her in danger,” Special Agent Duchene says. “We land in an hour and a half.”
“Thank you, gentlemen. I have sent over the document for you to sign on behalf of my client. She doesn’t walk in there unless the terms are agreed on,” David says and then hangs up.
I look over at Casey. “Can we go straight home after this?” I ask him, and I’m about to kick myself when I say home. “I mean, can we can go back to the farm after this?”
He looks at me. “We’ll go home after this.”
I look out the window, and for the rest of the flight, I try to calm myself down. But when I step foot in Los Angeles, my feet itch to run back on the plane and leave. I look down the whole time, hoping no one sees the tears in my eyes. It’s then I finally realize I can never come back here. I don’t have time to overthink it because when I finally sit in the car, Casey takes my hand in his and brings it to his lips. “The plane is on standby whenever we are ready.” I don’t answer him. I can’t, there is so much going through me right now I have no idea what I would say. So instead, I just nod.
When the car comes to a stop, my stomach lurches, and my hands get clammy. When I step foot out of the car, the sun’s heat doesn’t help the coldness that now runs through me. I walk with my hand in Casey’s as we walk toward a gate that opens when the six of us stand there. The clinking of chain links makes me look up to see the tower with guards in it, and then my eyes find the barbed wire on the top of it. We walk in, and each of us sign in. We walk through the metal detector. Everything around me happens with a blur. We walk into an office, and a female officer is there, and she hooks me up to a wire that is taped under my shirt.
“He’s ready for you,” the agent says, and I try not to vomit all over the place. The nerves are real. “We need him to say that he put that money there.” He goes on to say other things, but the beating of my heart blocks out his voice.
Casey looks like he’s going to jump out of his skin. “If at any time you want out, I want you to get up and walk out,” he says, his eyes clouded over. “Do you hear me, darlin’?”
I nod at him and turn to walk out of the room. I don’t say anything as we walk down the concrete hallway, and the door at the end opens, and I walk into the dimly lit room. Eight chairs in a row face the glass separator with a wall on each side to give you some semblance of privacy.
“Number two,” the guard says to me, and I walk down and sit on the metal chair and wait. The seconds feel like hours. The minutes like years and then I hear the click of the metal door on the other side, and it opens. I see Dominic before he sees me. His hands and feet are shackled together, the guard pointing down. He smirks at him and walks down, and the minute he sees me, his face goes white. “What’s the matter, Dominic? Wasn’t expecting me?” I ask him, hoping that he is just as nervous as I am to see me.
“Olivia.” He says my name, sitting down in the chair in front of me. “Baby face.” I loathe his voice, and the nickname makes my skin crawl. “I’m so happy you came to see me.”
“Are you?” I ask him and laugh now. “Isn’t that funny? I somehow got another message.” He looks at me, and I see the change in him when he knows that I’m fucking with him.
“You look good for someone who has a concussion.” He sneers. “Too good.”
“I have to say,” I say, shaking my head. “I spent the whole month going over everything in my head.” I tap my fingers on the table in front of me. “Trying to think what is it that they wanted from me.”
“Trust me,” he starts to say, “there is nothing that you have that I want. I’ve been there, and I’ve done that. Obviously, as you saw, you didn’t really do it for