“I’ll pay,” I say, shrugging. “My bank has no problem letting money leave my account.”
Aiden’s eyes widen, as he looks from me to Blake.
Blake’s eyebrows scrunch, along with his face.
“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve heard yet. I wasn’t trying to get you to pay.”
I roll my eyes. “Oh come on. You’re not one of those macho guys who feels emasculated when a woman pays, are you?”
Blake shifts in his chair.
“It’s—it’s not that. I just don’t think it’s fair, is all.”
“Do you want to find these guys, or not?” I say, standing up and crossing my arms.
“Well, sure—but—”
“Good, then it’s settled. Aiden,” I say, turning to him, “can you pull up those ticket details for me? Let’s get tickets booked.”
“Holy shit, this is all happening a little fast. Don’t you think?” Blake says, standing up and walking to my side.
“No, I don’t. These guys are on the run and the only way we’re gonna track them down is to get our asses on a plane. I know the area, I spent a few—er, a year in Italy. Their trail will run dry—and even with my gifts, I won’t be able to locate them—which defeats damn near the entire purpose of this.”
“If this is all about showing me you really are psychic—you don’t have to do this. I mean, that’s a ridiculous amount of money to put on the line just to prove me wrong,” Blake says.
“Then I better be right,” I say, cocking my head to the side. “Besides, if it really freaks you out, you can pay me back.”
Aiden’s blue eyes flit back and forth between me and Blake like a pingpong ball before he shakes his head, the shaggy hair flopping from side to side, as he finally turns around to face the computers.
“You’ll see. We’ll get the bad guys and they won’t be able to hurt anyone else,” I say.
“Ugh, that’s so cliche,” Blake says, a hint of a smile causing the dimple on his left cheek to emerge.
I run my hand along the side of my neck, taking a small step back. I don’t know what it is about his smile—his authentic smile, but it coils inside my gut.
“Yeah, well, it’s still the truth. And lucky me—I’ll get to show you I’m not just a charlatan.”
Blake takes a breath and exhales deeply.
“I don’t know if proof will make me feel better or worse,” he says.
“Only one way to find out, I guess,” I say, smirking.
“Okay, I have a couple of flight options, but it doesn’t look like there are any direct flights happening in the next week,” Aiden says.
“What are the options?” I ask, turning to him.
“Do you want cheapest? Or fastest?”
“Fastest,” I say with a nod.
“Cheapest,” Blake says at the same time.
“Fastest,” I say, punctuating the end of the word and eyeing him from beneath my eyebrows.
“Yes, ma’am,” Aiden says, twisting back to the screen. “The fastest has two stops. One in Atlanta, then another in Paris. You’re looking at nearly a sixteen-hour flight time with the layovers.”
“Okay, let’s do it. What do you need from me?”
“Just your card,” Aiden says, making a face.
“Sure, let me grab my purse from the car.”
I walk out, past Blake, whose face is as pale as the entry way walls.
Trotting to my car, I grab my tiny purse and head back inside. Part of me is excited for this adventure. It’s been years since I was in Europe, let alone Italy or the area near there.
When I get back to the room, I take a seat, and open my purse.
“Here you go,” I say, handing Aiden my debit card.
If there’s one thing that matters least to me, it’s money. With thousands of years of accumulation—I have far more than any one person ever needs. Even an immortal one.
Aiden takes the card, eyeing it suspiciously.
“You know this is your debit card, right?”
I raise an eyebrow and stare at him unblinkingly.
“Mkay,” he says, turning back to the screens.
Blake crosses his arms and starts pacing the room.
With incredible ease, Aiden’s fingertips fly across the keyboard.
“Okay, last chance to back out,” he says, his pointer finger hovering over the enter button.
“I’m good,” I say, shrugging.
“You both have passports, right?”
“Yes,” we say in unison.
“Good,” Aiden says. His finger taps down, effectively booking our flight. “Your flight leaves tomorrow at eleven—but you need to be at the airport by nine.”
“Aiden, use my card to book the hotel and car, would you?” Blake says, reaching for the back of Aiden’s chair.
“Where do you want to stay?”
“Anyplace centrally located. Find the ring’s last known location—or track any potential haunts. If we need to move around, we will—but it will be nice to have a hub to start with.”
“Got it,” Aiden says, nodding and handing me back my card.
I put it back into my wallet, just as Blake taps my arm.
“Can I speak with you for a moment?” he says, tipping his head to the door.
“Sure.”
“We’ll be right back,” Blake calls out.
Aiden lifts his hand, giving a thumbs up.
“Oh, and you’ll want to let Interpol know about the men,” I say, speaking over my shoulder at Aiden. “They’ll want to know what’s going down—especially if they can help. More than likely, they have a team on the case already, so we wouldn’t want to step on any toes.”
Aiden nods, “Sure thing.”
“How do you know so much about Interpol?” Blake asks, as we enter the hallway.
“Uh—watched a lot of movies?” I say, grinning.
He shakes his head.
“Alright, so we don’t have much time. I’m going to get packed and swing by Ted and Lacy’s house to see if they’ve been able to glean any more information from Esther—and check in on them. I’ll pick you up tomorrow about 8:30am. Sound good?”
“Are you trying to get rid of me?” I say, cocking my head to the side.
“Not at all. I just figured you’ll want to talk to your assistant about your absence and get packed yourself.”
Ugh. I totally hadn’t given any thought to how this would affect Ren. He’s
