It took 40 minutes to drive to Syracuse, five minutes to board, an hour to fly to LaGuardia, five more minutes to deplane, and then ten minutes to get to Rikers. Two hours in total – which was two hours less than it would have taken to drive.

Which was good, because those two hours were torture.

I talked with Eve for part of it. She did her best to soothe me, God bless her.

What was stranger, though, was the proposal she came up with. It totally distracted me from my woes, if for no other reason than it was so outlandish.

Just bring it up to him, Eve texted. See what Connor says.

“I will,” I promised.

Just a few hours ago, I would never have even considered trying to talk Connor into it. But now…

It was late in the afternoon when we finally got to Rikers. We were only allowed in because of a special dispensation by the warden. Apparently when skinheads nearly murder your not-yet-convicted fiancé, there’s a little more leeway on visiting hours.

The prison grounds were a depressing collection of buildings on a small island three miles from Manhattan, smack dab in the middle of the East River. I had never known it existed until the arraignment that morning; now it was the source of all my fears, and the obsessive center of all my thoughts.

Johnny and I were escorted into the hospital wing by a couple of armed guards. We saw Sebastian and Bert first; they were standing next to a hospital bed.

“Connor!” I screamed, and broke into a run.

One of the guards tried to stop me, but I pulled free of his grasp.

Connor wrapped his arms around me as I threw myself on his chest, sobbing. Although he was awake and sitting up, I was having a horrifying deja-vu of when he had been shot a year ago at the Dubai.

“I’m okay… I’m okay,” he whispered.

I pulled back to look at him. His face was bruised, and a nasty black eye was starting to form.

“You don’t look okay,” I sniffled.

“Aaaaah, I’m milkin’ it just to get a better bed in here.” He grinned and wiped away a tear from my cheek. “Besides, you should see the other guys.”

“He’s not kidding,” Bert said. “All three had to be airlifted to Mount Sinai. Two of them are going to have to have surgery if they ever want to walk again.”

I stared at Connor, horrified. “Three guys attacked you?!”

Johnny looked impressed. “Nice going, boss.”

“I owe it all to my teacher,” Connor said.

“What happened?!” I asked.

“I’ll give you one guess.”

“Miranda,” I whispered.

“It was neo-Nazi gang members,” Bert said in exasperation. “Do you really think she’s recruiting assassins from the Aryan Nation?”

“Look, Bert, believe what you want. All I need from you right now is to get me the fuck out of here.”

Bert sighed. “I’m workin’ on it.”

“Where are we on that?”

“We’ve got your father’s limo, and the bodies of his driver, two of his bodyguards, and your maid and chef.”

Connor looked at me to see how I was taking the news about Marta and Vincenzo, and squeezed my hand.

As much as I grieved for them, though, having the love of my life nearly killed was far worse.

“The FBI has taken over the case and is expediting the forensics,” Bert continued. “You’ve got some mighty powerful pull at the top of the ladder, my friend.”

“What good was Citizens United if you can’t use it to get out of a murder you didn’t commit?” Connor asked darkly.

“The results should be in within 48 hours. If they’re in our favor – if it’s conclusive your father was killed while he was in the limo – I think I can get the charges thrown out.”

I stared at him in horror. “48 hours?!”

“Look, this is warp speed,” Bert said. “With anybody else, we’d be talking weeks for the cops to getting around to processing it.”

“With anybody else, they wouldn’t have a psychopath bribing judges and hiring killers in jail!” I snapped.

The lawyer looked around frantically. “Don’t say that out loud,” he hissed.

Connor quickly changed the subject. “Bert told me you saw some guy in upstate New York. What was that all about?”

“Yeah – do tell,” Bert said.

I filled them in on the entire visit. Then I produced the paper copy of the will.

Connor just stared at it in shock.

“Let me see that,” Bert said.

After he handed it over, Connor had to look away, he was so overcome with emotion.

“It’s true,” I whispered to him. “Your father changed his mind.”

Connor nodded, then pinched his eyes with his forefinger and thumb, wiping away any tears that might have escaped. “Yeah. The dumb SOB had to wait till the very end, though…” His voice darkened with anger. “And then that bitch killed him for it.”

Bert flipped through the will. “My God… this is astounding…”

“Can you get him out on just the will?” Sebastian asked hopefully.

“Probably not. It’ll be great for the final case, but… I don’t think it’ll affect the ‘no bail’ ruling.”

“But Connor had no incentive to kill his father before he signed the will!” Sebastian fumed.

“That argument would work, assuming that Connor knew the will existed, and that his father planned to sign it,” Bert said. “But he didn’t.”

“Miranda knew,” I said acidly.

“Can we prove that?” Bert shot back.

“…no.”

“Then it’s good for raising reasonable doubt during the trial phase, but it’s not going to affect the judge’s decision on the bail.”

“He has to get out!” I wailed. “There’s already been one attempt on his life – what if there’s another?!”

“There won’t be,” Connor soothed me.

“You don’t know that!”

“Miranda had one shot,” Connor said. “She blew it. If she tries again, it will look suspicious as hell.”

“I’d say it looks suspicious as hell that the judge sent you here, and there was a murder attempt on you the same day,” Sebastian said, folding his arms judgmentally.

