by CR Robertson
“Are we good to go this time?” he asked.
I nodded and we returned to the others in the front hall.
Ash raised an eyebrow, but Xavier shook his head. “I’ll tell you later.”
The helicopter took us high above the small, sleepy village Dad called his home from childhood. I didn’t ask any questions since I didn’t want to know the answers. Whatever they did was to protect me, so I chose not to know.
Xavier’s finger traced over the still throbbing area to the side of my face. His expression was so dark that it felt like midnight descending on us. There was no doubt in my mind that that man was now dead, his evil spirit travelling to the depths of the underworld. The look on Xavier’s face when he dragged him out of that room was enough to freeze the lakes of molten lava in hell.
Every minute took us further away from that place filled with death. Every mile was closer to home. Before visiting my childhood home, I was willing to go to Tuscany to hide from those searching for us. Today, I realised the importance of a home. If Mum and Dad had stayed at home that night we may have all survived. Nothing good ever came from running and hiding.
No, I would stay in the home Xavier had created for us and face whatever life threw at us.
The helicopter landed at an airstrip a few miles from our house, so no one would be able to trace the helicopter to where we lived.
“Sorted?” Xavier asked Jordan as soon as we were in a car.
“Yeah, my own personal clean-up crew are en route. They wanted to know if we needed a division in that area.” Jordan continued typing on his phone.
“I think maybe that house has seen enough death,” I replied in a low tone. “The ghosts should be left to rest.”
In my head, Kimberley still sat beside the pond and played in the apple trees, Mum pottered about the kitchen, and Dad sat in his study surrounded by his beloved books. They would continue to live there, their ghosts walking the corridors of my childhood home.
I expected to sense their presence, feel as if I’d returned home. For years, I’d wanted to walk through the door and trail my fingers over Dad’s books like I’d done as a child. Instead, all I wanted to do was leave and find my way back to a place that had been redesigned with my new family in mind, created from love.
The familiar winding drive removed the tension from my body. The outline of the building created a sense of calm in me. Every step I took toward the front door centred me. This was my home, Xavier my anchor, no one would force me from it.
Evil still lurked outside our walls, but Xavier had created an army to protect us.
Sasha was in the kitchen with Megan and Lucrezia. Catarina was missing, but she tended to keep herself isolated from everyone around her and live in her own world. The scent of baking permeated the kitchen with a hint of spice.
“Everyone okay?” Megan asked.
“Everyone who matters,” I replied, squeezing Xavier’s fingers. Armed with new information to discuss, the men disappeared into the study to add it to what was already there.
Lucrezia watched Ash, her expression wistful as she chewed the side of her mouth. She caught me watching her. “He’s changed from the boy I first met. I’ve never seen him so filled with hatred and anger.”
“We all have our own demons that we fight every day,” I said. “Ash blames himself for Michael’s death. I spent half my life wishing I could have saved my sister. He needs to work it out in his own head.”
“Sometimes those demons take over and there’s no way to rescue that person,” Megan added in a low voice. “It consumes them until you no longer recognise them.”
The timer sounded in the background and Sasha lifted a tray of her famous muffins out, breaking the sudden tension in the air. She already had a tray of cookies cooling on the counter.
Curiosity got the better of me, so I took a plate of them into the war room as it had been unofficially named. The floppy disc sat in the middle of the table while printouts of the pages of the books surrounded it. Megan silently followed me into the room.
I set the plate down on the table and all eyes moved in my direction. “How’s it going?”
“It doesn’t make any sense,” Ash replied, pushing his hand through his already untidy hair.
“In what way?” I should feel bad that their confusion amused me so much, especially since they were so good at everything.
He picked up a piece of paper and handed it to me. “This passage that was indented in the book is about a dragon in a garden.”
Lucrezia peered over my shoulder in curiosity. She must have come in after Megan. “That’s Greek mythology. Ladon guarded the golden apples in the Garden of Hesperides.”
Ash stared at her for several seconds. “That doesn’t help.”
Lucrezia arched an eyebrow and Ash glanced away.
“Stop being a dick,” I admonished him. “Legend says that Ladon was tossed into the sky by Minerva where he froze in the cold north and became the constellation Draco.”
I lifted the orb of the night sky constellations from where they’d set them on the floor and pointed to the stars. Carefully, I twisted the top mount that held the orb in place on the stand. The centre of the orb held a hidden chamber that I pulled out and placed on the table.
“Motherfucker,” Jordan said with a dark grin.
Xavier lifted another page. “This one is talking about a Danish astronomer called Tycho Brahe.”
I pointed to the sphere of the moon. Lucas bent and handed it to me.
“This is the lunar impact crater Tycho,” I informed them, pointing to the starburst at the bottom of the moon. My fingers traced down the wooden stand until I found the notch Dad had shown me years ago. A secret compartment popped out when I flicked it open.
“Are you seriously telling me your family home is filled with ornaments with secret compartments?” Xavier asked.
My lips tipped up in a sad smile. “Just a few that Dad showed me over the years. We used to leave each other secret messages in them. Now, I realise he was showing me how to access them.”
