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Through the windshield, Desmond saw his jet landing. Getting out, he removed his suitcase from the bed of the truck then waited for the jet to stop.

Rhone got out to stand next to him.

Once he saw Kirk lowering the stairs, Desmond turned to Rhone.

“You going to hit me again?”

“No. I’ve put myself in this mess on my own.”

“But …?” Rhone knew he wouldn’t get off that easily.

“You betrayed my loyalty. You’ll never have it again.”

Striding toward the jet, the lie he had told Haley came back to haunt him, as well as the talk he’d had with Rhone last night. He had been a fucking idiot toward Haley and had no one to blame but himself.

Climbing up the stairs, he felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket.

His pilot was waiting inside the jet for his instructions.

“Set a flight course to Kansas City,” he ordered.

If Haley had left him in the middle of the night, while he was sleeping, there was no way she would have returned to Queens City, to his apartment.

“Sure thing. We can take off after we’re refueled.”

Waving Kirk away to pull out his phone, he read the text as another one came up. Before looking at the video that Kent had sent him, he ordered Kirk to get the pilot for him. As he waited, he pulled up a map.

“Yes, sir.”

“Change of plans, Corbin.” Widening the screen on his phone, he pointed to an island on the map. “Find out if there is a landing strip here. If not, get as close as you can where I can hire a boat.”

After the pilot went to carry out his order, Desmond almost sent Kirk to rescind the order then thought better of it. Despite Kent telling him that Haley wanted no further contact, he had every intention of ignoring her directive. It should only take half a day to find the location Kent had sent. He would give Haley those hours to lessen her anger toward him. The time would also give him an opportunity to come up with how he was going to explain his deceit to her.

You are so fucked, his conscience whispered insidiously to him.

Pressing play, Desmond watched the video of Ginny taking a stage. When the camera panned to the audience, he tensed in his seat. Ivan was seated with Aanya’s father and brother. At the end of the song, Ginny lifted the collar of the outfit she was wearing to show Aanya’s pin. The camera went back to where Ivan and her brother and father were. From his reaction, he realized his daughter was dead. There was no way Ginny would have the pin unless Aanya was dead. Their culture demanded it be worn every day, or submit to the penalty of death if it wasn’t. He hadn’t been able to watch the footage of how Ginny had received the pin she had shown when she had sung the song. He had watched thousands of times since stealing the hard drive from Ivan’s security system. Instead, he had kept his eyes trained on Ginny, the woman whose life Aanya had saved and, in return, was able to save Gavin. Him, too, if he was being totally honest. He had every intention of going to his death to avenge Aanya if he had made it to the dock that night on Sherguevil. That one little girl, a grown woman now, was going to be responsible for toppling Ivan’s kingdom.

Haley had provided the last piece of the puzzle by giving the location of the people of Sherguevil. Desmond didn’t have to guess at the cost, or why. She had sex with him then left his bed to go to her uncle for a reason. Rhone had said Haley would go to the ends of the earth for those she loved. Haley was in love with him.

Thirty-Four

“It’s been three months, Desmond. Every lead as to where Haley is has come up a bust.

Slowly swirling the amber liquid in his brandy glass, Desmond listened intently for Ice to make one excuse as to why he and his men hadn’t found Haley yet.

“There aren’t any more places we can check. She’s fallen off the face of the earth after she took that chunk of money out of her bank account.”

He clenched his jaw shut when Ice used the phrase fallen off the face of the earth.

“Nadia still refusing to talk to you?”

Desmond opened clear eyes to see Ice staring across the room at him. “No. When I went to her house, she threatened me with a baseball bat.”

“Fuck. Dante there?”

“Yes, even though Nadia said he wasn’t.”

“How the mighty has fallen,” Ice said, shifting in his leather boots.

“Like Grace doesn’t keep you on yours? If that puppy has an accident on my carpet, you’re going to be the one to clean it up. Why did you bring it here, anyway?”