Chapter Twenty
ROUX
“I can’t believe Gordon wouldn’t mention this to us,” Gen muttered.
“I can,” Mina grumbled.
Marius and I exchanged knowing glances, and my inner tiger growled.
Poor Gen. I could relate to her sense of betrayal. But in my case, it was the military that had let me down. Well, not all of it, just commanders who didn’t like subordinates asking difficult questions about ethics, boundaries, and limits.
Idiots, my tiger snarled.
But I was an idiot too, because I’d missed my chance to tell Gordon where he could stick that €25,000 bonus he’d offered. I didn’t need a reward to protect Gen. I just needed for her to be safe.
“How much would that missing Monet be worth?” Bene asked.
Gen looked at her sister. “Millions?”
Mina nodded. “Hundreds of millions, if it’s sold publicly.”
Eyebrows shot up, and I, for one, tried to imagine how many zeroes that meant, and what number might appear in front of them.
“What about on the black market?” Marius asked.
“Maybe ‘only’ tens of millions, like The Tower of Blue Horses.” Mina shook her head bitterly.
Gen looked a touch jealous. I could relate, because if I had missed such a rare, once-in-ten-lifetimes opportunity to see a lost painting like that Franz Marc, I would have regretted it forever.
On the other hand, not even a long-lost masterpiece was worth the danger and intrigue we’d survived in London.
“Tens of millions would make a suitable nest egg for someone like Gordon,” Henrik observed.
I found myself speculating how much money Henrik had. A vampire his age had had centuries to amass a fortune. He’d probably lost a few fortunes along the way too, but he was smart enough to bounce back from his mistakes.
“So sad,” Mina murmured, reading about the painting.
Everyone looked up, and she explained. “Max Liebermann, the German Jewish painter, bought that Monet. When he died, his art collection passed to his wife, Martha. Not long after, the Nazis confiscated her villa and most of her property. She committed suicide on the eve of her deportation to a concentration camp.”
A somber hush fell over the room.
“The contents of her apartment in Berlin were seized, and the painting was never seen again,” Mina finished, pursing her lips.
“Did Dad ever make a trip to Berlin?” Gen asked quietly.
“I’m not sure. But the painting could have been moving through the black market for years.”
I stared off into the distance. So many tragedies tied to one artwork painted in a peaceful garden in another era. What would Monet think about all that?
“So…next steps?” Bene asked.
Claim our mate, my inner beast urged. That way, we stay with her forever and protect her.
I swallowed hard. I was all for protecting Gen. And the longer we spent together, the harder it was to deny the mate part. But right now…
Focus, dammit! I snapped at my inner tiger. Her life could depend on it.
The beast settled down, but it wouldn’t stop snarling.
“Well, we need to work out where the painting is now,” Mina said.
“And we need to figure out how all this connects to Claudette’s murder,” Gen added fiercely.
Clearly, we weren’t as dissimilar as I’d once thought when it came to principles. But I hoped to hell Gen wouldn’t pay a high price for sticking to them, as I had.
Marius stood, yawning. “I say we get a good night’s sleep and take a fresh look at things in the morning. With any luck, Gordon will have a lead for us to follow.”
I frowned. “I’m not sure a lead would be a good thing, considering how Gordon operates.”
The man had a habit of sharing information in fractions, keeping the whole picture to himself.
Henrik stepped to the door. “I’ll see what else I might uncover.”
We watched him go, then listened for his footsteps, though none came, as usual.
“Creepy as hell,” Bene muttered.
“Yes, but you have to admire his persistence,” Gen said. “He seems as committed to finding out what happened to Claudette as the rest of us.”
“Operative word: seems,” Marius muttered.
“Oh, come on,” she chided. “Can you not give him any credit? Maybe he actually cares.”
Bene nodded morosely. “Claudette might have had her issues, but she had a way of making you care.”
“I know what you’re saying,” Marius said more gently. “But vampires are a lot like Gordon. It’s always safe to assume they have an ulterior motive.”
“Such as?” Gen challenged.
Marius shrugged, heading to the bedroom. “Ask me in the morning.”
* * *
The night passed much as the previous one had — minus a rooftop foray with Gen, to our mutual frustration.
Mina had pulled Gen into the kitchen for a private chat about their father, Gordon, and who knew what else, making a late night even later.
Meanwhile, Bene shifted, stretched, and settled down to sleep in lion form, half blocking the hallway, making it hard to sneak out quietly.
Stupid lion, my beast grumbled.
That meant Gen and I had to satisfy ourselves with lying as close as possible, her on the couch, me on the floor beside her in tiger form.
