Krystoff paused, as if he’d been in the process of hanging up when he caught her question. “It doesn’t matter. What’s done is done. What matters is getting you to safety. Make sure your gun is loaded and ready. Go with your guard. I’ll come home once your mother is awake.”
Saskia knew she had seconds before her father hung up. She badly wanted to ask after her mother’s injuries, but she couldn’t. She didn’t have time.
“Tell me if it’s Jozef.”
When her father didn’t immediately answer, she raised her voice. “Dad, I need the information. I need to know who you’re trying to keep me safe from so I know who to trust and who to shoot.”
He grunted his approval and said, “Jozef. Stay the fuck away from Jozef if he shows up. He’s separated himself from the family. Gone rogue.”
Saskia knew it wasn’t as simple as that. If Jozef had gone rogue, then he’d been driven to it. He’d had months since getting out of jail to make a move, but he hadn’t. Jozef insisted that he was still part of the family until one of them made a move to show him otherwise. Saskia could only assume one of her parents had finally made that move. Idiots!
“What did you do?” she asked again, ice in her voice.
She glanced around and catching sight of a women’s washroom, waved at her guard and pointed. He shook his head and tapped his watch. Saskia rolled her eyes and moved the phone away from her mouth.
“I’m not going to hold it until we get home,” she told him. “Either give me two minutes to pee or pick me up and carry me. I’m going.”
She didn’t wait for an answer but went into the washroom.
She realized her father was still talking. Probably trying to convince her to go home. He wouldn’t give her the answers she wanted.
Like most of washrooms at the university, this one had a wide window that could be opened by standing on the counter. She unlatched it and shoved. She stuck her head out and looked down. The drop was bigger than she liked, but she didn’t have a choice.
If she went back to the mansion, she would be choosing sides. She’d known this was coming. Could feel the tension in the mansion building since Jozef’s release from prison, since he brought Shaun back into the city. Neither of her parents credited her with the intelligence to pay attention. They were wrong. She saw everything.
She’d suspected her mother of poisoning Shaun, had even tried to warn her friend right after she arrived in the city. Shaun was too much of a do-gooder to believe the woman who’d thrown her a fancy party could poison her.
If Saskia had to guess, Dasha had tried to kill Shaun again. Saskia hoped like hell her mother hadn’t been successful or they would all burn in the heat of Jozef’s rage.
“Dad, I have to go,” she said, putting the phone to her ear.
“Jesus, child, I thought something had happened to you!” he exploded.
She winced. He must’ve realized she hadn’t been listening.
“I was… peeing,” she told him, swinging a leg out onto the ledge. “Look dad, I need to say something and then I need to hang up.”
“Make it quick,” he growled. “I need to call your sister.”
Saskia wondered why he hadn’t called Leeza first, then realized her sister was probably home, safely surrounded by her bodyguards, waiting for Saskia to arrive so they could hole up in the safe room. She would have to disappoint her sister.
“I wanted to say… thank you,” she told him.
She shoved the phone into her cleavage, hoping he could still hear as she lowered herself out of the window, walking her sneaker-clad feet down the side of the brick building until they were dangling.
“I’m not thanking you for being a good dad or anything,” she said loudly so he could hear. The building was huge, so even if the guards thought to cover the window, it would take them several minutes to get outside and locate the correct window. She would be long gone by then. “Because you aren’t a good dad, you never were. You were too consumed by business, power and position to pay attention to your daughters.”
She squeezed her eyes shut and let go of the window. When her feet hit the ground, her knees buckled and she fell. She didn’t stay on the ground though. She rolled over, leapt to her feet and took off running.
She dug her phone out of her cleavage and put it up to her ear.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Krystoff roared. “Why is your bodyguard texting that you aren’t with him.”
“You need to shut up and listen to me for once, because I’m about to ditch my phone and I really don’t know if we’ll see each other again.”
“Saskia, don’t you fucking dare,” he snarled. “You go back to your guards right fucking now.”
The fear in his voice overrode the anger, which slowed Saskia’s steps, but didn’t stop her. She’d been preparing for this day from the moment she realized who her family was.
“I won’t do that and I need you to stop wasting our time. You know as well as I do that you’ll have to get off the phone to coordinate your attack on Jozef. I really, really wish you wouldn’t, but I know you too well to think otherwise. You’ll hit him before he can organize himself enough to hit back.”
There was a pause, then her father said sarcastically, “You think you’re smarter than the rest of us, don’t you?”
She laughed. “I really am. That’s not even a question.”
“If you’re bound and determined to go your stubborn way then so be it. I wash my hands of you. Just remember, when your cousin is holding a gun to your head, I tried to protect you. You chose the wrong side.”
“That’s the thing, dad,” she said impatiently. “I’m not choosing sides, but if I was,
