Hearing these confessions made me hate myself more. I should have helped her a long time ago.
“What’s your plan?”
I told her everything I’d discussed with Griffin.
“You’re right,” she said. “Egor will want to see that I’m dead with his own eyes. You have to make sure you find someone as similar to me as possible…not sure how you’re going to do that.”
“I have a guy.”
“That doesn’t mean you’re going to kill someone, right…?”
“No, of course not.” I never asked Griffin, but I didn’t need to. He would never do that, especially with Vanessa in his life.
“Okay. When are we going to do this?”
“Tomorrow.”
“When are you supposed to give me back, again?”
“Friday.”
She nodded. “We don’t have much time left.”
“No, we don’t.”
“You think he’ll believe you?” she whispered.
“I hope so. Sometimes fear of something is worse than the actual thing itself. So knowing you have to go back to him might have been enough for you to take your own life. You realized there was never any hope that you would escape and find your son, so you just ended it. It’s believable.”
“True. And you’ll give him back the money?”
“I’ll wire it after I discover your body.”
She gripped my hands tighter. “How long do I have to wait to see my son?”
“Do you know where he is?”
She nodded. “An orphanage in Milan.”
“Egor knows about him?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll have to pay someone to adopt him, someone not connected to me. That way Egor won’t know we took him.”
“Yes…that’s smart.”
“It’ll take me a few weeks to get that taken care of.”
“Okay,” she whispered. “I’ve waited this long. I can wait a little longer.”
“And I’ll need to hide you somewhere when Egor comes snooping around. I’ll hand you off to my friend Griffin. There’s nowhere safer in the world than by his side.”
“You think we can trust him…?” Fear entered her eyes. Mia had only one kind of experience with men. It was impossible for her not to assume Griffin would do the same thing every other man did.
“Absolutely. He’s one of the best guys I know. He’s in love with my cousin Vanessa. He won’t even touch you. I promise. And you’ll love Vanessa. She’s pretty amazing.”
“Oh, okay,” she said in relief. “Then that should be fine. When will I be with you again?”
Did she want to be with me? “After I buy the house in Tuscany. I’ll move you there in the middle of the night.”
“Okay. So…we start this plan tomorrow?”
I nodded. “Tomorrow.”
She sighed then cupped both of her cheeks. “God, I hope this works. Just thinking about my son brings tears to my eyes. I never thought I would see him again, and now I’m so close…it terrifies me.”
I watched this strong woman break down right in front of me, her son being her only vulnerability. “It’s really happening, sweetheart. I’ll get him back for you…I promise.”
Griffin showed up the next day, bags under his eyes and exhaustion in his limbs. It didn’t seem like he’d slept much the night before. He stepped inside the house, and we got straight to work. He had the equipment we needed to burn the bedroom, along with the candle that started it all.
We carried everything to the bedroom and set it on the ground.
He was in a particularly sour mood. “The fire will have to originate near the nightstand. Just in case he hires men to really check everything.”
“Didn’t sleep much last night?”
He looked me dead in the eye. “I had to pick up the body.”
“You found one that quickly?”
“My guy is good.” When he stood to his full height, we reached the same level. He was thicker than I was, having more muscles than any other man I’d met in real life. His tattoos made him innately formidable. With sleeves of black ink, he seemed like a difficult man. Mia might have a hard time leaving with him.
“You didn’t kill anyone, right?”
“No,” he said with a dark chuckle. “Vanessa would leave me if I did.”
Thank god for that. “What the description?”
“Brunette, same age, same body description. The face is charred pretty bad, so her features will be nearly impossible to decipher. I’m not gonna find anyone better on such short notice. This girl was supposed to be cremated. Her family will get animal remains.”
I felt guilty for lying to a family, but since I was saving someone else, I could justify it. “Alright.”
Footsteps sounded down the hallway, and then Mia walked into the room. Her long hair was pulled into a braid, and she was wearing jeans and a t-shirt. She’d slept in my bed with me last night, even though we didn’t have sex. She took one look at Griffin and immediately flinched, terrified of his dangerous appearance.
His eyes flicked to her, not the least bit surprised by her reaction. “Griffin.”
“Uh…Mia.” She immediately turned to me, showing fear for one of the first times. Even in the face of danger, she didn’t back down. But this time, she was visibly affected by his terrifying appearance. In her defense, he did look like a member of a drug cartel. “Is Vanessa here?”