“I can’t decide whether I’m in heaven or hell,” Gen whispered, gently scratching the sweet spot between my ears.
I leaned into her touch, chuffing in agreement. Just being this close made my heart swell. But wishing for more — much more — had a way of dampening that thrill.
Eventually, I fell asleep. And when I woke in the morning…
Gen leaned down to touch me and whisper, “I slept well, but I’ll scream if I don’t get to do more than scratch your head soon.”
I chuffed, telling her I felt the same way.
For better or worse, Henrik didn’t return in the morning. And, for better or worse, Gordon had no news for us.
“I hate to say it, but this feels like the calm before the storm,” Bene observed over our breakfast of croissants and coffee.
Marius nodded. “We should enjoy it while we can, because that storm is guaranteed to hit soon.”
He was right. The morning dragged by as we tried different lines of investigation, but everything sped into high gear in the afternoon, triggered by a call from Gordon.
“Note down this name and address,” he barked into my phone.
No hello, no questions about the leads we’d been following. Not even his usual Don’t tell my goddaughters warning.
Clearly, the warlock was desperate. A very dangerous situation, especially for us, his fall guys.
His hacker had identified Anonymous. Gordon made me repeat the name and address twice, then hollered at how long we were taking to get our asses over there.
“We’ll be out the door in five minutes, sir,” I said, fighting a losing battle to keep my boss calm.
“Another ten days, and we’ll all be free of him,” Bene sighed after I hung up.
I jutted my jaw. If we didn’t get killed in the process, because the site was a mountainside in Switzerland, and the target was a rival warlock.
Mina and Gen exchanged hard looks. How would they ever untangle their lives from Gordon’s?
“The next train to Basel leaves in forty minutes,” Marius reported. “We can connect onward from there.”
“No private jet this time?” Bene complained.
Gen’s eyes jumped up.
Marius shook his head. “Organizing that will take longer than the high-speed train.”
“Well, make sure you book first class,” Bene said with a mischievous grin. “It’s on Gordon’s tab, right?”
Good old Bene, making the best of a crappy situation.
In no time, we had our things packed and were out the door. And again, I marveled at what a well-oiled machine we’d become. Mina was a huge asset, as was Gen, especially when it came to thinking outside the box.
A little magic doesn’t hurt either, my tiger chuffed proudly.
“Still no Henrik?” Gen asked when we reached the train platform.
“Still no Henrik,” Bene practically cheered.
We’d spent the morning trying to contact him, to no avail. At this point, all we could do was leave a message and board the train.
“Maybe he’s following a new lead,” I tried, though I was worried too.
“Maybe he’s tanking up on fresh blood,” Marius muttered.
“Or selling us out as we speak,” Bene grumbled.
Gen huffed indignantly. “Maybe we should give him a little credit.”
Marius rolled his eyes.
I know it’s a stretch, but wouldn’t it be nice if Gen were right? I tried.
Marius shot me a grim look. Wouldn’t it be nice if optimism doesn’t kill her?
I tensed. He was right. Gen was an asset, but she was too new to our world to recognize the dangers.
When the time comes to move, you’d better be sure to keep her far away from the action, Marius warned as we boarded the train.
His words echoed in my mind throughout the long trip.
“So, what’s the plan, boss?” Bene asked. “Other than loading up on chocolate while we’re there, I mean.”
Gen gave him a thumbs-up. “Dark chocolate Toblerone.”
He shook his head. “Classic Toblerone, and those little Cailler pralines.”
“Even the plain old Lindt is good and not too expensive,” Gen enthused.
Marius snorted. “Those two are a match made in heaven.”
I barely bit back a snarl. No, they weren’t.
Mina grinned and patted Marius’s arm. “We’re a match made in heaven.”
Goofy-eyed looks ensued, and I sighed. So much for a well-oiled machine.
I crossed my arms tightly. “When you’re finished messing around, I’d like to start the briefing.”
“Yes, boss.” Bene rolled his eyes.
I counted to ten. He was the one who’d asked, dammit!
Then something touched my foot, and a warm, easy feeling washed away my frustration.
Sorry, boss, Gen whispered, meeting my eyes from over the table of the cluster of seats we’d taken.
I flashed a smile of thanks and started the briefing, keeping my voice down and my foot against hers.
“Gordon’s hacker identified the buyer as Kurt Grepper,” I reported. “A warlock currently believed to be at his mountain retreat in Switzerland.”
“How do we know the painting is there?” Bene asked.
“We don’t, so reconnaissance will be key to this mission,” I admitted.
“If I’d just bought a new painting, I would want to enjoy it immediately,” Gen offered.