“What’s your point?”
“My friend Pierre can meet me discreetly in Hong Kong and bring me the cash. There is a direct flight from Vancouver to Hong Kong daily.”
“No.” He stood up. “Come on. Let’s go.”
I scrambled after him. “What are you doing?”
“We’ll find the money another way.” He refused to look at me as he walked into the heat of the sun.
I grabbed his arm and did my best to stop him. Instead, it felt like I was trying to hold on to a moving tank.
He stopped and looked down at me with exasperation.
I lifted both my hands off him. “Can you please just listen to me?”
“I’m not letting you go meet some guy in another country by yourself, Blaire. End of subject.”
“Tell me why.”
He looked incredulous. “You’ve been missing for almost a week in Canada after being stolen. And you want to phone this person up and ask him to fly a large sum of money in cash to another country? Whoever he is, he’d be an idiot not to alert the authorities. Even if he doesn’t, the authorities will be watching him and everyone else in your life.”
“I can trust him,” I insisted.
He studied me with an unreadable expression. “Who is this guy?”
“Pierre. We used to date.”
He grabbed onto my wrist with strength. “This isn’t a game, Blaire. If this guy can’t be trusted, we’re all dead—you and me, your grandfather, my friends. None of us will survive.”
I yanked my wrist out of his grasp. “Are you done?”
He started to walk away from me.
My voice cracked as I spoke. “When I was in university, I pledged for a sorority. I didn’t want to, but my grandmother thought it would be a great idea. From the second I got there, I knew I didn’t fit in.”
Viktor turned around. His face was a mixture of both pity and curiosity.
“I didn’t understand it at the time, but they couldn’t say no to me. I came from a lot of money, so the sorority couldn’t turn me down. They had to admit me into their inner circle of friends and pretend to like me.”
“What happened?”
“For a full year, they pushed me past the worst of my limits. I was friendless, alone and painfully shy—and that made me an easy target. At the end of my first year, in a desperate move for self-preservation, I decided to transfer to a different school. On one of my last nights, there was an incident. I accidentally burned down their sorority house.”
Viktor stared at me with an inscrutable expression. He was probably wondering where the hell I was going with this story. “You set your sorority on fire?”
“No, I burned my sorority down to a pile of ash. But I assure you, it was an accident and no one was hurt. No one knew I was responsible—with the exception of one person.”
Understanding dawned and his expression soured. “Pierre.”
“He was a popular frat boy—and I had never talked to him before that night. I expected him to rat me out, or hold it over me, but he did neither. Instead, he asked that I stay at that school and not get a transfer.”
“He had the hots for you.”
“That wasn’t his motivation. In fact, we didn’t date for four more years. He became one of my most trusted friends. Because of him, I survived university.”
“He played the long game.”
“Excuse me?”
“Nothing.”
“Our romance was short-lived, and it ended amicably. We remained close friends.”
“I doubt that.”
“I flew his girlfriend to fashion week in Paris this year because she’s my favorite person to dress.”
“Is there a point here I’m missing?”
“I trust Pierre—with my life and with my grandfather’s life. He’s guarded my worst secrets, and he’s been a trusted friend on all accounts.”
Viktor stood silent, like a tower, thinking about his verdict. “Who ended the relationship?”
“What does that have to do with anything? We both agreed it was for the best.”
“It matters.”
I flushed hard. “He ended it—he said that I wasn’t into him.”
“Were you?”
Kissing Pierre hadn’t done anything for me. I had always been desperate to hide that fact.
“I don’t know,” I lied.
“You weren’t into him.”
“How could you possibly know that?”
He pinned me with a look. “He wouldn’t have ended it if he wasn’t sure.”
He walked a few steps away from me and stood with his back to me. He took off his hat and pushed both fingers through his hair. I could see him struggling with his decision.
“I have his number.” I moved in front of him so I could face him. “He made me memorize it. In case I lost my phone.”
“This is a very bad plan.”
“It’s not only a great plan, it’s the only one we’ve got.”
“What if he calls the authorities?”
“He won’t.”
“You don’t know that.”
I planted a hand on one hip. “You’re telling me you don’t have a single person that you’d trust with your life?”
That jarred him. “Of course I do.”
“Why is it so hard to believe that I would have a person in my life that I trust?”
He looked like he was in physical pain. “Fine. Let’s set it up.”
Back at the phone tent, Viktor and I hunched over the phone.
He spoke to me as the phone rang. “You have ninety seconds.”
A familiar voice answered. “Pierre speaking.”
“Are you alone?”
“Blaire?”
“Are you alone?”
“Yes.”
“I need your help, and we only have eighty-five seconds.”
He spoke without hesitation. “I’ll help.”
“I need you to bring twenty thousand American dollars in cash to Hong Kong on the next flight you can find.”
“Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m saving my grandfather. I’m safe, but I need help. Without the authorities being involved.”
“Blaire, I need more than that.”
“Can you help me?”
A moment’s pause. “Cathay Pacific has the only direct flight. It leaves here around 2 p.m., and I can be there by 7 p.m. tomorrow night your time.”
“Can you bring the money? It has to be cash.”
“Of course. Are you alone?”
I stole a glance at Viktor, who was studying the table without moving a muscle. “I have a friend helping me, but if the authorities figure out I’m here, my grandfather will die.”
“The police, the government—they’re all tearing up the place looking for you. They’ve interviewed me twice.”
“Pierre, they can’t know I called you. My life and my grandfather’s life now depend on your discretion. They can’t follow you to Hong Kong. They must not know you’re meeting me.”
He stayed silent for a moment. “You can count on me. I won’t let them near you.”