The Capo's Daughter Needs No Permission novel · Chapter 3 of 24

Chapter 3: Gate Twelve

Livia opens her own lock, Nico drives her to Newark Airport, and she walks through security past her brother and two guards on a ticket she bought herself; Nico is in the seat beside her.

I didn't scream, and I didn't pound on the door.

The lock on my bedroom was a smart bolt my father had bought last year.

I had set up its app myself.

I sat on the floor with my phone and found the bolt's local port.

Somebody had changed the admin password to my brother's birthday.

It took me four tries and one minute to reset it.

The bolt slid back with a soft click.

I opened the door. The hallway was empty.

I took my duffel from under the bed.

I had packed it the night I called the counselor.

Then I took the one other thing in the house that was mine.

It was the savings book my grandmother had opened in my name, tucked inside my chemistry binder.

I walked down the back stairs in socks, holding my shoes.

Nico was in the driveway with the engine of the black sedan off and the passenger door open.

"Your father's guard rotation changes at five," he said. "I counted on you being smarter than a lock."

"You're not going to stop me?"

"I'm driving you," Nico said. "Get in."

I got in.

He rolled the car down the drive with the lights off until we were past the gate.

At Newark Airport the check-in screen said I had no flight.

I tried my confirmation number twice.

Then I opened my email and found the airline's note, which said my reservation had been cancelled at the card holder's request.

My mother's name was on the card.

"She did it before dinner," Nico said quietly, reading over my shoulder. "She's quick."

I had nine thousand dollars in my grandmother's account, and no one at home knew it was there.

I used my own debit card and bought a ticket on the next flight.

It cost one thousand one hundred and ninety dollars.

It was the first thing I had ever paid for without a slip.

"Gate twelve," I told Nico. "You can come or not."

"I'm coming," he said, and picked up my bag.

We were halfway to security when I heard my brother's voice behind me.

"Livia!"

Franco came across the terminal at a fast walk with two guards a step behind him.

People turned to watch.

"You're making a scene," Franco said, and caught my arm. "Dad is on his way. Come home."

"Let go."

"You can't fly to California on a guard's pity. Give me the phone."

He reached for it.

Nico put his hand flat on Franco's chest.

He didn't push. He just stood there.

"She's eighteen, Franco," he said. "Take your hand off her."

"You're my father's driver."

"Right now I'm her bag carrier," Nico said.

The two guards looked at each other. Neither moved.

Franco's face went red. "You'll regret this, Nico."

"Probably," Nico said.

I stepped back from my brother and pulled my arm out of his hand.

"I used to think you were on my side," I said. "I was wrong. You were just in line."

Franco stared at me.

"Go home," I said. "Tell Dad I didn't need a slip."

I walked to the security line.

My brother and his guards couldn't follow me past the checkpoint without tickets.

Nico showed his driver's license and his own boarding pass at the podium.

He had bought it last night, while my father thought he was only taking me to State.

I looked at him.

"I told you," he said. "I'd rather go because I asked."

We went through security side by side.

On the plane I took the window seat at row fourteen.

Nico sat down next to me and buckled his belt as if we had planned it.

"Your father's one detail is me," he said. "I'll text him that you're safe. You can read it first."

He held out his phone.

I read it.

It said: She's on the plane. She's fine.

"Send it," I said.

He sent it.

His phone buzzed once in his hand before we pushed back from the gate.

He turned it over and did not look at it.

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