LEAVING THE MANSION was a weight off their shoulders – they were one step closer to being out of Esteban’s reach. Heading west, Jason did just as he did before, watched the mirrors, took extra turns, even backtracking on the freeway a time or two, literally driving in circles.

“This isn’t the way to the airport. We are getting further and further away in the wrong direction. Won’t that give them time to get there before we do?” she asked, full of concern.

“Just making sure they aren’t following us. If they are, I want them headed the wrong way before we lose them.”

“Why don’t we just use our head start and get out of here? Isn’t the jet ready?”

“We aren’t taking the jet. Well, that jet anyway.”

Surprise, and what was probably concern, had her hot and off guard. “What? Why not? We can be out of here faster! I left a note; he knows I’m leaving. It makes sense to take the jet.”

“We aren’t running away and disappearing using his jet! We may as well text him directions!” It wasn’t like him to be so condescending, but it also wasn’t like her to be dense. She was quite the opposite actually. He chalked it up to raw nerves and fear. “He probably won’t even realize you are gone or see the note for a while yet, and by the time he does, we’ll be in the wind.”

“Oh, I hadn’t thought of that. Then my family jet! I can make a call; it wouldn’t take long…”

“Lydia,” he interrupted, “we can’t use that for the same reason we can’t use his jet, our cell phones, credit cards, and so on. He can trace everything. Going into hiding means we disappear altogether, no bread crumbs for them to follow. We’re using a different jet, different airport all together. One that doesn’t exist as far as civilians are concerned. The less you know, right now, the safer you and Jax are.”

Holding up her cell phone, she was quiet while she reconciled all that he just said. Hiding, secret airports, untraceable – that meant they really did have to disappear completely. Panic was returning, threatening to take hold again. How the hell was she supposed to live? No money, no resources, no connections. She had a son to feed and diaper – how would she do all of that with nothing?

“Hey,” he soothed, grabbing her hand, the one still holding her cell phone, “it’s going to be okay. I promise. I won’t let anything happen to either of you, okay? Everything is taken care of; you just have to trust me.”

For the first time all night, she smiled. It was weak, it wasn’t full of joy, but it was sincere. She believed him and trusted him. They were still alive, and it was thanks to him. A glimpse of the nice guy she had come to know was looking back at her and gave her an encouraging nod.

“Where are we going from here then?” she asked, resting their hands on the center console between them.

“New York first. We need to get Trinity.” He squeezed her hand to remind her he had this, they were safe, for now, and that he promised to protect them.

She sat up straighter in her seat until she felt him squeeze, a silent reminder that she needed. “Why are we going to Trinity? I didn’t really call her; you said not to call her. Did I screw up. Is she okay? I need to call her – she has no clue.”

“She’s fine. And you weren’t supposed to call her, nor will you. The less she knows, the safer she is. Esteban will use her as leverage to get to you if we don’t get to her first. She’s part of the plan, Lydee. He can’t reach her; my people are on it.” He used her nickname again, something he didn’t do often, and he wasn’t sure why he had been using it all night. He’d deal with that later – it was too personal and needed to stop.

“What if she isn’t there?”

“She is.” He answered.

“How do you know?” Lydia didn’t like being out of the loop. She was usually the one holding the reigns, one hundred percent in charge. These half-assed, less you know, the better, bullshit answers were starting to irritate her.

“I know,” he shot back, aware that he was pissing her off, but clearly, not giving two craps about it.

In an ear-piercing silence, she wondered what he meant, how he knew, and considered it along with all that she did know so far. It didn’t take long at all for her to figure it out.

“Oh, my God! You’re watching her,” she guessed, sliding as far to the right in her seat as possible in order to gain every inch of distance from him as she could. “How do I even know you’re safe? You were right there, watching those men die. I just got in a car with you, with my son no less, when you’re no better than those men! What have I done? How can I trust you?”

He looked at her, saw the fear gripping her as the tears began to fall again. For some reason, her words hurt. He wasn’t trying to make friends with her, but he certainly didn’t want her to think he was like those men. He was anything but. He loathed what they were, what they did, and what they stood for.

The only reason he could tolerate and live with what he was exposed to was the knowing – knowing that he was going to put an end to them. It literally made him sick knowing she may think of him in such a way – associated him with monsters – or that he could hurt her. He could never hurt her; she was the only reason he stayed to begin with. But he couldn’t tell her that.

“You can trust me because I got you out of there before anyone else saw you. You can trust me because I got you out of the Police Station before they ID’d you and sold you out to those men. You can trust me because if Esteban figures this out, who I am, what I am…I’m dead, but not before he kills everyone I love first.”

Relaxing in her seat, his words sunk in. He had as much to lose as she did, if not more. She could trust him; he was risking everything for her when he could have just sent her away, and Esteban would be none the wiser. But he stayed with her, ran with her. That had to mean something, but what?

Silence, in that moment was as painful as the words she knew she delivered with a punch. Accusing him of being like Esteban and his people had to hurt, and for that, she felt badly. She would find a way to make it right when she knew what right was again.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t realize…” she began.

Jason cut her off before she could finish. He didn’t need apologies, just cooperation. “It’s fine.”

Emotions were high; her world was turned upside down in a matter of hours. Outbursts were to be expected, she supposed, even if they didn’t help. Being in the absolute dark was making it hard to wrap her mind around the few details she had – she needed more – deserved more. Perhaps they would help her cope.

“So…uh, Trinity.” She approached cautiously, hoping he would feed her something to make sense of everything. “Can you tell me why? Why we need to get to her and involve her? Doesn’t that put her in…danger?”

“Trinity will become leverage if we don’t intervene. He will use your sister to get to you, just as he would Jax. It’s time to disappear, make him think you’re…”

She wasn’t sure she wanted him to finish his thought, but she knew she needed him to. “Make him think what, Jason?”

Hesitation stood between him and the truth. There was no easy way to deliver what she wanted to hear, and she had already been through so much. “You’re going to die, as far as he is concerned. He needs to think you’re dead, or he will come looking and won’t stop until he finds you, Jax, or Trinity.”

“And you…” she finished, reminding him that he was now a bigger player in this than originally planned.

“And me. It has to be this way, Lydee.”

An unfamiliar pinch settled in his heart when she turned her head, leaning it against the window, and began to silently cry.