ESCAPE [Completed] (NOT EDITED)

Chapter Seventeen

If Lincoln wasn't by my side right now, I would have been a rack of nerves. Grateful wasn't a strong enough word to describe what I felt for him wanting to do this for me. I knew he didn't agree with the decision of me going back to Manhattan but he still supported me and that was all I'd asked for.

"What are you thinking?" I asked Lincoln as we drove to the airport. He had been tight lipped the last half an hour, not uttering one word. His face was set in stone and that jaw of his was constantly ticking. Lincoln's eyes glanced my way for a second and then returned to the road ahead.

"Trying to make sense of it all and come up with some kind of plan that doesn't end with you getting hurt." He grit through clenched teeth. I knew he wasn't angry with me but with the situation. Still, I didn't like seeing him this way. Not having a response to what he just said, I turned my gaze out the passenger window and remained silent the rest of the way.

*

The final call for our flight just sounded and to say I was terrified of what was to come was an understatement. As we walked through the terminal to board our plane, Lincoln put his hand in mine and gently squeezed, letting me know without words that he was there for me.

"You don't like flying." Lincoln identified. We were sitting in our seats waiting for the plane to take off.

"How did you know?"

"You've been wringing your hands together and squeezing at your fingers for the last five minutes."

"Oh." My hands stilled. Not even ten seconds later, I started again. I could feel Lincoln's eyes on my hands. "I'll be fine once the plane is in the air." I told him.

"Give me your hands." Anxiously, I did what he said. Lincoln began to gently massage at my slightly swollen fingers. I bit back a moan from how good it felt and closed my eyes. Lincoln chuckled quietly making me smile and relax even further.

Once the plane was in the air and the seatbelt light turned off, Lincoln unbuckled himself and turned in his seat to face me. I turned my head as his hand came up to stroke my cheek. Leaning into his touch, I smiled at him and he returned it.

"Cara will be fine, baby. I promise you." Lincoln said, reading my mind. Since that phone call the night before, all that was on my mind was my sister. I just wanted her to be okay and safe. It made it worse that I knew what Damian was capable of because I had dealt with his ugly side for over a year. I wouldn't wish what he did to me on my worst enemy.

"Thank you." I covered Lincoln's hand with mine and pushed it down from my cheek but kept it in my grasp. "I know you don't want me to do this but my sister means too much to me to risk doing this a different way."

"I understand." Lincoln's eyes hardened and he was staring at me but he wasn't looking at me. He seemed to go somewhere else and get lost in his thoughts. I rubbed my thumb over the back of his hand, pulling him out of his blank gaze. Lincoln cleared his throat. I wanted to ask him what he was thinking of in that moment but it wasn't the right time.

"Listen. I've come up with a way for you to leave Damian once he lets your sister go." Shit. I didn't even think that far ahead. All I had focused on was Cara and didn't give any mind to how I would escape Damian again. Intrigued, I sat up a little taller in my seat and nodded for him to continue. "Since he's a well-known man, I'm guessing he gets followed by paparazzi a lot right?"

"Yes. Most of the time."

"Okay, well my plan includes them. Hopefully, if it goes the way I am imagining it to go, you'd be able to get away without a scratch and Damian won't be able to threaten you or come after you again." I looked at him curiously and Lincoln continued telling me about what he had come up with. By the end of it, I had a smile on my face. It was a simple plan but impressive.