Bella’s face was abnormally pale, and Titus longed to touch her, but it was impossible with the six-inch glass separating them. The phone pressed to his ear, he placed his palm flat against the surface, and Bella immediately reached up on her side to outline her hand to his.

It was their first meeting since she had been brought back to the prison almost two weeks earlier, and while Anders had assured him that she was fine, the growing anxiety had been causing Titus to imagine horrible scenarios.

“Are you eating?” he demanded, noting a fading bruise on her face. “Did you get hurt?”

Bella shook her head, lowering her eyes.

“I’m fine,” she replied quickly. “I’m eating.”

He could sense the lies in her words.

“Anders has been in touch with the American embassy,” he assured her. “We are constantly working on your defense.”

Ara tried to smile, but the action was one of futility.

She’s lost at least five pounds, Titus though, which she can’t afford, and she looks haunted. I have to get her out of here.

“What do you need, Bella?” he asked, and the words were ridiculous to his own ears. He knew what she needed.

“I need you to do me a favor,” she whispered, her eyes darting around the space as if she was expecting to be overheard.

“Anything!” he agreed. “Anything at all!”

Bella stared at him with worried eyes and inhaled sharply. “I need you to arrange for a car and some money to be at a certain location at a certain time.”

Titus stared at her, his eyes widening in shock.

“What are you planning?” he hissed, leaning forward to gape at her. “If you’re thinking about—”

Her hand smacked against the glass as she shook her head vigorously, her cheeks opaque.

“I’m not thinking about anything!” she cried in a hushed tone. “Don’t say anything aloud!”

Titus sat back, his gaze falling on the guard wandering aimlessly behind the inmates visiting. If she wants me to break her out of here, I could have done that weeks ago, but she was clear that she didn’t want to run. What has changed?

The thought of Bella trying to escape and being caught was almost too much to bear. What if she was hurt in the capture? They would not be kind to her, he was sure.

“It’s not for me,” Bella murmured, as if reading the confusion on his face. “But I need you to do it for me. Can you manage it?”

Titus’ eyes narrowed. “Bella, you should be worried about you and no one else right now,” he said gruffly. “I am not going to ask you questions, but…”

She stared at him stoically, and for a second, Titus didn’t recognize her. There was a hardness in her face that had not been there before, a determination that both bothered him and made him inexplicably proud. She almost looked like she had a plan.

But how much could she really do from behind bars?

Titus nodded slowly.

“I’ll do anything for you,” he repeated. “You know that. Just be careful, please.”

Bella nodded. After a moment of silence, she said, “I keep dreaming about you.”

Titus couldn’t help but smile. “I guess that’s one way for me to touch you,” he replied. “I’ll take it.”

“We’re going to be together again.” He blinked at the conviction of her words.

“Of course we are,” he answered, even though his heart was sinking at the evidence that seemed to be piling up against her.

The witness who was going to testify against Bella was to remain anonymous until after he had taken the stand, but Anders had warned Titus that there were others who wanted to confirm the story.

“I know who the witness is testifying against me at trial,” said Bella.

The words stunned Titus.

“Who? How?” he sputtered. “Tell me.”

She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter. I’m going to deal with it, but I need you to keep looking for Skylar and Jasper. I think they’re together in England. If you find Jasper, I suspect you’ll find Skylar, too.”

She makes it sound so easy, Titus thought. I’ve been trying to find that bastard for weeks. Without her help… He was about to protest, but he clamped his mouth shut. She has already given you everything you need to find what you are looking for. And you have help… if you can trust them.

“I’ll find them,” he vowed. “You tell me what you need from me, Bella, and I will get it for you.” She stared at him, and he could see the concern on her face.

“Titus,” Bella whispered. “If I don’t get out of here, I want you to promise not to do anything crazy.”

His eyes narrowed slightly as he stared at her. “Crazy how?” he demanded.

“I keep dreaming about you,” she explained. “And in my dream, you’re a dragon.”

The words caused Titus to sit upright in his chair. He forced out a laugh, but the sound was empty.

“That sounds like quite a dream,” he said. “If I was a dragon, I could burn this place down and get you out of here.”

Their eyes met, and Bella shook her head.

“I don’t want you to do anything crazy if my trial proves unfavorable,” she insisted. Titus dropped his gaze. “Titus…”

He nodded slowly, but he was not sure if he could honor his promise to her. He had just found her. He couldn’t let go of her now.

