Six weeks had come and gone since Gideon's death. In truth, I couldn't find it in myself to mourn a man I didn't know. My time had been spent preoccupied with more pressing matters.

The London restaurant Garrett had found in April did make an exceptional place to hold a clandestine meeting. Between the dim lighting and side street location, there was no other place quite like it. As I sat waiting, I suspected others in the restaurant were utilizing its subtlety. The older gentleman that sat with a girl half his age in the corner booth probably did not keep the same company in the upper class sections of London as he did here.

I let my eyes travel over to the table where Garrett and I had met that night, unable to help myself from picturing him, eyes gleaming as he shoved that newspaper toward me. I leaned against the cold pane of a window on my left, spent from spending each sleepless night and waking moment searching for Garrett.

The chair opposite me scooting across the wood of the floor startled me from my thoughts. A man sat down at my table quickly and glanced around us before lifting his head so I could see his face under the bill of his ascot cap.

"She'd kill us both if she knew about this," Kael spoke softly as he slid down low in his chair and gave me a knowing look.

"You said if there was an emergency," I started, leaning across the table so he could hear my whisper. I had never been as tired as I was from these last few weeks. I hardly slept, hardly ate.

Kael's jaw muscle tightened. Deep down, he must know why I had asked him to come here. Leaving a note at his apartment had been risky. Once I had let myself in and he hadn't been home, I'd had no other options. I didn't blame him for being angry, but I had nowhere else to turn. The day after we'd watched Gideon jump to his death, Ava had insisted it was necessary for me to cut ties with both her and Kael permanently.

Unfortunately, Kael had agreed with her. Deep down I had known they were right. Both of them led lives that could make me a target for some criminal organization again if our connections were discovered. I couldn't help but feel like she had insisted on amputating my right arm. I hadn't realized how I depended on him until he was gone.

"I've hit a wall. It's like Garrett fell off the planet," I spoke quietly but my hands flew up in frustration. Kael looked out the window and shifted his weight in the chair. I continued, "I know he isn't on your list of favorite people, but I can't go on like this. I have nowhere else to turn."

"There is no list."

When I looked dismally across the table at him, he sighed. "What happened to your private investigator?"

Behind his tired eyes, I sensed he already knew, but I humored him.

"He was let go two days ago. We were getting nowhere. Interpol's come up with nothing. Maria is begging me to come home. Not that I really care, but my job won't be held for me much longer. I just can't go home until I have some answers." I wasn't above pleading, if it came to that. If Ava hadn't made me swear to stay out of their lives, I would have come to him long ago. I had never known anyone with Kael's set of skills and connections. In this situation, someone like him on my side would be a Godsend.

Kael's voice was low, "I think you know I don't have a lot of spare time, Harper." He rubbed his forehead. Some of his sandy brown hair slipped out from under his hat. "I can't get what Gideon told you out of my head. I just have to..."

"Stop it, Kael." He looked up and I continued, just as firmly, "He was insane. You know your father's dead. Gideon saying he was responsible for all this was his way of getting revenge for you betraying him, I know it. Henry is dead. Garrett is alive, though. I'm sure of it."

Kael dropped his head in his hands, rubbing his face. His hat fell off in the process. He didn't move to retrieve it. Instead he slowly dropped his hands to the table and sighed.

He did look impossibly exhausted, yet the dark shadows didn't completely swallow his handsome face. Biting the side of my lip, I twisted my hair to the side. As guilty as I felt bothering him with my problems, it was his own stubbornness that was wearing on him, not me. Between trying to find his deceased father and, I was sure, keeping tabs on me, it was no wonder he was reaching the end of even his endurance. Not to mention he was still keeping up his work at the manor. He hadn't slept much before, but I suspected now he scarcely sat down.

He was rubbing his thumb thoughtfully on a knot in the wooden table. I had the unnerving feeling I wasn't going to like his thoughts when he voiced them, but I waited. He leaned forward, and I followed suit, hoping he would agree to help.

"I'll find Garrett if you go home."

My shoulders slumped in disappointment.

"I can't," I started to protest but he reached across the table to place a finger over my lips. I stopped short, wide eyes taking in his face, inches from my own.

"You can and you will. If I'm going to be searching the globe for your friend, I can't be worried about you running into the wrong person here in London." He let his words register before he dropped his hand in front of me on the table. Patiently, he awaited my response.

I took a deep shaking breath, trying to decide. It hadn't occurred to me to look outside England. If Kael thought Garrett had left the country, he could be anywhere by now. My pulse quickened. I had to be honest with myself. Kael was Garrett's best chance of returning home safely. Although leaving without him made me feel wretched, there was nothing more I could do.

"Alright," I sighed in resignation after nearly a minute had passed in silence, "I'll go home."

Kael nodded. The wood scraped beneath him as he scooted back his chair to go. Before he could stand, I reached across the table and took his hand and murmured, "Thank you, Kael."

I knew I hadn't said this enough in the past. The three words weren't enough for the man who had saved my life countless times and now, with the promise of my departure, would save my best friend if he could.

He stopped, his eyes fixed on our hands, then my face. "Of course," he returned and gave the faintest shadow of a smile, his eyes searching mine.

I looked away. Reaching to pull out the locket from under my scarf with my unoccupied hand I said, "I almost forgot. You probably want this back."

His eyes never moved from mine as he shook his head. Biting my lip, I held back oncoming tears. I wanted him to stay; I didn't want to leave. I knew what he was thinking now. Finally, I was able to read him, now, when I was leaving forever. Both of us thinking that we would never see each other again was odd, but perhaps indicative of the truth in his premonition.

I spoke past the thick lump in my throat, "You'll no longer be stalking me when I go home then?"

His jaw tightened as did his grip. I felt the pressure of his thumb on the top of my hand as he asked, "Do you want me to?"

I pulled back and looked down at my hand, my mind spiraling. I hadn't realized how much I missed him. I knew him well enough to know that there was no going back on our deal. Short of doing something dramatic, nothing would change his mind. I glanced back up to find him looking at me, his expression almost as pained as I felt. He recovered his features quickly when our eyes met, but knowing he felt the same made me feel worse.

I shook my head, suddenly scared of what I was thinking, what he was thinking. I wasn't being myself, the person I had worked so hard to be. Strong. Independent. Alone.

"No," I said firmly, "I think it would be best if you didn't."

*****

One more part guys! Will he find Garrett? Is Harper really better off alone??

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