I hold on to him, needing his strength to get through this. "Yes."

He holds me a bit longer then tugs my arm. "We've got to go." Nodding, I let out a stream of air. The carved lines of his face are soft as he asks, "You want me to drive?"

"No, I'm okay." Not really, but we aren't in the clear yet, aren't far enough away. Before walking out of the ring of leafless bushes, I glance back one last time. In the dusk, he's grayer lying against the snow. The dark, red bullet hole in his forehead creates a vibrant contrast to the muted pallet. I pause. The image of blood and snow stirs something in me and icy tendrils creep down my spine.

"Come on," Jai says from ahead.

I leave the eerie feeling in the grove of dead winter plants and hurry to the street while guilt and sorrow gnaw at my gut. In the backseat, Chang and Ping are silent. With the turn of the ignition, we speed away. I glimpse back one last time. The elegant roof of Mali's old apartment building is visible above the naked bushes. We had dinner in her posh dining room once before the marriage. A long, boring drawn out affair that Harrison drove us home from. I know she still owns the place.

While I drive north, six eyes search the streets. At the first pay phone, the police are going to get a call about a dead body. And I'm hoping the dead body will help my father believe me. Because everything has changed. I can't just leave and disappear.

Mali came for me. How can a ransom work when I know who's behind it? I'm fairly certain, if I'm caught I won't live. But that's not the issue running through my mind while I drive. Even with a ransom, I'm not the gold mine. My father is. And even if he's a bad parent and was a total asshole yesterday, I refuse to just leave him with a murdering bitch.

Chapter 27*Snow.

The hotel is located in one of the seediest areas on the outskirts of the city. In the mildew-scented bathroom, I change into plaid pajama bottoms and a Chilly Willie t-shirt. The scent of stale cigarette smoke and something I can't name-I don't want to name-permeates the room. I'm not sure which is worse, the motel room or its bathroom. Tying to ignore the smell, I pull back the blankets while refusing to look at the sheets. I'm about to fall into an exhausted, still shocked heap when a card sounds in the lock.

Jai strolls in. Cans of pop and bags of chips almost tumble out of his arms. "Looks like it's a vending machine dinner night. You hungry?"

I drop the worn bedspread. "No, but I'll take that." I pluck a cold can of Coke from his arms as he passes. Though I'll have to brush my teeth again, the delicious fizz will be worth the additional exercise.

He opens the adjoining door and throws half the items into Chang's waiting arms. I gulp Coke as he dumps the rest on the table next to the ancient TV then tugs off his coat.

The look on his face makes soda catch in my throat. I cough. "What?"

"You shouldn't have taken them."

I clear my throat. "Huh?"

"Ping and Chang would have been gone already." He sits on the bed and pulls on his bootlaces. "We all would have been gone before your crazy stepmother showed up." His hair falls across his narrowed eyes. "They wouldn't be in this mess."

I blink because none of them should be here with me in this snazzy motel. "You mean to my apartment?"

"Yeah, I mean to your apartment."

I set the can of Coke down, twisting it this way and that, pretending to study it. I'm very tempted to tell him the plan was to ditch him. "Well...I needed stuff. Like the money that paid for these grand rooms. And I kind of suspected my stepmother so I wanted to check out some stuff on her."

"You couldn't wait for me?" His brows lower as he tugs a boot off.

I cross my arms. Now that I almost trust him, now that we made a solid plan to investigate Mali's connection to Brian's House, I don't want to admit I had no intention to wait for him. "I didn't know how long you'd be gone. There are men out looking for me you know."

"Yeah, I know. They're looking for me too. They weren't looking for Chang and Ping."

I rub my arms. I don't want to argue. I want to go to bed and forget about the mess I'm in, forget Harrison's death, forget about my crazy stepmother at least until the morning.

"Listen, we have to think things through." He drops the boot on the floor. "Notice I said we."

I snatch my bag from the table. "You're right. I shouldn't have taken them. I messed up."

"That's not my point," he snaps.

"What exactly is your point?" I glance at him while digging through my bag.

"You can't just go and do whatever you want."

I spot the toothpaste. "Are you saying I need your permission first or something?"

"I'm saying we need to talk things through first."

"So I'm to defer to you?"

He rises and towers over me. "Quit making it sound like I'm being domineering."

Finally, at the bottom of the bag, I find the toothbrush. "Aren't you?"

"I'm trying to keep us all safe. Not just you."

"Oh, so now I'm being selfish?" I ask, dropping my backpack on the floor.

