“Well, it’ll never work.” She leans against me.
“Why not?”
“I like him too much.” She sighs. “I like you too much.”
Amused, I say, “You’re always going on about how much you hate us, though.”
“Yes.”
“You’re a little mystery, Dani. You know that, right?”
She kisses me on the cheek.
Edmund
The window is open so I can hear the sounds of the party wrapping up. I hope Danica doesn’t leave without me. I want to make her come at least four more times tonight—on my mouth, fingers, and cock.
I obviously didn’t get her to fall in love with me by our engagement party, but she sure as fuck loved what I did with my mouth. It isn’t enough, but I’ll keep trying.
While my father strides back and forth, I take out my phone and pull up a list of accommodations in Caperna.
“Ed.” My grandfather settles himself into an armchair in front of the bookcase. “Calm down or you’ll wear a hole in the rug. And your mother was rather fond of this one.”
My father stops pacing and comes to rest at the desk. His blue eyes blaze as he stares at me. “Your pal Morraine fucked up again.”
I don’t have the fucking time for this. Sliding my phone back into my pocket, I take a casual stance. “Fucked up how, exactly?”
“While he was here, drinking our champagne, another shipment of whiskey sank to the bottom of the ocean.”
Another half-mil, gone.
Caleb needs to take his head out of his ass. I don’t know what he was doing here at the engagement party, anyway. It was idiotic to let him come. But I’m not going to take the fall for that.
“I didn’t invite him tonight. I don’t know who did.” Let my father work out the math. It was undoubtedly his mistress, Caleb’s mom, who issued that particular invitation. If she couldn’t be here, she wanted Caleb to keep an eye on my father.
This is exhausting.
The worst part is that even if Caleb took a day or two off, our security shouldn’t flounder in the interim. Our operations should continue seamlessly, independent of a single man’s supervision. Caleb’s fucking up. Troy has said it more than once.
“We need to consider alternate security.” I focus on my grandfather instead of my father. My father is too besotted with Caleb’s mom to make any changes. He accuses me of feeling too much, but here he is doing the same. Ignoring poor performance in favor of his mistress’s feelings. And I get it, Caleb is my friend. But I’ve seen for myself that the Mirarosa docks are defensible. So when security fails, it’s on Caleb.
My grandfather cocks his head in thought. “We could put Manchester in front of it.”
“Manchester won’t leave Edmund.” My father shakes his head. It was one of the conditions of Troy returning to the family—he wanted to be on my detail, and only my detail. Surprisingly, my father has continued to honor that condition. Maybe he knows Troy will walk, otherwise.
“Victor, then.” The way my grandfather says it doesn’t leave any room for argument. “Have him shadow Morraine. He’ll decide if Morraine needs to be replaced.”
I don’t need to worry about my friend—Caleb will still have a role in the family even if he’s replaced. Hell, he’ll probably be moved to a cushier role because of his mother’s influence.
I tune them out while they discuss other issues with the business. They have guys on the ground, searching for Vorsong members. Our guy in law enforcement will keep an eye out, too.
All is quiet outside. Danica’s probably long gone. I go to the window and try to see in the darkness. The paper lanterns on the dock are dark. All that’s left is the light of the moon and a renegade set of twinkle lights on the far left of the lawn, opposite the boat house. I think I see a flash of silver. Is that Danica? I squint. Arms are wrapped around her. I know it’s Troy without having to look. I told him to watch her, and he will.
Between the two of us, she’ll always have someone to take care of her.
“…and Danica Aseyev was quite the hit, wasn’t she?” My grandfather chuckles.
Hearing her name has me involved in the conversation again. I turn back to the room, trying to look casual. I don’t want my father accusing me of feeling too much. I know the scorn that comes with that observation.
