“I'm glad you're so agreeable. Just remember your words when I'm done talking,” she said with a smile.
* * *
“Absolutely not!Have you lost your damn mind, woman?” Marcus was completely livid that Allie thought he would agree to her crazy plan. “There is no way I'm letting you march in there alone to face your twisted parents,” he whisper-shouted, trying not to draw attention to their table. The last thing they needed was for anyone at the diner to get wind of Allie’s plan and for it to get back to her dad.
“Look, I'm the only one who can do this. Neither of you will ever have a chance of making it past their guards. You know that. I have to be the one to stop them. As much as you hate my plan, you know there's no other way to do this. We have to end this here and now. We can't ever let them do this to another girl.”
Allie meant every word of what she had said. Her parents were psychotic and immoral, and she couldn't let them continue to sell girls off to the highest bidders and call it making the perfect arranged marriages. Her plan would work. She didn't doubt it. She just needed to get Marc to go along with it.
“I have a high-ranking friend in the state police department,” Gerri offered. “Let me call him and have him help us out. He's another shifter, so if anyone can help, it will be him.” Gerri pulled her phone from her purse and scrolled through her contacts until she found the name she was looking for. Pressing the Call button, she brought the phone up to her ear and waited for her friend to answer. When he did, Gerri quickly filled him in on the plan. A few yeses and uh-huhs later and Gerri clicked the End button.
“He’ll be here in ten minutes.”
“Seriously! That’s awesome!” Allie said.
“I still don’t like it,” Marc growled under his breath.
“I get that. I really do. But I can't move on with my life until this is done. And trust me when I say I want nothing more than to redo our mating ritual and spend the rest of my life with you.”
“Well, when you put it like that, how can I possibly refuse?”
“Exactly.”
TWENTY-FIVE
ALLIE
Allie wondered for the hundredth time what the hell she was doing and why she ever thought she could pull off this ridiculous plan of hers. She tried like hell not to fidget with the wire taped to her chest as she lifted her hand to ring the doorbell. She sucked in a deep breath and reminded herself to stay calm. This was all her idea. It was the one shot she had, and she couldn't fuck it up.
Her mother answered the door, surprised to see her standing there. “What are you doing here? Haven't you already ruined things enough for us?” her mother asked.
“We need to talk. Now!” Allie pushed her way past her mother and entered the house. Her father stood next to the fireplace, talking to Clinton.
“Have you finally come to your senses and decided to ditch the loser?” Clinton asked.
She ignored the rude question, knowing he was only trying to goad her. She couldn't lose focus. This was too damn important. There were too many lives riding on her ability to keep her head clear and her mind focused on the task at hand.
“Allie, what are you doing here?” her father asked.
“How much did he pay you?” she asked.
“What do you mean? How much did who pay me?” her dad replied.
“Clinton. How much did he pay you?”
“I don't know what you're talking about,” Alonzo said.
“Let me put it like this then … How much was I worth to you? How much did you agree to sell me for, Dad?”
“Clearly, more than you were worth to sully yourself with the trash you decided to run off and mate with,” Clinton remarked.
She really wished, once again, that she would have let Marc kill him.
“How much was it? A thousand? Five thousand? Tell me?” She persisted with her question. She wasn't giving up until she had an answer. It was more than that. She needed them to tell her exactly what went down and how much money her parents had accepted. Only then would she have what she needed.
“You think I’m that cheap?” Clinton scoffed. “That I wouldn’t pay top dollar for a premium mate? Please.” How she had ever thought he was a nice guy was beyond her. The man was an absolute asshole and completely beyond redemption.
“So tell me then, Clinton. How much did you pay my parents for me?” Every second that ticked by, every evaded answer, pissed her off even more. Her patience was wearing thin.