Total pages in book: 111
Estimated words: 110273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 110273 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 551(@200wpm)___ 441(@250wpm)___ 368(@300wpm)
“Quinn wanted to scare Chrissy away from Peter. That was what started the whole thing.”
Matt was nodding. “And it didn’t work. It brought Chrissy closer.”
“So Quinn wanted Bailey dead, thought that would push Chrissy away. That Chrissy would blame Peter.”
“Which she might’ve, but it didn’t happen.”
“Evidence is solid on her. She was released on bail, but her trial is starting and she’s got one person that we know looking into Bailey and myself. You’re saying according to that same asset, Quinn’s got a second in her pocket. Why? For her trial?”
Matt shook his head. “I don’t know, but…” He was frowning, his forehead scrunched up. “Didn’t it come out that the Arcane team did that, hoping it would get them in Calhoun’s good graces? But Quinn said they were stupid, that he’d never have approved that move?”
“Yeah.”
It didn’t feel right. None of it felt right.
Quinn and my grandfather were together in my head, but maybe they weren’t really together. They weren’t. I knew they weren’t. So why did I keep putting them together? Were they working as an alliance? Against whom? Me? Was it something else? A different target? A different person?
“Okay.” Matt clamped a hand on my shoulder, moving past me. “I’m exhausted. I had a whole night of faking the doughnut, and then I went and didn’t fake the doughnut, but I need sleep.”
“Do I want to ask who you didn’t fake the doughnut with?”
Matt grinned. “No one special, but she’s also no one married.”
“That’s something.” I added, “You need a shower.”
“That, too. Maybe later.” He headed toward his section of the house, his hand in the air. “Let’s save the world after I get a good twelve hours of sleep, yeah? Try not to slay too many dragons until I’m back awake. You and me, dude. We’re Team Katt.”
I snorted. “I don’t want a team name for us. That’s your thing with Bailey.”
“You’re right. You’d never be a part of Team Batt.”
He headed off, and I looked up, seeing Marie stepping out from the kitchen hallway. She had a knowing look on her face, along with a steaming mug in her hand.
I started for her. “Is that for me?”
She held it up. “Three shots of espresso.”
Thank fuck.
FOURTEEN
Kash
I was in Peter’s study, working on some items.
Peter was working at his desk while I was on one of his leather couches in the corner. The door opened.
Peter looked up from his computer and instantly a loving smile lit up his face. “Come in, honey.”
Seraphina darted inside, dressed in her robe and pajamas, her hair long and hanging free. I grinned at the slippers she was wearing, the flamingo pair that Bailey had given her. And it was one of those moments where I was thankful to be staying at the Chesapeake for the time being. If we weren’t here, I wouldn’t see that Seraphina wore Bailey’s gift this evening, and that they were a permanent fixture on her feet every night when she dressed for bed.
“What’s going on?”
Peter scooted his chair and Seraphina went around his desk, draping herself half on his arm. Her head lowered to his shoulder. She hadn’t noticed I was in the room. I was thankful for that, too. Seraphina tensed around me, I’d noticed. I knew there’d been a moment when she had a crush on me, but I thought that was gone. I can’t say I was a fan of her stiffening whenever I was around, either.
Peter glanced at me over her head and I shook mine, just slightly.
He blinked, the slightest nod to me, and he leaned back, lifting his arm. He rolled his seat and shifted his daughter so her back was to me. “What’s going on?” he repeated his question.
It was warm in the study. A fire was lit in the fireplace. Peter’s walls were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, except for a loft set up in the top corner of the room. Another couch up there pulled out into a bed. He had a bar set in a corner of the room, and patio doors that led outside.
Seraphina was leaning heavily on one of his legs. Her mouth was close to his shirt, but I caught enough to hear “Bailey will be okay?”
His hand flexed before smoothing up and down over her back. “Are you worried about Bailey?”
Her head moved up and down into his shirt and shoulder.
“She’s going to be just fine.”
Her head lifted up. She looked at him. I could see her biting down on her lip from the side. “But what’s wrong with her? She was doing better, and now she’s not again. She’s got the vacant look in her eyes.”
I sucked in my breath, my hand jerking as I laid down the paper I’d been holding.
Of course they would notice. If Seraphina was coming to Peter, I knew she and Cyclone had talked about it.