“Can we go to the press with the will?” Connor asked.

“I can leak it to a couple of reporters and let them run with it,” Bert said. “It might even buy us some leverage when the FBI’s results from the limo come in. But unfortunately, nothing’s going to come of it short-term.”

I turned to Connor. “I need to ask you something… in private.”

“I’m feeling pretty good, but I don’t know if I’m up to that,” he joked. I stared him down until he got serious. “How private?”

I looked over at Bert. “You might not want to hear this.”

“Oh God,” Bert muttered, then held up the will. “I’m just going to go read this waaaaaay over there, on the other side of the room.”

Once he was out of earshot, I looked from Sebastian to Johnny to Connor. “I was talking to Eve on the plane ride to La Guardia.”

“And?”

“She suggested something I want you to consider.”

“What?”

“Grant could come in here and break you out.”

Grant Carlson was Eve’s partner, apparently both in a business sense and romantically. He was a billionaire architect – but he also happened to be a cat burglar. That’s what had gotten him in trouble, and why Connor had to loan him a private plane to get out of the U.S.

Connor immediately shook his head. “No.”

“Connor – ”

“No, Lily.”

“You have skinheads trying to kill you in here,” I pleaded with him. “Next it could be gang members, or the Mexican mafia.”

“When I get out of here – and make no mistake, I’m getting out of here soon – I have to run a multi-billion-dollar company,” Connor said. “If I take Grant up on that offer, I become a fugitive. There’s no way I can get out of that. Even when I’m acquitted of the murder charges, they’ll convict me on the escape attempt.”

“We should ask Bert,” Sebastian said.

“Are you serious?” Connor asked, astounded.

“You can’t run your company if you’re dead,” Sebastian pointed out.

“I’m not going to be dead,” Connor said angrily.

“I still say it’s worth asking Bert.”

“FINE – get him over here.”

Sebastian motioned Bert over. “We have a… hypothetical question.”

“Uh oh…”

“If, say, an innocent man were imprisoned… and he escaped…”

“No,” Bert said.

“But let’s say he escaped and then was acquitted of the original crime – ”

“NO.”

“See?” Connor said.

“Why not?” Sebastian whined, like a little kid being told he couldn’t open his Christmas gifts on Christmas Eve.

“A prison break is a separate crime,” Bert said. “And it’s one they’re not going to let you walk away from.”

“But he wouldn’t have to break out if they hadn’t put him here,” I seethed.

“Nobody’s breaking out,” Connor said.

“GOOD, because no judge in his right mind would acquit you. Let the system work,” Bert urged. “Justice will prevail.”

“What if he dies while we’re waiting for justice to prevail?” Sebastian snapped.

“Sebastian,” Connor hissed, and jerked his head towards me.

I knew exactly what he meant: Shut UP, you’re worrying Lily.

And it was true – but Sebastian was only saying something I was already thinking.

“For the record,” I said, “I’m in favor of taking Grant up on his offer.”

Connor shook his head. “Overruled.”

“What offer is that?” Bert asked.

“You don’t want to know,” Connor told him.

“We need to do something to get you out of here,” I insisted.

“Then work with Eve to find something to nail Miranda,” Connor said. He flashed me a dark smile. “That would be the best ‘getting out of prison’ gift you could possibly give me.”

“That’s not enough!”

“It is. And it’ll be alright. Listen to Bert; trust the system.”

“The system failed us! It got bought out by Miranda and put you here!”

Bert looked around like I had cussed in church. “SHHH,” he warned me.

“Miranda may have won the first round, but we’ve got her on the run,” Connor said. “She was probably saving the attempt on my life for later, but she got flustered about us finding the limo, so she pulled the trigger early. She’s used up all of her bullets, and now she’s on the defensive. Trust me, babe. I can see her moves as clearly as if we’re playing chess.”

I didn’t want to believe him – but what choice did I have?

A guard walked up. “Start wrapping it up, folks. Visit’s over.”

“What should we do, then?” Sebastian asked Connor.

“Just hold down the fort. The evidence from the limo will clear me, I know it.”

“What if it doesn’t?” I asked fearfully.

“It will. Just keep on working with Eve – the sooner we can nail Miranda, the better. Tell her thanks for the offer, but… no thanks.”

I nodded. He kissed me, deep and passionately.

I pulled away, my eyes brimming with tears. “I love you.”

“I love you too.” He grinned. “Though you might want to think about postponing the wedding… just in case.”

In spite of myself, I laughed – then shook my head. “No. I’m going to trust in the system.”

He laughed. “Good. And if it doesn’t work, well, we could always get married in here.”

“I’d marry you anywhere,” I said fervently.

“You might have to,” he teased.

“Time to go,” the guard said in a bored voice.

I kissed Connor one last time, then walked with Johnny, Sebastian, and Bert as the guard herded us towards the hospital entrance.

“I’ll be fine,” Connor called out, then joked, “Maybe I can get us a conjugal visit tomorrow.”

“Okay,” I answered, forcing a smile.

“By the way, tell Eve when she talks to Grant, that sonuvabitch still owes me an airplane,” Connor said good-naturedly, just as the guard pushed us out the door.