Chapter Thirty #2
Gen joined her, making suggestions. After typing away for a few minutes, Mina showed the results to Marius, then me. We both nodded.
“What about me?” Bene complained.
She started turning the screen around, but he waved a hand. “Nah, all good. I trust you.”
“Henrik?” Gen asked.
The vampire locked eyes with her, then nodded. “I trust you.”
High praise from a vampire, indeed.
Mina sent off the addendum, and everyone picked quietly at the remaining food. Minutes later, my phone pinged with an incoming message, echoed by more pings around the room. We all grabbed our phones.
“Wow. That was fast,” Marius observed.
“I guess Gordon is that desperate to get rid of us,” I said dryly.
“The feeling is mutual,” Henrik chimed in.
Everyone checked the fine print — even Bene — then signed and returned their contracts before Gordon changed his mind. The moment I did, a weight lifted from my shoulders.
For months now, we’d been beholden to the whims of a ruthless warlock, doing work so fraught with danger that we didn’t dare dream of the future.
But now, we were free. Really free — to go anywhere, do anything…
Or go nowhere at all, my tiger hummed happily.
I leaned over and kissed Gen.
Marius rolled his eyes. “It begins.”
Bene snickered. “Says the guy who mooned over Mina from day one.”
“I did not moon,” Marius growled. Then he looked at Mina and broke into a goofy, lovestruck smile.
“I rest my case,” Bene muttered.
Our phones pinged with Gordon’s countersignature, and I reread the contract three times, not quite believing my eyes.
Bene checked his, then gave Gen a high five. “Bonus aside, you are a goddamn genius. And I have to say, you’re more devious than you look.”
She sighed. “Not sure devious is something to be proud of.”
Mina patted her shoulder. “Around Gordon, it’s necessary.”
Gen gulped, and I knew she was thinking about her father.
Mina tilted her head in question, but Gen forced a smile. “I’ll tell you later. For now, let’s celebrate. Is it too early for champagne?”
“It’s never too early for champagne.” Bene jumped to his feet, heading for the wine cellar.
Mina tapped her lips while we waited. “It will be a relief to divest ourselves of Gordon. But the money he paid us to host you here sure didn’t hurt.”
“We’ll all work doubly hard,” I said immediately.
Henrik gave me a frosty, speak for yourself look.
Gen’s phone rang, and we all tensed. Was that Gordon?
Her eyes went wide as she answered in French. “Oh, bonjour, Monsieur Delmont. Yes, yes. So nice of Lily to have spoken to you.”
Marius looked lost, but Mina perked up and mouthed, The electrician I’ve been trying to get for ages.
Gen put the phone on speaker in time for us to hear the electrician’s reply.
“My future daughter-in-law tells me your electrical work is a matter of the utmost urgency.” He sighed. “So I’ve found a time slot for you — and only one, between February and the end of March.”
My eyes went wide. That was much sooner than anyone had anticipated.
Mina nudged Gen, who nodded and relayed the unspoken question. “Just to check, you’re aware of the scale of the project?”
“Yes, I’m familiar with the place, and I’m confident we can do it in that time frame,” Delmont assured her. “But I’ll need to visit to calculate an estimate. How would tomorrow be?”
Mina’s mouth hung open. The man hadn’t replied to multiple queries over the past months. Now, he was offering to drop in tomorrow.
Gen did a fist pump. “Tomorrow would be fine. Thank you.”
He suggested nine a.m., and my tiger side grimaced.
What about basking with our mate?
I shushed the beast. Nine a.m. left plenty of time for basking, and we had a lifetime of mornings to enjoy afterward.
“Lily mentioned a classic car…” Delmont hinted.
Gen grinned. “Absolutely. I’ll show it to you at the end of our tour of the buildings. See you at nine o’clock.” Gen hung up, then gave her sister a high five. Everyone hugged — apart from Henrik, though he did look impressed — and I patted Gen’s shoulder.
“She specializes in the impossible.” I grinned proudly.
Gen’s eyes sparkled. “Now I just need to come through for you with that Wiggly carburetor.”
“Wrigley,” I corrected her, one hundred percent sure she would manage that — as well as assuring Delmont he would get a free ride…eventually.
Bene reappeared with a bottle of champagne, and we all raised our glasses in a toast.
“First, to Claudette,” Mina said somberly.
She didn’t add, To ridding the world of the monsters who killed her, but I guessed everyone thought that. I definitely did.
“To Claudette.” Everyone touched glasses, and a long, quiet minute went by.
“I feel like we have to do something in her honor,” Gen finally said.
“Like planting a tree or a rosebush, maybe?” Mina suggested.
Gen shook her head. “I was thinking something really special. Like…hosting a summer camp here or something. Something that offers kids a safe place and good opportunities.”
Two things poor Claudette had never had the “luxury” of, I figured.
“I like that idea, but it will take time until we can offer something like that,” Mina cautioned. “We’ll need power, plumbing, and a roof that doesn’t leak.”
Gen nodded. “Extra motivation for us to work hard.”
Typical Gen. All heart, all forward momentum.
Weeks ago, I might have thought Gen was biting off more than she could chew. Now, I had no doubt she would pull it off — and sooner than anyone expected.
I, for one, was ready to work my ass off to make her vision a reality.
“You know, that would be worth me and my coffee machine sticking around a while longer,” Bene decided.
“Anyway… I think Claudette wouldn’t mind if we asked Bene for a joke to lighten things up,” Gen said.
“I agree.” Mina turned to him expectantly.
He cleared his throat — twice, hinting at hidden grief.
“Let’s see… Okay, here’s a joke. Two sisters and their cousin inherit a chateau, but the catch is, they have to put up four strangers. A lion, a dragon, a tiger, and a vampire.”
Mina rubbed her hands together. “This, I have to hear.”
Even Henrik was hooked.
“And?” Marius prompted when Bene hesitated.
The lion shifter grinned. “The straitlaced sister gets the wildest guy, and the wilder sister gets the straitlaced guy.”
Mina laughed outright, while Gen protested. “Wild?”
“In the best possible way,” Bene assured her. “Which leaves the vampire and the lion.” He let a beat go by, then blew Henrik a kiss. “I guess you and me get to live happily ever after, dude.”
Everyone laughed, except Henrik, who flashed his fangs.
Bene chuckled. “Seriously, man. You’ve got a choice of me or Clement.”
Marius hooted. “That, I have to see.”
“I guarantee you won’t,” Henrik snipped.
I wondered if Delphine, the prostitute, crossed his mind. But how would that work? Delphine was human. He was a vampire.
“All right, all right,” Mina cut in. “Enough of that, before you fight and threaten my grandmother’s china — again.”
“To our credit, we haven’t had a good fight in weeks,” Bene pointed out. “I feel like we’re due one.”
Mina shook her head firmly. “Not before we finish our toast.” She raised her glass again and nodded to Henrik.
“To the end of our contracts,” he said, as pleased as I’d ever seen him.
“And new beginnings.” Gen touched her glass to mine.
We clinked, getting lost in each other’s eyes before the others nudged us to clink with them too.
“See? Hopeless.” Marius shook his head at us.
I ignored him, kissing Gen. Her lips tasted like champagne, and the joy in her eyes made my heart flip.
“To new beginnings,” I whispered, letting everything but her fade from my vision.