Chapter Eighteen
MARIUS
Anastasia departed shortly after Jensen, and we all gathered to review what had transpired. Well, everyone except Celeste, who was still out prowling London. And hallelujah, because that was all we needed to top this shitshow of a day.
“I had to add Jensen to the schedule. Gordon’s orders,” Roux explained, looking defensive.
“Fucking Gordon,” I muttered.
“I can’t believe he would do that.” Mina shook her head.
“Believe it,” Henrik told her coldly.
I growled at him, but he pointed at her mercilessly.
“You’re in his world now, and this is how he operates. Either open your eyes, or get out while you can and go back to believing the world is all butterflies and rainbows.” He held up a hand before I could punch him and added, “I mean that. Before she learns the hard way.”
She socked him with a murderous look. “I think I already learned the hard way.”
Only Roux’s iron grip on my arm stopped me from throttling the vampire. The next chance I had, I would rip his undead ass to pieces.
“He’s right,” Bene interjected in a softer tone. “Trusting Gordon could get you killed.” He raised his hands at Mina’s shocked expression. “Not purposely, but anything could happen, given the people he works with.”
I winced, because that included us.
Mina turned to the painting, looking sadder than I’d ever seen her.
Bene’s phone beeped, and he looked at it. “Oh goody,” he said in a flat tone. “Celeste is on her way back.”
“What a day,” Roux grumbled, looking at his watch. “And that’s before I brief Gordon.”
“Who do you think the client will go for?” Henrik asked.
“Jensen,” Roux and I said at the same time.
Mina’s expression soured. “Bogdan might have a chance.”
I doubted it, but I kept that to myself.
Roux’s phone rang, and he answered with a roll of his eyes.
“Hello, Gordon.” He paused. “Yes, everything went well.”
Now Mina was the one rolling her eyes.
“Is there a clear front-runner at this point?” Roux passed Gordon’s question to Mina.
I would have put the odds at nine-to-one in Jensen’s favor, not that I would admit as much to Gordon. It was always good to hold back a little information, just in case.
Maybe Mina was learning, because all she said was, “Hard to say at this point.”
Roux relayed that to Gordon on the way back to our suite.
“Quick, before Celeste turns up,” Bene joked, following him.
Mina’s face went hard. Thinking fast, I stepped inside, grabbed our jackets, and turned to Mina, who was still out in the hallway.
“Come on,” I murmured, pulling her toward the stairs.
“Where are you going?” Henrik demanded.
“Out,” I muttered.
“Out?” Mina asked.
I nodded firmly. “Out.”
Henrik knew me too well to protest, and minutes later, Mina and I slipped outside via the hotel’s back door. Yes, the back, to avoid Celeste.
It was barely noon, but I already wanted the day to be over. Hell, I wanted this whole mission to be over. I wanted to be back at the chateau, sitting over a good meal after an honest day’s work clearing out the stables or tearing out old plumbing.
Then I caught myself. Since when had home repair and countryside living featured in my fantasies?
Since Mina, my dragon murmured dreamily.
I looped an arm over her shoulders and led her down the back alley.
Mina zipped her jacket high and hunched against the wind.
Clouds chased each other across the sky, barely allowing the sun to spear through before the next cloud blotted it out again.
Leaves whirled across the grass of Hyde Park, and anyone wearing a hat kept one hand firmly over it.
A blustery day, in other words, but a refreshing change from the stuffy suite.
“Where are we going?” Mina asked.
“Wherever you want.”
She sighed. “Does home count?”
I flashed a thin smile. Apparently I wasn’t the only one thinking along those lines.
A little voice reminded me the chateau was Mina’s home, not mine. But I just didn’t have it in me to listen.
“Soon,” I promised, then motioned around. “For now, anywhere you want in London. A gallery, maybe?”
“God, no,” she groaned. “Maybe just walking.”
Walking was fine with me. Anything to relieve some of the tension that stiffened every joint in my body.
We walked for hours. All the way across Hyde Park, to Buckingham Palace, St. James’s Park, and eventually, on to the Thames. There, we stopped briefly at the statue of Boudica, which Mina regarded in silence.
A tribal heroine who’d led an uprising against the Roman army. No surprise Mina found something to admire there.
“Left or right?” I asked, the first either of us had spoken in the past hour.
Mina thought it over, then pointed right. “Fewer tourists this way.”
Fine with me. We set off and walked another full hour. Then Mina pointed out a teahouse, and we took a break from the weather. We barely spoke there either, but our eyes met over our teacups, and for the first time, Mina flashed more than a shadow of a smile.
