SAINT NOBODY ── RIO [GOOD GIRLS]

ten ━━ ᴡᴇ ᴀʟʀᴇᴀᴅʏ ᴍᴀᴅᴇ ᴀ ᴄʜᴏɪᴄᴇ.

"You want us to go to Canada?"

He narrowed his eyes."That's just what i just said, yeah?"

"Why?"Faye dared to ask, unable to refrain herself from pressing.

"You ain't gotta worry about why. That's my business."He cooly replied, blinking at Faye when she pursed her lips."All you need to know is what i tell you."

Faye breathed out evenly, knuckles straining white from her unrelenting grip on the tablet, and nodded her reluctant acceptance.

"Then when?"

"Why,"He smoothly challenged, corners of his smile sharpening."you need to check your calendar?"

"I have a baby."She immediately argued. Insistent."My family have lives, okay, and her father..."

His eyes narrowed thoughtfully. There was a flare of something akin to triumph in his heady, unrelenting gaze when Faye's mask briefly slipped.

"Levi, right?"

Faye's mouth snapped shut at the name, at the reminder that he knew of Levi, and cleared her throat.

"He's got a job, too,"Faye carried on, the strength in her voice faltering."so i-i need to figure out who'll look after her. I need to figure out something to tell them because I can't just take off."

She eyed him dubiously when he held up a hand, turning from him inch by inch if the need to flee emerged.

"You'll figure something out."

He took one step to closing the distance between them, looking at her through hooded eyes, and nodded his head with feigned reassurance. The performance only served to amplify the cautious alarm she felt.

She tilted her chin up when she felt his eyes flitting across her unwavering features, her own tracking him when he ducked his head with an amused sniff.

"You got till Friday."He announced on the tail end of his amusement, eyes clouding over. The air tensed again, the overwhelming threat suffocating the distance between them.

I need to show up for my kid. Faye's eyes rounded, appalled. She briefly closed her eyes against Annie's echoing dread. I need to be mother of the freakin' year Friday.

"My friends, though,"Faye insisted cautiously."They have lives. They also have kids that they-"

"You'll figure it out."He interjected, enunciating with another step forward, and an assuring nod.

A snuffle sounded from the monitor tablet in Faye's clammy hand. Faye startled, eyes tearing from his as she tipped her head to look down at the screen.

Avery squirmed in her crib, her face scrunched up with drowsy upset, her legs booting at the air unhappily.

Faye held her breath, hyperaware of the dark hooded eyes watching her watch her daughter. Soon enough she recognised the puffs of air coming from Avery as she fell back into her slumber.