Dancing With The Devil

Chapter 35

"Camila, you need to breathe." Alistair said with a soft laugh, wrapping his arm around my waist. He pulled me against him like it was the most casual thing in the world. Like we were just a normal couple going through the airport in Bratislava- the Slovakia capital- and our vacation had come to an end. He was the picture of calmness.

But I couldn't breathe. My muscles were all bunched up unbearably and my hands were clammy at my sides. I couldn't believe that we were just strutting around an airport so blatantly. People were looking for us. My violent ex was trying to hunt me down. The Canadian government had been going after my companion for committing treason. We had been in hiding for months now, traveling only by train and never using our real names. And now we were trying to get on a direct flight back to Ottawa.

"We need to get on this plane." Alistair murmured to a woman who was helping passengers begin boarding.

She opened her mouth to deny him, looking bored with the entire situation. Alistair slid his government access card onto the service desk wordlessly, his strong green eyes meeting hers evenly. I cringed internally, thinking she would sound an alarm and this dream-like event would come crashing down.

Her expression faltered immediately and she opened and closed her mouth several times before nodding slowly, "Right this way, Mr. Kingsley. The attendant at the door will make sure they find you a seat."

I numbly followed him onto the plane, still in disbelief. As promised Alistair flashed his access card once more and the attendant quickly guided us to two first class seats.

"This is crazy." I whispered to myself once I had sat down.

My hands carefully cradled my head as I tried to stop the tears flooding my eyes. The anxiety and stress were conquering all of my other emotions and I felt like it would be an impossible feat to keep myself calm.

"Camila, it's alright." Alistair murmured, sliding one arm around me again. "Look around, no one knows who you are and if they do no one cares. No one is raising their pitchforks against you. This is what we wanted. We needed Sophie to find a loophole, to find dirt on Josh and she did. Whatever watch lists we were on have been cleared thanks to her. We're untouchable now. We're going home."

I had dreamed of this moment over and over again. I wanted nothing more to go home as a free woman. I had been so sick of running, so sick of hiding my face, and sick of learning to respond to a name that was not my own. I wanted to be Camila Lopez again, more than anything. I thought nothing could make me happier.

But the day we got the phone call my anxiety had shot through the roof. The battle had been so long and so treacherous, there was no way this could be the end, and I suppose it wasn't completely over. But I wasn't a wanted woman anymore. Every time Alistair casually tossed around my name I grew pensive, thinking that someone would recognize me and report me. I expected to be tackled to the ground frequently. The fact that it wasn't happening was almost unnerving.

And wouldn't Josh be after me even more aggressively now? Wouldn't he want to stop me from coming home by any means necessary? Did he know that I was coming home? If he didn't then we certainly shouldn't have been throwing my name around so recklessly.

Alistair, as usual, was right though and the entire day leading us here had proved him correct over and over again.

No one noticed me at the train station when we boarded in the little village and made our way to the city. No one blinked when we roved around the airport in the capital city of Slovakia. I didn't raise any eyebrows when we boarded the plane with nothing but a ratty carry-on bag. There were no sirens sounding when Alistair stated his name proudly as often as he could, like he had forgotten how good his real last name had sounded to his own ears.