It was the nicest, quietest together time we’d had in… Well, forever, it felt like.
We had sandwiches, then cake, then more cake, because, as Mina declared, “We freaking deserve it.”
Then her phone rang.
“Oh. Hello, Anastasia,” she answered, looking at me.
I waited, curious.
“Of course. A very difficult decision…” Mina made soothing noises.
I snorted. What was so difficult? I would sell to the highest bidder.
Then I caught myself. If it made Mina happy, I would sell it to the lowest bidder or not sell it at all. But that wasn’t my decision, was it?
“Okay. Talk to you tomorrow.” Mina hung up. “She wants to sleep on it. She’ll call before noon.”
Frankly, I was surprised Anastasia had anything to sleep on. But I was sure the money would win in the end.
Mina gazed out the window, looking defeated. “What would you do for eighty-seven million dollars?”
I thought it over. “Not as much as I used to.”
Mina flashed a smile. “Getting older and wiser?”
“Older, yes. Not so sure about wiser. Maybe it’s just that you’re rubbing off on me.”
She chuckled. “In a good way, I hope.”
I bit my lip. For that to be true, I would have to finally get a few uncomfortable truths off my chest. Starting with the fact that I’d marked her.
“Listen, Mina,” I started, but it came out all raspy. “There’s something I have to—”
She cut me off with a shake of her head. “I’d like to put the real world on hold for a little longer, if you don’t mind.”
I opened my mouth, but my dragon side forced it shut again, and all I could do was nod. “Sure.”
We left the teahouse and walked another hour, then stood contemplating our choices.
Mina sighed. “I guess we should head back.”
I checked my watch. She was right, though I would have preferred to keep walking — all the way back to France if necessary. Anything was better than dealing with what awaited us back at the hotel.
But like good little crime boss minions, we did head back, taking the Tube, then walking. The sun was close to setting by then, though clouds still hid any sign of it, threatening to dump rain.
When we were two blocks from our hotel, Mina squeezed my hand.
“Thank you. For saving my day. For everything,” she added softly.
I raised her hand to plant a kiss on her knuckles — then froze, staring. A heartbeat later, I hustled Mina back around the corner.
“What—?”
I cut her off with a sharp motion and peered around the corner.
“What is it?” she whispered, leaning in behind me.
“Not sure.” I studied a dark alcove in the alley.
Szabo, my gut screamed in warning, though I hadn’t gotten a good look at him.
I led Mina back in the direction we’d come while digging out my phone.
“Szabo?” Mina’s eyes went wide as she listened to me talk to Roux.
I clicked off the phone and led her down the street. “Maybe. Roux is on it.”
“Where are we going?” she asked, barely keeping up with my long strides.
As far from him as possible was as deep as my thinking went at that point.
“You mentioned another trip you made to London,” I said. “Where did you stay?”
“A basement Airbnb in Belgravia.”
“Did that trip have anything to have to do with Gordon?” When she shook her head, I added, “Good. See if you can book it.”
She looked startled as hell but pulled out her phone and started scrolling.
* * *
An hour later, we were in a compact, white-on-white studio apartment half a story below street level. Not a dragon’s top choice of locations, but we could make do. Roux had called to report no trace of Szabo, but that didn’t mean much since vampires left no scent trail.
I wasn’t leaving anything to chance, though.
“Keep an eye on Celeste,” I told Roux after promising we would check in in the morning. “Try not to let on that we’re not there.”
“Oh, that will be fun,” he grumbled.
Yeah, about as fun as one of those team-building exercises Gordon had made us do when he’d first thrown us together. Worse, even, since it involved Celeste.
I hung up and flopped back on the bed, staring at the ceiling.
The mattress dipped as Mina sat beside me.
“You okay?”
“Peachy,” I grumbled at the ceiling.
Rain pattered the sidewalk outside, and I hoped Szabo was out there in it.
A quiet minute went by. Then Mina murmured, “Would it help if I said you were right about not getting involved in all this?”
I shook my head and did my best to look for a bright side. It took a hell of a lot of looking, though.
“At least you got to see the painting,” I tried.
She dropped dejectedly back beside me. “Not sure it was worth it.”
A no-brainer to me, because no painting was worth this hassle, let alone putting one’s life in danger. But this wasn’t just about a painting, and I knew it.
“What would your father say?” I asked quietly.
She chewed that over a long time before answering. “He would say, Next time, listen to Marius.”
I laughed, and she chuckled, then gripped my hand. “I mean it. Next time, I will.”
I turned and cocked an eyebrow. “Can I place a very large bet on that?”
She grinned. “Counting on winning big?”