The Perfect Escape (The Perfect Escape #1) - Suzanne Park Page 0,71
from our conversation that you’re not an idiot. I’ll have my guys take you back to the cave. Kate will regain consciousness in an hour or so. We checked out her ankle a few minutes ago, and it’s lightly sprained, so we injected some anti-inflammatories and steroids. She won’t remember a thing, so it’s up to you to act normal and break the news to her when she wakes up.”
Telling Kate about any of this would mean her dad would sue me, and my family would lose everything.
But Kate needed money. She’d made that crystal clear to me. I wanted to help her. There was only way to guarantee that would happen. She could follow her dreams, but it could mean that she would never talk to me again. I’d get us a shit ton of money, but…I would also lose her. A win-lose situation.
Before he walked out the door, an idea popped in my head. I blurted, “Go ahead and send the bonus in cryptocurrency. I’m in.”
He slowed his step and whipped his head over his shoulder. “What?”
“I want the bonus payment in cryptocurrency, the fee for breaking up the team. Right now. Twenty thousand. My wallet info is in the registration information.”
“If we have ourselves a deal, then I’ll honor that request.” He opened his office door, and waiting outside, two swole dudes in army fatigues marched in and threw the black hood over my eyes again.
His phone bleeped. “The payment’s been put through. You’re now a lot richer, Mr. Kim.”
Funny, I’d dreamed about moments like this, when money came easy, with a snap of the finger. I expected to feel euphoric, but what I felt was something much different.
Sadness. With an extra helping of shame.
Muffled in the hooded fabric, I mumbled, “You should’ve been there for Kate.”
He was still in the room, near me. I heard him pacing and breathing hard.
“You should have been there,” I repeated. “With Kate at the ER. She told me about that. You really should apologize to her.”
“How dare you! Get. Him. OUT OF HERE!”
The opaque fabric prevented me from seeing Robbie Anderson-Steele’s reaction, but I didn’t need my eyes to know how furious he was. His body radiated anger.
The hood lifted, and a hand securely affixed the gas mask to my face. Blackness came quickly.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Kate
Coldness woke me like a hard slap to the cheek. The icy air made my lungs ache.
“Nate, what happened?”
My head.
Pounding.
Hard.
Flat on my back, arms and legs sprawled on the ground, I contemplated my next move. Heaving my body left, I rolled over and curled down to touch my injury. My ankle was puffy, like a balloon. Sore to the touch.
“Nate?” My voice echoed in the cave. Sluggishly, I sat up and felt around for my backpack. I pulled out my water bottle and chugged until it was almost empty.
“I’m here.” He was close by. But somehow, he sounded distant. “Waited a while for you to wake up.” He paused. “What’s the last thing you remember?” A few feet away, I could see his silhouette, but not his face.
I squeezed my eyes shut. “It’s fuzzy and in pieces. The zombies and firecrackers. And…that’s it.” Why couldn’t I remember?
“You don’t remember unrolling your sleeping bag? You complained that you wanted to rest,” he said gently.
Something was off in his tone. The niceness was there, but the friendliness was gone. It was hard to explain, but it didn’t feel right. This wasn’t the Nate I knew.
“How long did I sleep?”
Nate turned on his flashlight but aimed it downward. His face was still hard to see. “A couple of hours maybe? I slept a little too.”
I wanted to look into his dark brown eyes. To kiss him again and feel his body heat against my skin. But we were in the home stretch, and this wasn’t the time to get distracted.
“We should head out.” I pushed myself up to a crouching position and rolled up my sleeping bag. It was