Canvas & Keys

24. Please, Let This Be A Dream

Chapter 24

Please, Let This Be A Dream

"Is that the only reason they're here? To threaten me with Beau?" I asked Drake as he dragged me from the gala. I looked back just in time to see Vince smiling widely as Seraphina joined him on the dance floor. Drake had looked back, too, his eyes narrowed and jaw tense. "We need to figure out who his colleague is who tipped him off."

"I don't know," Drake growled as the door closed behind us. "And we're not sticking around to find out."

"Where are Emmy and John?"

"Already at the car. We're heading back to Pallandino. Now."

"And how do we know they don't have someone prepared to follow us?"

He hesitated, looking back at me. The fury was replaced with worry in his eyes. "We don't."

As we made our way out of the museum's front doors and headed for the street, I had to pick up the bottom of my dress just so I wouldn't trip over it in my heels. It wasn't that I couldn't walk or run in heels or that Drake was walking too fast, but rather the fact that I was still shaken up from seeing Beau and then Vince.

Drake stopped us right on the corner of the street. We were already a few blocks away from the museum, a journey I didn't remember being lost in thought. The hand holding mine squeezed tightly before he pulled me right up against his chest. His other hand reached up to cradle my cheek as he pressed his forehead against mine.

"We're getting out of here, Hattie. We'll head back to Pallandino and then to Berlin to get the key. We'll be quick. So quick that, if they're following us now and know we're heading there, they won't even realize we've gone, okay?"

"But if they knew we would be here, would they not know to go to Berlin also? They're going to find us, Drake. Vince said he would do anything to get me back and that if he can't have me then now one will. I can't..."

Before I finished, Drake leaned down and shut me up with a kiss. A soft, sweet kiss that made my heart stop beating for a moment and keep me from overthinking even more.

"I will tell you again, Miss Hattie," he whispered when he pulled back. "Vince won't ever get you again, okay?"

I sighed, digging my fingers into his tux jacket as I held onto him. "I know, but..."

"No buts," he told me, shaking his head and pushing back a curl that had fallen out of place. "He won't. But as for Beau and Flannery...well, we all knew what was going to happen."

"Did you see Beau's eye? It was covered with makeup, but it was definitely blackened. He said the guys training him are trying to kill him. What if they...?"

Instead of kissing me this time, he put his hand over my mouth. Without even speaking, I knew what he was going to say just by the look in his eyes. I nodded, closing my eyes as he moved his hand, and we stood in silence until the black Mercedes pulled up along the curb.

Drake held the back door open for me to slip inside. Emmy was turned to look back at me, worry also in her expression. John, on the other hand, stayed forward, knuckles white as he gripped the steering wheel.

"We don't know how they knew we would be here," Drake told him without John even having to ask.

"What did he say to you, Hattie?" Emmy asked me, her voice shaking.