Fields' Guide to Smuggling by Julie Mulhern

Author:Julie Mulhern [Mulhern, Julie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: J & M Press

Chapter Thirteen

I refrained, barely, from slamming the door. More like an extra firm shove.

Thor winced.

The room’s walls, floors, furniture, and bedding were white, but I saw red. “What. The. Hell?”

Thor avoided my gaze. He stared at a white wall as if the answers to the mysteries of the universe were written on its surface. They weren’t.

“Mark. Talk to me.”

He rubbed the back of his neck and shifted his search for answers to the universe’s mysteries to the floor. “It’s better this way.”

Better? To send me to safety while Thor and Dad risked their lives? Definitely not for me. I’d lose my mind worrying. I yanked a duffel bag from the closet and threw it on the bed. “Better for whom?”

“Jack thinks you’re too emotional for this.”

Too emotional? “They’re children.” I jerked a drawer open and grabbed a handful of panties.

Thor’s lips thinned. “If it came down to saving the girls or taking out the head of the organization, which would you choose?”

The answer was obvious. “I’d save the girls.”

“Jack doesn’t agree.”

I froze with panties dangling from my fingers. I already knew how much Dad would sacrifice for the greater good. He’d left me when I was thirteen and let me believe he died. All for the greater good. I knew—intimately—the pain that accompanied that particular decision. I jammed the panties into the duffel.

“Poppy.” Thor’s hand on my shoulder made my hands clench

“What about you?” I bit out. Would he save the girls or make a mob boss his priority? It was a make-us or break-us question, and it had appeared out of nowhere.

“I see both sides.”

I crossed my arms over the sudden sharp pain in my stomach. The pain rose to my heart and closed my throat. “So do I,” I whispered. “And I picked one. Now, it’s your turn.”

“Poppy.” His voice was soft, and I wished he’d stop repeating my name.

I turned and faced him. “If you’d let those girls be sold…” We’d be done.

“I’d save them. I’d choose the girls.”

“Then why are you sending me to Corfu?”

“Jack has a plan.”

I understood his plan—to take down a Russian mobster. “Does saving the girls figure into his plan at all?”

“If we can, we will.”

“You have to put the girls first.” Because Dad wouldn’t. When Thor didn’t agree immediately, I added, “You just said you’d save them.”

“I will.”

“Convince me.” I jerked open a drawer and pulled out two pairs of black leggings. They joined my panties in the duffel.

“Convince you? Since when do I have to convince you?”

“Since you helped Dad maneuver me onto a helicopter bound for Corfu.”

He blinked. “I’m sorry.”

Sorry didn’t do much. I rifled through another drawer, then added black tee-shirts to the duffel.

His hands closed around my arms, and he turned me till my body was flush with his. “I promise you, I’ll do all I can to save the girls.”

I searched his face. His steady gaze and the hopeful tilt of his lips made me want to believe him. “I’m counting on you.”

He brushed a strand of hair from my cheek.

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