Chapter Twenty
MINA
Gordon stared out the windows of the neighboring suite while I sat at the dining table, silently squirming.
I’d never, ever been hauled into the principal’s office as a kid, but this was what it must feel like — only worse, because school principals weren’t terrifying warlocks with a license to kill.
Well, Gordon didn’t have that either, but he was hardly one to play by the rules.
I waited, wilting like the flowers in yesterday’s bouquet.
Celeste was in the adjoining room that served as an office, fetching something for Gordon. And boy, did she take her sweet time.
My skin went clammy with sweat. My feet cramped. I cracked my knuckles, trying to remain calm.
I looked for the painting, then remembered it had been returned to Anastasia. Even that hint of beauty and innocence had been stripped from this room.
Finally, Celeste sauntered out of the office with a file in her hands. An honest-to-God, old-fashioned file full of printouts that said Gordon had been collecting dirt on someone for years.
She walked over to Gordon, swinging her hips with every step. An effect that was lost on him, because he stared steadfastly out the window. As she approached, he stuck out a hand without so much as turning.
“Thank you. That will be all,” Gordon said gruffly.
Celeste headed for her room, but Gordon motioned to the main door with a quieter, scarier echo of his own words. “I said, that will be all.”
She departed sullenly, closing the door hard enough to make a statement while leaving room to deny any such intent.
Gordon remained at the window for another full minute before turning with a hard look. He placed a file on the table and slid it over, looming over me.
“Have a look,” he ordered.
I didn’t have to ask what it contained. It could only be one thing. The file with everything he had on Marius.
And boy, was that file thick.
I raised my chin. That was Marius’s past — or the parts cherry-picked by someone determined to document every misstep of a stubborn, rebellious dragon.
Well, there were two sides to every story, right?
I didn’t touch the file. I didn’t have to. I’d long since drawn my own conclusions about Marius, based on my experiences with him.
The man was no angel, but he was good to me and around me. And he was doing his damned best to build a better future, even if that meant playing by Gordon’s twisted rules.
Then I frowned, thinking of the mark he’d left on me, and how furious that made me. Furious but also weirdly touched, because he wanted me. Sort of.
God, what a mess.
Steeling my nerves, I looked straight at my godfather.
“What are you doing, Gordon?” I asked evenly.
“I’m doing what your father would want me to do — protecting you.”
I curled my hands into fists, recognizing another attempt to manipulate me by triggering my rawest emotions.
I gritted my teeth. “Maybe I don’t need protecting.”
He shook his head sadly. “Ah, but you do. There is so much you don’t know.”
“Maybe I know more than you think.”
His brow furrowed, and a brief flash of concern crossed his eyes. But he shook it off, one hundred percent confident I couldn’t — wouldn’t — ever uncover his ugly truths.
“I don’t doubt your expertise in some matters. But when it comes to understanding the ways of the world — and men who would take advantage of you…” He trailed off.
The world was full of patronizing older men, and the art world doubly so. But, wow. This took the cake. Did he think I lived in a chateau or a convent?
I was so angry, I nearly burst out with it all.
I know you’ve been taking advantage of me, Gordon.
I know all that money you make doesn’t come from legal means.
I know the men you described to me as bodyguards are mercenaries coerced into working for you.
I know you’re using me to gain Anastasia’s trust and that you’re primarily concerned with your own profits.
But somehow, I kept my big mouth shut and slid the file back to him.
“There’s nothing here I need to see.”
“Ah, but there is,” Gordon insisted.
I shook my head. “You may be an expert in your field, Gordon, but I’m an expert in mine. And when new students join my class, I form my own judgments about them. I don’t cloud that with the opinions of others.”
Gordon gave me that face that said, That might apply to a coddled school setting, but not the real world.
I could have shaken him. School was the real world, raw and unfiltered. And kids weren’t alien species — they were humans susceptible to the same behavioral dynamics as adults. They just weren’t as good at hiding them yet.
“Mr. Aecher has his qualities, but many, many faults,” Gordon said sadly, as if it truly pained him to see anything but the best in anyone.
“So do we all,” I hinted, keeping my eyes firmly on Gordon’s.
He frowned, then went back to principal mode. “And honestly, gallivanting off with him alone…”
Gallivanting? I nearly screamed. After spotting Szabo lurking around?