“Promise me,” Bella insisted. “I don’t want to live my life on the run. You have an entire life here, a company, a beautiful home. You deserve to live freely and not with the scrutiny of the police breathing down your neck.”

She is so brave, Titus thought bitterly. She wants nothing more than for me to steal her away from here, but she is worried about our future together. She’s never experienced security in her life.

“Titus!”

“I promise,” he growled, a sudden burning of regret behind his eyes. “We will get you out of here legally and forget that this ever happened.”

Bella nodded, a sad smile forming on her lips. “If fate really brought us together, it will keep us together, too,” she told him, and a pang of pain pierced Titus’ heart.

“Everything will work out,” he promised.

He hoped he was right; the trial was set for next week.

“I don’t like this,” Anders muttered. “I feel like I’m violating every single oath I’ve ever taken.”

“How?” Titus replied, slipping into the passenger side of his brother’s Mercedes. “You don’t even know what just happened.”

“And I’d prefer to keep it that way,” Anders grumbled, pulling away from the stationary car.

“Take me to the airport,” Titus instructed, wiping his sweaty palms over his cargo pants. “And then you can go back to your hotel and pretend to work on Bella’s opening statement.”

Anders scowled. “Why do I feel like you have no faith in my ability to get her out of this?”

“I have all the faith,” Titus said, “or else I wouldn’t have called you in the first place.”

“It doesn’t look good,” Anders told him again, and Titus bristled.

“You are making me lose faith now.”

“Where are you going two nights before the trial, anyway? Arabella needs you there, Titus. You shouldn’t go. What if you don’t make it back?”

“I’ll make it back by morning,” Titus assured his brother. “Come hell or high water, I’ll be there.”

“Should I even be asking?”

“Not if you don’t want to hear the answer.”

Anders sighed deeply. “Is Arabella planning something illegal? I can’t defend her if she’s—”

“I swear, she’s not. I think we both know that if I wanted to get her out of there, I could—easily. She wants to do the right thing.”

“And yet you just left the keys in a car only a mile away from the prison,” Anders commented. “As if someone might need it in the event of a prison break.”

Titus shrugged. “Believe what you want,” he told his brother. “But think about what makes sense. I could have burned that place to the ground weeks ago and been long gone with Bella. No need for theatrics like this.”

Anders was quiet as he continued to drive toward Port Elizabeth International Airport.

“Does this have anything to do with Skylar Vernon?” he finally asked, and Titus grunted as his brother steered the expensive vehicle toward the terminals, his hands gripping the steering wheel tightly.

“For someone who doesn’t want to know, you sure are asking a lot of questions.”

“Tito, I still think you have invested too much of yourself into this woman for the wrong reasons.”

“And I still think you’re offering unsolicited advice.”

His words seemed to silence Anders, at least temporarily, giving Titus a moment to reflect on what he was about to do. It had been a harrowing week, and he was not sure he had trusted the right person to help him, but what choice did he have?

Either Trina is working with Skylar and warned him I am onto him, he thought, or she is innocent and can help me find him. In his gut, he felt that his assistant, for as much of a bitch as she could be, always had his back. And she did track Jasper’s IP address to England, just as Arabella claimed she had. If Trina couldn’t be trusted, she would have led me on a different path.

There was a bittersweet emotion that came with realizing that Trina was on his side. He was grateful, but at the same time, it meant someone else had been selling him out to the elusive hacker who wanted something from his company. And Titus had a bad feeling he knew who it was.

I guess I’ll find out soon enough, he thought regretfully as Anders pulled up to the international departure gate.

“I’ll ring you when I get home,” he promised his brother, offering Anders a smile. “We’re almost done with all this madness, brother.”

Anders didn’t return his smile. “Not if we need to file an appeal,” he replied shortly.

Titus stifled a sigh and closed the door.

This has to work, he thought, striding toward the entrance. It might be our last shot to get justice for Bella.

He glanced back to ensure his brother had driven away from the drop-off point before hurrying around the side of the building to shift into his beast-like form. There was no way he was sitting on a plane to the UK for fifteen hours when he could make it there himself in four, weather permitting. Besides, he wanted to ensure he arrived packing the element of surprise when he landed where Jasper had been hiding in central London.

Titus spread his colossal wings, his talons sliding across the tarmac as he met the landing strip and leaped upward into the sky, uncaring of who saw him.