Page 87 of Close Protection

I don’t have any more questions and Daphne looks like she’s a second away from throwing up, so I rise to my feet,sweeping the pan from the counter, and walk towards Ryan.

‘Thank you for your honesty.’ I strike the pan against the less swollen side of his face, and within seconds he’s out cold.

Turning around, I face Daphne. ‘Your father is alive, so I need you to take this conversation as a win.’

‘How can I take it as a win when they’ll kill him in two days if they don’t get the necklace?’

‘Do you remember what the necklace looks like?’

‘Of course.’

‘If I could get a guy to draw it, do you think you’d be able to explain it to him well?’

‘Yeah…?’

‘Okay, great, then I have a plan. I’m gonna call Major Davis who’s in charge of this task force and explain the situation to him. He’ll get a team to come take care of him.’ I point to Ryan. ‘They bypass the cops so you won’t need to do any unnecessary questioning. I just need to give them a report of what happened.’

‘But we’re in France?’

‘I was in America when I got called in for this. We work with Interpol.’

‘Oh, okay.’

‘When someone comes to take him I’ll ask for a sketch artist as well and you’ll describe the necklace to them.My major will have a replica made and in a few days will send someone to your house to hand over the ‘necklace’. They’ll trail the men and follow them to wherever all the hostages are, make an assessment on how to proceed, and we’ll go from there.’

Daphne looks at me blankly as she processes my plan, before nodding a second later.

‘Okay, that’s a good idea.’

‘Yeah?’

‘Yeah, my father will be fine. Everyone will be fine and this will all be over soon.’ She gives me a small smile. ‘This is a good idea. It’s gonna work.’

She continues to repeat those words under her breath as she walks over to the sink and starts scrubbing her hands. I come up behind her and wrap my arms around her waist.

‘Everyone will be fine and this will all be over soon,’ I echo, trying to provide reassurance. She melts into me.

‘That was really hot, by the way,’ I drawl against her neck. ‘You with that knife?’

‘Milosh!’ She twists the tap closed and turns to look at me, eyes wide. ‘I feel like you’re trying to make me into a psychopath.’

‘Well, that depends.’ I lean in closer. ‘Is it working?’

‘A little bit, yeah.’

‘Oh, yeah?’

She breathes out a stifled laugh and nods twice.

My eyes drop to her parted mouth and I cup a hand around her jaw and brush my thumb across her bottom lip. ‘Good,’ I reply softly.

‘You know, I think I’m beginning to like boyfriend Milo.’

‘Good, because he’s here to stay.’

I step away and pull the burner phone I just bought out of my pocket, the number I need to call already memorized. But before I reach the doorway I turn back, one last thought needing to be spoken. ‘Let’s watchTangledtonight.’

33Daphne