Virgin Bride(17)

I stare openmouthed in shock at the wall. “You want to do what?”

“They’re professionals, Erin. They’ll be very discreet. You can watch the daughter while we search the apartment. It’ll take an hour at most, and then we’ll plant some bugs before we leave.”

“Bug?” I feel stupid, dim, and he’s only two blocks away.

“Bugs,” he says. “Listening devices. This way, you can leave this filthy job.”

Leave. He wants me to leave Griffin and Lacey.

“Why?” I sputter.

“You’ve done well, Erin. Very well. I was hard on you, I know, but this is a better course of action.” He pauses for a second. “Erin, we’re a block away.”

I stare at the ground and finally I look at Lacey. For the first time all day, she looks back at me and smiles. Suddenly her fussy tears are gone and she’s the adorable smiling baby that I’ve started to really enjoy.

They want to break into Griffin’s apartment. Well, they want me to let them in so that they can go through his things and plant listening devices all over. That’s so insane I can barely believe it. But if I let them, my father just might give me the job that I really want. He even said that I did well.

I might never see Griffin again. In fact, I probably won’t. And any semblance of privacy he once had will be totally gone. He’ll be bugged and watched in his own home all the time.

“You can’t,” I say.

Silence from my father for a moment. “Why?”

I suddenly pitch my voice down, whispering. “I’m not alone.”

“What’s happening?”

“He has a plumber here,” I say, thinking fast. “I think it’s his cousin.”

“His cousin is a plumber?” My father sounds unconvinced.

“Or someone his cousin recommended. I don’t know, but I’m not alone here. You can’t come now.”

“Erin, we’re on the way. Do something about him.”

“I can’t,” I hiss. “You can’t come now. You should have called sooner.”

He pauses. “How involved is the job?” he asks. “Will he be gone soon?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “I haven’t been checking, but there’s been a lot of noise.”

“Ask him,” he commands.

“I can’t just ask, that’ll look odd,” I say.

“Make it look normal,” my father answers, clearly angry. “Do it, Erin.”

I sigh and cover the phone for a moment. I count to twenty.

“He says he’ll be here late, and he’ll be back tomorrow.”

“Fuck,” my father says. “That’s just great. When does he take his lunch?”

“I don’t know,” I say. “This isn’t my fault. You need to prepare me for these things.”

Another short silence. “Fine,” he grunts. “I’m calling it off.”

My father hangs up the phone.

I collapse down onto the couch, practically shaking. Lacey teeters over to me and climbs into my lap.

I wrap my arms around her, not sure about what I just did. I may have just made a huge mistake. I don’t know if Griffin really likes me or if he just wants to sleep with me, and yet I’m willing to risk everything for him already. I lied to my father, and if he finds out, I’m finished. He’ll send me overseas again, or worse.

But the more I look at Lacey, the more I know that I did the right thing.

Sending me here to spy on Griffin was bad enough. I agreed to do it, because I was under the assumption that Griffin was a bad person. But the more I get to know him, the more I realize that it’s my father who’s the villain in this situation.

And I don’t know what to do. I’m beginning to believe that I have to protect Griffin and Lacey, but I don’t know how long I can do it before my father catches me. And if he does, I don’t know what he’ll do to me. Something awful, I’m sure.

It’s the right thing to do. Sometimes the right thing is the hardest thing, and betraying my family like this is very, very hard. But they’ve never done anything for me, never helped me beyond throwing money at me, and I can’t let them destroy Griffin like this. It’s evil and it’s wrong.

I hug Lacey close and vow never to let anyone hurt this sweet little girl, not if I can help it.





9





Griffin





Erin seemed odd last night when I got home from work, but that’s not a big deal. She didn’t linger and didn’t kiss me, which is something of a surprise. In fact, she seemed like she was in a hurry to get out of there.

I keep thinking about it all morning. She showed up at my apartment just as I was leaving, and part of me thought she wasn’t going to show. I was afraid I scared her away. Instead, she did show up, but she seemed distant again.