He frowns. “I missed on purpose.”
“Your hand was shaking.”
He narrows his eyes even more as they flick to the rearview mirror. “Is that bastard following us?”
“Yep. You played right into his hands. He wanted you to rescue me so he could tail us.”
“Bullshit,” Jude exclaims.
“You need to lose him at the next turn,” I say in answer to that.
“Bossy fucking bitch,” he mutters under his breath. He shifts gear and accelerates out of the corner so hard, my head pins to the seat headrest. “This is not what I want to be doing on a Saturday night.”
“No one asked you to follow me,” I say, getting my breath back as we hit the straight.
“It’s my turn to babysit,” he says, scowling, yanking the wheel again, making the car squeal in protest. The asshole really can’t drive.
I grip the armrest, teeth gritted as I give him a death stare. “Turn?” It dawns on me this isn’t just Jude being a dick. “Are you idiots keeping tabs on me?”
“How else can we keep our eye on our investment?”
£1.5 million. Five hundred thousand each. That’s how much they’re paying me to do their revenge job for them. Minus clean-up of course. “This isn’t what we agreed.” I keep my voice level, but inside I’m raging.
“Who gives a toss what we agreed,” he snaps.
After a few minutes, Judes eases off the gas and we slow a little so he can turn off into a wooded green lane hidden from the main road. He switches off the engine and turns out all the lights.
It’s just me and Jude in the dark.
Not how I imagined the evening panning out.
He digs into his pocket and retrieves the locket. He holds it out to me like a peace offering. Reluctantly, I take it.
“Why were you even out here?” he says, a few minutes later. His voice is hushed like Dante could hear us if he spoke any louder.
“None of your fucking business,” I hiss, matching his volume.
“It’s every bit my business. If Psycho Charlie back there takes you out, we’re out of pocket.”
“I needed to meet Quinn,” I say, opening my palm to look at the necklace she gave me, untangling it quickly as best I can now that the car isn’t bouncing over the holes in the road.
“Why? So she could give you that necklace? The one your Psycho boyfriend tried to take? You’re welcome by the way. There was no way you were getting that back if I hadn’t come along when I had.”
“He’s not my boyfriend. And no I’m not thanking you. This was a red herring. I wanted him to take it.”
He stares at me in the dark.
“It’s a listening device,” I explain. I was hoping to use it to keep an eye on Dante, using Quinn passing me the necklace as bait. He bought it, thinking it was something important I needed.”
“Why would he keep that on him?”
I open the pendant and glance at the pictures inside. On one side is a picture of a woman with blue eyes and blonde hair, smiling at the camera. On the other side are two chubby toddlers hand in hand. One is older and clearly dressed as a boy. The other is in a dress. Jude cranes his neck to get a look but I snap it shut before he can see.
He glares at me. “You’re always so fucking secretive.”
I fasten the necklace around my neck. “You haven’t earned the truth.”
“Do you know what I have earned?”