"Quit putting words in my mouth," he says through clenched teeth.

"You're right. I shouldn't have taken the buttheads. Other than that, I'll," I tap the end of my toothbrush against my chest, "make my own decisions." I breeze past him. "Being male doesn't make you the commander and chief of this escape."

A hand pulls the back of my t-shirt and whips me around. My eyes round. He leans over so our noses almost touch. "You can do whatever the hell you want," he says in a low voice, "but you're not taking them on any more suicide missions, Miss Bond. Anywhere they go or anything they do has to go through me." He steps back. "Do you understand?"

Startled by his hostility now, I nod.

"Good." He turns away.

In the bathroom, I take out my anger on my toothbrush. Imagining Ping or Chang hurt, I wince. He's right. I shouldn't have taken them. How was I to know Smith would show up with a gun? How was I to know Mali had found their apartment? Okay, I should think things through better. He just didn't have to be such a condescending asshole about it.

Back in the room, the first thing I notice is Jai's pants and shirt folded across the chair. Great. He's lying on the bed with his hands behind his head. The bulge of his chest and the muscled rope of his arms are visible above the blanket. Exhausted and still shocked, I hadn't thought about sharing a room with him when we checked in. Now, staring at his skin, I'm thinking about it. I toss my things in my bag trying to ignore my stupid, stupid hormones. That's all it is because there's no way I still have a crush on this criminal, this would-be-kidnapper. I'm not that much of a loser.

Jai doesn't look away from the ceiling when I sit on the bed.

I sigh. Unless I reveal my duplicity, his version stands. "I'm sorry. I should have talked with you and I shouldn't have taken them." He doesn't respond as I slide in between the sheets. "I just had to do something. Waiting in your apartment, I felt like...well, I felt like I was just waiting, that I had no control over anything. But if Ping or Chang had gotten hurt, I wouldn't be able to forgive myself." His jaw tightens. He doesn't look at me. "Does this mean tomorrow's plan is void?" I ask in an almost whisper.

"No." His eyes stay on the ceiling. "If you recall we planned that together."

His cynicism stings, probably because I deserve it. "Right, well...goodnight," I say and switch off the light.

I burrow under the shabby sheets and roll away from him. I fear sleep will never come with him so close, yet so exhausted my mind shuts out the thought of him in his underwear and I'm soon dreaming of driving with my dead chauffer.

Chapter 28*Envy.

She sneers at her reflection. Heavy kohl lines her eyes. In the mirror, a young body is visible through the translucent linen dress. Brown skin shimmers. Blue, red, and turquoise stones gleam off the collar on her neck. The gold scarab in the center shines. She raises a hand to her cheek. Smooth skin kept young hidden from the Egyptian sun.

Her hand slides from her cheek to her arm. In the reflection, the limb is straight, healthy. Outside the reflection, she grasps her arm then twists until the girl in her reflection releases a silent scream. Glass trembles. She twists more. Together she and the reflection lean over panting. The reflection's face contorts with pain. She stands while the reflection drops to her knees. The gold bracelets on the reflection's arm quiver as she cradles her limb.

She turns from the mirror and stretches both of her arms. A look of satisfaction crosses her face as she shakes out her uninjured limb. She slides an ancient copper mirror etched with Egyptian symbols back into its tissue and box.

Turning, she scowls at her reflection.

Youth has disappeared. Wrinkles crisscross her face and her neck. She clenches her hands. Nails dig into her palms. Blood drips to the floor.

She needs youth.

This time the scream isn't silent, and it doesn't signify pain, rather fury.

Chapter 29*Snow.

I darken my eyeliner and step back with a grin. Powder hides the fading bruise under my eye. My reflection is perfect for a day of shopping. I toss the left over hair bleach into the garbage, pack my newly acquired makeup and gel from the drug store next to the Laundromat, and open the battered bathroom door.

Jai sits facing the wall. He rests on folded knees with his hands clasped on his lap and his bare muscled back is still. In the meditative stance, it's hard to tell if he's even breathing. His motionless makes the room unbearably silent. I debate returning to the bathroom-watching him seems like an invasion of his privacy-then park myself on my lumpy bed and face the other way. While my mind keeps wandering to the other side of the room, I study the stains on the wallpaper as if they are clouds. One looks like a profile of a witch with a tall hat, another like a plane.

I'm visualizing a tree when I hear, "What the?" from behind me. I can't help grinning at his stunned expression. "You like it?"

His fingers brush my short locks and accidentally-I think-brush my bare neck. My skin sizzles before he drops his hand. "It's different."

