How is that possible?”

“Ella, I know you want to feel some sort of control right now, but I need you to find that in me. I had a plan for every possible problem that could be thrown our way when we came here tonight, including Niccolo.” He softens his voice. “I’ve got you, and this. I promise. Trust me.”

“I do. Completely.”

“Good. Then let’s go home and get naked.”

“Yes, please. How do we make that happen?”

“Sasha knows what to do. Follow her lead. She won’t fail you.”

“Got it.” I look at Sasha. “I’ll follow Sasha, and Annie and I will see you soon.”

“Nothing is going to happen to you,” he says, ending the call. “I’m ready,” I tell Sasha.

“I need to know who Annie is,” she says.

I reach in my purse and remove my gun. “My best friend.”

“Good friends, good times. But right now I think you should zip it into your purse, out of temptation’s reach.”

She’s right. I might shoot Niccolo, and while that would be enjoyable, it would probably mean I’d end up dead, too. And I don’t plan to go down with him. I zip Annie inside. “Now what?”

“We go.” Female voices sound outside the door and she grimaces, whispering, “Go along with my craziness. It’s actually kind of fun.” She releases me, and I nod.

She smiles, and then motions to let me know that we’re a go. A moment later she opens the door and exits into the outer room. “Thank you, Eleana,” she sobs. “Please don’t tell him I got this upset. It makes me look bad.”

I join her outside the stall to find her actually crying, while two thirty-something women stand a few feet away, gaping at her, and now us. “You don’t look bad,” I tell Sasha. “But you need to tell him what you told me.” I glance at our audience. “And let’s not do this now.”

“Sorry.” She swipes at her eyes, wiping tears that I’m actually not sure really exist. She’s just so darn good at screwing up her face that I thought she was really crying. “I did say I’d stop this.”

“We’d better go find Kayden,” I say. “He’ll be missing me.”

“Of course,” she says, and we head for the door, exiting into the blessedly empty hallway. “Nosy wenches,” she murmurs as we start walking. “I should sleep with their husbands.”

I gape. “Sasha. Please say you—”

“I’m kidding. Sort of.” Her cell phone buzzes in her hand and she looks down at the screen, and the slight furrow to her brow has me asking, “What is it?”

“Hold on,” she says, punching in a reply to the message, and then linking her arm with mine. “Niccolo is standing near the stairs we need to take.”

“Can’t we go another way?”

“Not if we’re going to make them think I’m you, when I leave through the front with Kayden.”

“We can’t just walk right by him.”

“Kayden’s going to create a distraction right when we get into Niccolo’s line of sight. So here’s the plan.” She locks our arms. “I’m going to hang on to you, and we’re going to keep our heads low, like two new girlfriends chatting it up about pasta and coffee, and we’ll zip right past him.” We near the end of the hallway and she stops. “If you suddenly have a flashback that causes an urge to stop, shout, or shoot, just hold on to me and let me get you through it.”

Stunned that Kayden would tell her anything at all, I look over at her. “What do you know about me and Niccolo?”

“That you have amnesia, and think that he did something horrible to you or someone you love. And I get it. He did something horrible to someone I love.” Emotions knife through her eyes, and she cuts her gaze away. “Don’t ask for details.” She squeezes my arm. “Let’s get this over with.”