me?"
"Not this time, no," I told him, finishing up my breakfast, bringing it over to the sink, feeling a momentary pang of regret that I wouldn't be able to cook with Cora anymore for the foreseeable future. "I'll go get dressed. Do you have some extra luggage? Or, I don't know, a box or something? I can just pack a few things."
"Pack it all. I put luggage in your room."
"Oh, okay. Great. Um... I just need like twenty minutes," I told him, going toward my room.
I stopped inside the door, gaze immediately going toward the spot where Christopher had bashed Niko's head into the wall.
The window had been patched.
The blood was completely gone.
There were nicks out of the wood, though, evidence of the events of the night before.
Taking a deep breath, I smelled bleach.
Forcing my focus away from the whole ordeal, I grabbed the oversized luggage Christopher had left me, filling them up with all the things he had acquired for me, picking out a long white skirt and a black tank top for the day, and getting myself ready.
"I can grab one," I insisted when Christopher took the bags.
He said nothing, just turned and walked out of the room, expecting me to follow.
And without anything else to do, I did just that.
Once outside, he handed off the bags to two of his men, the two I imagined were coming with us, along with Laird.
"We're doing this quickly," Christopher informed me, letting one of the men go in front of us, and I could feel the other move in behind.
Christopher's hand reached out, grabbing mine, squeezing tight.
Before I could even fully process that, though, we were off.
And by off, I mean running.
We were all running.
Down the winding, narrow stairs at a breakneck pace.
Instinctively, not knowing the steps like Christopher who ran them so often, my hand tightened on his, knowing he could keep me from face-planting or tumbling if I stumbled. Oddly enough, as we went down, men from all the other cave houses were standing in their gardens, glancing around. Almost like, I don't know, makeshift lookouts.
It seemed ludicrous. But then again, a man with the sort of power Christopher clearly had could've absolutely made that happen. And in doing so, gained a small army to help him plan his escape.
My free hand lifted, swiping sweat off my forehead as the men continued their relentless pace, making my breath start hissing out, my chest getting tight.
Just when I thought I couldn't take it anymore, we made it off the last step, and Christopher pulled me forward, shoving me into a waiting car, making me damn near fall into Alexander's lap.
Christopher slid in behind me, leaving me sardined between the two men as one of the guards went into the front beside Laird and the other tossed my bags into the back of the SUV and climbed in with them.
"You gonna make it?" Alexander asked, grinning at me gulping for air.
"Don't tease her," Christopher demanded, reaching for a water bottle handed back to him from Laird, twisting off the top, and passing it to me. "She hasn't been able to leave the house. Her body isn't used to activity."
If Alexander thought his brother's comment was unusual, he said nothing. Both brothers turned their attention away from me as I chugged the water.
The car ride was short, pulling us up to an empty airstrip, save for the private jet parked there, waiting for us.
"I'll be back," the guard in the passenger seat told us, reaching into his breast pocket for a gun, the sun reflecting off of it, blinding with the mid-day sun.
He greeted the pilot, then moved inside to, I assumed, inspect the plane to make sure no one was on board who shouldn't have been.
He came back out, giving Laird a nod. We drove closer. Christopher's hand grabbed mine again, pulling me out of the car as Laird led Alexander inside the plane.
Christopher said something in Greek to the pilot as we moved past, one of his men moving in behind us like a human shield until we were out of sight.
I'd been in a few private jets in my life. It was about what I'd expected. There were about a dozen places to sit between the bench, the table and chairs, and the lounging chairs. The colors were white and birch, light and airy which made it feel less claustrophobic.
Christopher moved me into one of the lounging seats closest to the window, so I could watch the view.
Once