"Good," I say, ignoring the yearning that his touch brings. "They're not searching for a punk girl with short, white, and spiked hair."

"No, but they're looking for me too."

I pat my bag on the bed. There's one unused bottle inside. "We could bleach your hair."

With a shake of his head, he steps into the bathroom and closes the door. In seconds, the shower's spray sounds.

I snatch the remote up and pull a rickety chair in front of the TV. My finger channel surfs while I attempt to ignore the idea of Jai on the other side of the door, showering. After flicking through the five channels several times without paying attention, I grab Jai's phone from the side table. I have to find something to get him off my mind. I'm a little shocked when the Internet comes on. The Wi-Fi must be from a business nearby. I can't imagine this scrubby hotel providing it.

I go right to Google. Mali's supposedly already rich so I'm wondering just how well her consulting firm does. I find the home site of Taggart Consulting Firm right away. After scanning through most of the website, the company not only looks legit but with offices in several other countries, it looks like business is booming. At an end there, I go back and carefully read the history of the company. A woman named Patricia Taggart started the company forty years ago. And the current CEO, Mali Hartell, inherited the firm and made it into the global company it is today.

I decide to run a search on this Patricia, a woman I'm guessing is Mali's mother, though I've never heard of her. Several newspaper articles show up about her death. My fingers grip Jai's phone while I read. Obviously, her death was major news at the time. Most likely because of the sensational events of her demise. Her remains had been found in a state forest reserve up north. The cause of her death, a knife wound to her chest. Although, the police knew that she'd been dumped in the woods, they had no leads or suspects. Yet her seventeen-year-old stepdaughter, Mali Hartell, had inherited everything.

I drop Jai's phone on the bed.

Though twenty-four years apart, a murdered stepmother and a kidnapped stepdaughter doesn't look like coincidence. It looks like murderous greed. But this isn't proof. It's speculation. It's circumstance. I need to find something stronger to tell my father, something to make him believe there's a contract on my head.

Jai steps out of the bathroom and breaks my thoughts. With his skin moist and his hair damp, he looks good. Real good. When doesn't he look good? I frown. Since he opened the door with the fruit basket, I*d been captivated. Now, nearly murdered, hiding in a hellhole in northern New York City with my would be kidnapper, and on the run for my life, the sight of him still fills me with wistfulness. I am an idiot. My stepmother is probably a greedy murder and I'm busy checking guys out. Well just one guy but still I need to get a grip.

I violently yank my bag off the bed. "You ready?"

"Just a minute," he says, sweeping the snacks and cans off the dresser then goes to the door separating our room from the next. The sound of a blaring TV fills our room. He pops his head in. "Do not leave. Do not open your door. We'll be back in a couple of hours. I mean it." He shuts out their argument with the snap of the door.

Outside, I warm up the car while Jai pays for more hours-the classy motel lets you pay by the hour-and search the GPS for somewhere nearby to shop. I find a mall five miles away. Perfect.

Jumping in, Jai glances at the GPS. "Will it be open?" He sets a steaming coffee in the cup holder.

"Not yet, but I'm going to stop along the way and call my dad." I hope between Mali's broken arm and Harrison's body he might believe me.

Passing me a can of Coke-geez he's getting to know me-Jai raises his brows. "You sure you're up for that?"

"No," I say and flip the tab open and hit the road. A gas station near the mall has a phone. Pay phones are hard to find these days, but I'm afraid Mali might be able to trace a cell phone from my dad's phone bill. I pull the Mercedes close enough to stay in the vehicle. Jai goes into the store and leaves me alone. My father answers on the first ring.

"Hey Dad," I say not sure how to start.

"Finally. Nivi, where are you?"

"Um, at a payphone."

"You took the Mercedes."

"Yeah well it's supposed to be mine in two more months," I remind him of his promised birthday gift.

"Not to run away with!" He lets out a harsh breath. "You need to come home. I haven't gone to the police. Mali and I agreed to give you time to come home on your own but this has gone on long enough."

"Ah yeah. How's Mali's arm?"

He pauses. "What are you talking about?"

"Her arm, it's broken right?"

"What?"

How could he not know? Were they still stuck in the basement? "When's the last time you saw her?"

"Fifteen minutes ago, she just left for work."

My forehead scrunches in thought. "Then she's hiding it from you."

"A broken arm?" he gasps. "Ah, I don't think so. Nivi, you're not thinking straight. How would you know if she did break it? Just please come home. Let us take care of you."