The globe of the earth contained another hidden chamber, and some of the photograph albums had letters tucked behind the images in them.
Xavier examined the black metal box from the safe, but the guys were worried it could have a destruction facility built in, as it looked like one of the security boxes from Dragon’s Hoard. A key that fit the first lock had been left in one of the safety deposit boxes by Uncle Dan.
“What about the old Bible?” Lucas asked, his sharp gaze moving to it.
“The Bible has an old family tree at the back of it.” My fingertips sought out Xavier’s hand. “I want to have our child included in it.”
His hand grasped mine in a silent acknowledgement.
“Tradition is important,” Lucas agreed with that smile he saved only for his family. “It keeps those we love alive while we journey this life without them.”
“So what does all this mean?” Megan asked, standing at the side of the table to stare at all the puzzle pieces assembled.
“We need to discover what is on this,” Jordan replied, touching the floppy disc. “Along with the tapes and cassettes since we have something to view them on now. But it looks as if the Council has had agendas we knew nothing about for years. Corruption has infected it and is eating away at the values that formed it centuries ago.”
“That is why Xavier took my seat,” Lucas intervened. “I could only do what needed to be done when I walked away. Now it looks as if the suspicions of some of the Council members were correct.”
The room around me felt charged with tension, all eyes turning to Lucas. “I knew your parents, Cassandra, just as I sat beside the fathers of the three men who stand around this table. Some of us saw the darkness, others opportunity. Some of those who feared what we’d become spoke out and their deaths are the only memory of them.” He took a deep breath before staring at every single person in the room. “I am too old to bury those I love. You either
burn all of this and forget you ever saw it, or you burn the Council to ashes before they reach you first. I cannot tell you what to do, but I will support whatever decision you make.”
The only sound was the clock in the hallway gently ticking in the background.
Xavier stood rigid beside me, the only movement his thumb tracing over the top of my hand. I watched as Jordan and Ash both looked to Xavier for direction. He was the beating heart of this group.
His chest expanded before he let the breath go. His arm wrapped around me to rest over my stomach, as his chin propped up on top of my head. “I vote to destroy everyone who threatens any person in this room. You are all my family and I will not tolerate anyone who jeopardizes their safety. If that means that I take the fight to them, then so be it.”
“Fuck it! I was getting sick of their bullshit anyway.” Jordan grinned. “I’m happy to light the fuse to burn them all to the ground.”
Ash shrugged. “I haven’t been able to stomach them since my father happily signed Michael’s death warrant. He should have at least abstained to vote. Let them fucking rot.”
Lucas nodded solemnly. “Then I will take the women to Tuscany and return to join you.”
“No!” All eyes cut to me. “This is my home and I refuse to leave it. My parents died when they ran. Xavier has security everywhere in this house. No matter what happens, I will stand by his side.”
His arms tightened around me.
“I have clients who need to see me,” Megan added. “Work needs me and there’s only so much I can do via conference call.”
Lucrezia shrugged. “Sasha and I have been baking together, and Catarina and I want to go shopping in London while we are here for my business. I was hoping to travel up to Scotland to visit Sofia at university.”
Lucas groaned at his daughter’s reply and Ash’s jaw tightened.
“You’d be safer in Tuscany,” Xavier said into my ear, his breath fanning my neck and sending shivers of awareness down my spine, combined with fear from his tone.
I arched my back and turned into him. “Please don’t ask me to leave you,” I said for only him to hear.
Xavier stared at me as if he could change my mind by his will alone. There were times in the past that I’d submitted, but I’d made my mind up. He said he married me because I challenged him, and I would continue to do that. Finally, he nodded, and looked away.
“I’ll need more decoys and a security unit on them to protect them,” he instructed Jordan. “We’ll also need more eyes here if everyone is staying.”
“I need to get back to London,” Megan said.
“We’ll discuss it later,” Jordan snapped. For the first time ever, I saw rebellion in her eyes.
“I hope you know that you’ll be getting an attitude adjustment later,” Xavier said against the shell of my ear.
This time, my shiver contained only desire.
***
Chapter Twenty-Four
Cassandra
Weeks had passed since the day I visited my childhood home. My mother’s pictures sat in our library, the old Bible on the shelf ready to have another name inscribed in it. I now resembled a beach ball and there were times that I forgot what my feet looked like unless I lay down and stuck them up in the air.
Megan moved back to London since her clients needed her. Jordan’s mood had been beyond pissy, but as she pointed out, no one knew who she was or that she’d been involved with Jordan. She’d seen his true darkness, and only time would tell if she would be able to accept it. Since I was close to my due date, she was returning this weekend to be my official babysitter until Bubble arrived.
Lucrezia had become a little sister for me to love since Kimberley was no longer in my life. Operation Lovebug was in full swing, Megan and I orchestrating it from the background. Poor Ash looked bewildered some days, but the way he stared at Lucrezia reminded me of a man dying of thirst and she was the only water for miles around. It gave me hope for the future. His restraint could only be stretched so far before it snapped completely. The hidden romantic in me was secretly cheering for that day to happen soon because the tension was starting to make life incredibly uncomfortable.