I nearly blurted as much but stopped cold. So far, I’d assumed Szabo was working alone or in cahoots with Celeste. But what if he’d been hired by Gordon?
As unlikely as that seemed, anything was possible, so I kept that to myself. All I said was, “I didn’t feel safe here.”
He snorted. “You couldn’t be safer than in a place where I can protect you.”
A place where he could also monitor my every move, I realized.
Gordon sighed tragically. “I blame myself. I made it clear to the men that I expected the highest standards of behavior, but I failed to communicate that to you.” He went back to that disappointed look that added, Frankly, I didn’t think I had to.
Then he continued. “But this is business, which calls for strict codes of conduct.”
Said the man who routinely resorted to manipulation, intimidation, and blackmail.
“Where I spend the night and with whom is my business,” I shot back.
Gordon shook his head. “Not when you’re on business.”
“I don’t work with Marius. In fact, I’m not working at all,” I said icily. “I’m here to do you a favor, at your request.”
Gordon’s face clouded, like a man who’d been nipped by a docile lapdog.
“But this is business, my dear. And in business, there is no place for intimate relations. Especially when it comes to people in unequal positions of power.”
Ah. Back to the patronizing, you’re so weak and ignorant argument.
Oh, poor Marius, I nearly quipped. He was bigger, stronger, and more knowledgeable about Gordon’s dirty businesses. But I was the big boss’s favored goddaughter, which put me in a privileged position far, far above Marius and the others.
A sour taste registered in my mouth. How many other little privileges had I profited from that I’d never been aware of?
Not that that would interest Gordon. So I stuck to what would.
“A woman has been murdered. I have no idea what’s behind that, but it’s terrifying.
” I stuck up a hand before he decided to reassure poor, stupid me that he would keep me safe.
“It could also frighten the other buyers away. Not to mention that a high-profile murder case puts Anastasia’s artwork at risk of falling into the public eye.
Those are the fires we need to focus on extinguishing. ”
Not me shagging Marius, in other words.
You have a point there, Gordon’s pursed lips admitted.
I slid the file back across the table and stood, enumerating an actionable list that would get Gordon off my case.
“Right now, we have to reassure the other interested parties. We have to talk to Anastasia before the police do to make sure she doesn’t say too much.
” I shivered, listening to myself. This felt all too Al Capone.
But I powered on. “And we should consider putting the deal on ice until things settle down.”
Gordon shook his head curtly. “Anastasia has a deadline. We must respect that.”
I would rather Gordon respect the law and basic human decency. But sadly, I’d learned to lower my expectations.
He called Celeste back in and repeated most of my points as orders, making them sound like his own brilliant thinking. But the last point he made, I gave him full credit for.
“And keep tabs on the police,” he ordered Celeste. “Anything they learn, we need to know too.”
My jaw hung open. Did Gordon actually have the means to do that?
I slumped. Of course he did.
Celeste finished taking completely unnecessary notes, then gave the file on the table a pointed look.
Gordon frowned, then shooed her off. “Go. I’ll take care of the rest.”
My knees wobbled as I wondered what that meant.
Luckily, my phone rang then. Unluckily, it was our client.
“Good morning, Anastasia. How are you?” I said, looking at Gordon.
He listened to the beginning of our exchange, then strode into the office and closed the door, presumably to make his own calls.
I made soothing noises into the phone. “Yes, it really is terrible… Yes, the police were here… Of course, I’m available to come by any time you need me…”
A moment later, I practically squawked. “What?”
“Bogdan called to say he was no longer interested in the painting,” Anastasia lamented. “You must do something. Immediately!”
I suspected she was more alarmed at losing a gentleman caller than a buyer, but I agreed to call.
I thought it over as I dialed. Surely an arms dealer wouldn’t be put off by the murder of a competitor? What had changed his mind, then?
Bogdan was apologetic but vague. When I pressed him about why he was pulling out of the deal, he hesitated, and the sound of footsteps indicated he was moving to a more private location. When he stopped, his voice dropped, and his tone changed.
“You seem like a nice girl to me, Hermina.”
Not exactly my name, but I was too anxious to interrupt.
“I would hate to see you fall down any harm,” he went on ominously.
Any harm to fall upon you, I silently corrected, but boy, did I get the gist.