“He spends all his days in that study going over numbers and spreadsheets, muttering to himself,” Lucrezia said. “Maybe I should turn myself into a spreadsheet, or send him my numbers for him to analyse?”
A grin spread over my lips. My guess was that Ash knew exactly what her figures were. He spent enough time studying them.
“He was getting very excited yesterday over a discovery. I heard him phoning Zee to tell him that he traced some account from the book in your father’s safety deposit box. It all sounded very dramatic, considering that he was booking flights after their conversation. It looks like they finally have a breakthrough to work from.”
I rubbed my back that had been aching on and off all day. Late-stage pregnancy was no fun. “Why don’t you volunteer to go with him?” I suggested.
Lucrezia released a laugh. “Yeah, I can see him taking me on a trip when he can barely look at me in the corridor.”
“Maybe I could enlist Xavier to help since he made me the size of an elephant!”
“My father would kill him.”
“Your father wants grandbabies. He can’t have them if all his daughters remain virgins,” I pointed out. “He should cut Ash some slack, instead of demanding he provides an engagement ring he should insist on a date to the cinema. No man wants to be backed into a corner. You won’t know if you like someone unless you get to know them.”
“I heard Zee saying that his father had organised a wife for Ash,” Lucrezia finally admitted.
I met her eyes. “He has, so if he’s the one you really want, then you need to throw all your fears aside and claim him before anyone else does.”
Her gaze lowered. “I just don’t know how anymore. I’m starting to lose hope.”
Lucas Black was a scary man, but my husband could give him a run for his money.
“Think about it,” I coaxed. “Megan and I will escalate Operation Lovebug.”
“Thanks.” She squeezed my hand and wandered back into the house.
I stood in the fresh air, watching the world go by, lost in my own thoughts.
“There’s my girls.” Xavier gave me that smile that still made me weak in the knees. He wrapped his arms around my waist, his hands resting over my stomach while he nuzzled my neck.
He’d been at a Council meeting, the sound of his bike on the drive heralding his arrival a few minutes ago. The summer was nearly over, and the cooler days of autumn were beginning to arrive. My life was so different to this time last year that I no longer recognised it. Xavier had recreated my world with him at the centre of it.
My last visit to the obstetrician confirmed we were having a daughter, much to Xavier’s shock and dismay. He left the office muttering about castrating anyone who came sniffing around her. Considering that her father had been a player for so many years and owner of a chain of worldwide sex clubs, he was probably thinking of someone like him finding our daughter when she grew up. Karma was about to bite him in the ass.
“What’s the news?” I leaned back into his arms and allowed him to take my weight.
“Clive Brown has disappeared, and the Council is searching for him.”
“No!” I replied in mock shock. “I wonder where he could be?”
Since Xavier and Jordan had been involved, there was no doubt in my mind that no trace of him would ever be found. My father’s business partner was long gone from my life and Xavier had sent a strong message to anyone who tried to harm me. He’d killed to protect me in the past and wouldn’t hesitate to do it again in the future.
“No idea.” he chuckled. “They’ve got a special unit trying to decipher the wild goose chase that Uncle Lucas has created. He’s greatly amused watching them chasing their tails. They have officially recognised that your father was assassinated and have launched an inquiry into what happened
.”
I tried not to think about the past. As far as I was concerned, Mum, Dad, and Kimberley still lived in my childhood home. It was the way I’d coped with their loss for years and I refused to change that now. It was one of the reasons that the house remained completely unchanged—so that their ghosts could live there without fear of disturbance.
Our new decoys were out there living our lives, diverting most of the unwanted attention away from us. I knew that the men were engaged in an elaborate game of life and death, but I refused to ask because I didn’t want my baby polluted by death and misery. There would be enough for her to contend with when she finally arrived in a week or so.
The sky contained streaks of burnt orange as the sun descended below the horizon. Xavier sat with me between his legs on the wooden chaise lounge he had built for me to sit and read in the garden, both of us silently watching the world go by. He tended to massage my tummy, waiting for those moments that he felt a kick and then he would hold his hand there as if he was taking our daughter’s hand.
I’d been experiencing strange cramps on and off most of the day, my back constantly aching. It was only when the gush of water left me soaking that I realised what was happening.
“Zee?”
“Hmmm?”
“I think you need to get the car while I change my clothes.”
His head leaned on my shoulder. “What’s up?”
“My waters have just broken.”
He jumped to attention, and practically carried me back to the house. He barked orders until everyone was running around, staring at him as if he was about to bite their heads off. He’d planned this day a thousand times but now that it was here, Xavier had finally lost the infamous cool he had in all situations.
“Looks like you’re ready to be part of this family,” I said, smoothing my bump while I changed out of my wet clothes.
Fear and excitement raced up and down my spine. Motherhood terrified me because I had no one to turn to for advice. Xavier found me sitting on the edge of our bed, staring at the floor lost in my own thoughts.