Chapter 44 Mulligan
Mulligan
Ronan
Ipushed the shrimp around on my plate. My appetite had been shit ever since I’d lost Sage, and while I knew I needed to eat to keep up my strength for the fight ahead, these heavy, fancy meals my dad was forcing me to sit through weren’t helping.
“Have you been to the new course in Elmaris yet?”
The Premier chuckled, swirling his wine. “Not yet. I’m planning to go next month. Are the sand traps really as nasty as everyone says?”
“Even worse,” my dad said. “But the greens are perfect.”
“Hm,” the Premier murmured. “I like a little danger with my beauty.”
“Don’t we all?”
It was a struggle to keep my eyes from rolling in the back of my head.
Asmodiel Hellmora liked to pretend he was on the same level as my dad, or the heads of the Dragoviches and Carvassis, but he was a replaceable puppet.
The second he did anything to actually hurt our revenue stream, he’d be toast.
Just like Nari Veshiro, the Premier who mysteriously stepped down due to “health issues” twelve years ago after arresting one of the Carvassi lieutenants.
Which was too bad, because I’d actually liked her.
“So,” my dad started, all pretense that this was just a normal social event gone. “About those permits…”
Asmodiel wiped his mouth with his napkin, eager to respond. “Yes, your daughter mentioned that when she scheduled this meeting, and they’re already taken care of. You’re free to break ground on the new hotel as soon as you’d like.”
“Thank you, Asmodiel. I knew I could count on you. It’s a shame when needless red tape holds up real progress. We employ so many demons, and it hurts the whole city-state when they can’t start projects on time.”
Ugh, I couldn’t believe this was the sort of thing I’d be expected to take over once my dad retired. Did they actually like the kraken shit? The song and dance? Or could I just call up the Premier and skip the whole pointless charade?
The waitress came by to refill our glasses, my dad’s hand skimming her ass as she passed.
I would bet the entire bounty I’d received from Victor that I’d find her sneaking out of the house tomorrow morning.
“We wanted to ask you about something else while we were here,” my dad started, giving me a pointed look.
I turned my attention towards Asmodiel, as though my dad and I were on the same page, when in reality I hadn’t been given any information about what was on the agenda for the evening.
“What can you tell us about Premier Victor Corvane?”
My heart rate spiked, but I did my best to tamper it down and not appear too excited. I simply leaned forward, resting my elbows on the table.
“Corvane?” Asmodiel asked, looking a touch nervous. “You, uh, looking to expand into Noctis?”
My dad shook his head. “Not exactly. I just want to know… what you know. What makes the vamp tick, what the public isn’t aware of… that sort of thing.”
“Um, well, let me think,” he responded, sitting back a bit. He squirmed slightly in his seat, and my dad and I swiveled our eyes towards each other for a moment.
Asmodiel was worried, as he probably should be.
“I mean, you heard the news about his mate, right?”
The growl in my chest came through unimpeded, and Asmodiel shot me a questioning look before continuing. “I should have guessed he had one. He’s been a raging asshole the past few years, more so than usual. Definitely weird to stay married, though.”
“We know all this, Hellmora,” my dad replied.
Uh oh, he used his last name. A sure sign his patience was wearing thin, and Asmodiel knew it.
“Don’t you have anything on him that hasn’t already been widely publicized throughout all of Lundaria?”
A drop of sweat formed right beneath the horn over his temple. “I mean, I’m sure I know a lot. Is there something specific you’re trying to find out?”
“Here’s the thing,” my dad started. He sat back, draping an arm over the edge of the booth and crossing his legs. “Corvane’s a fucking liar. That witch isn’t his mate, she’s my son’s.”
Asmodiel whipped his head towards me in shock. “Wait. Really? But why…”
I rolled out my shoulders, leaning back like my dad and speaking for the first time that evening. “It’s complicated. Suffice to say, we’re getting her back. And anything you can do to make that easier, well, let’s just say it certainly wouldn’t hurt to have the Oniguros owe you one.”
At this, his eyes widened in understanding. “I see.” He pursed his lips in thought. “You know, I was thinking of paying our fanged friend a visit soon to discuss our joint operation in the Godscar Basin for those missing students. Perhaps I need some help filling out my security detail.”
My dad and I exchanged glances again, and he gave the smallest of nods.
“I think we could assist you with that,” I replied. “Send us the date, and we’ll do the rest.”
* * *
All that stood between me and Sage now was the third task, my third “show of loyalty.”
A third kraken shit hoop to jump through and show my dad I was serious.
Tonight, my target was Ramiel Fontaine, the son of a wealthy seraph businessman who was in town with his friends for his bachelor party. I was supposed to take compromising pictures of him with a stripper for blackmail, threatening to send them to his fiancée if he didn’t pay up.
It was better than slinging sindr, and besides, I couldn’t exactly feel bad for a guy who’d cheat on the woman he was about to marry.
Fontaine’s friend had rented them a private room at Rose Gold Chains, which meant the only way I was getting the shot without him spotting me was to blend into the background and act like I was supposed to be there.
Not that I suspected Fontaine would be on the lookout. The easy thing about seraphim was that they never expected to be scammed, since they’d never scam anyone themselves. Made them incredibly easy marks.
Although that high moral code didn’t extend to fidelity, apparently.
Maia came into my room, leaning against the door frame leading into my bathroom as she watched me oil my horns. “You look a lot like mom, you know.”
I paused, my eyes darting between hers and my own in the mirror. I could kind of see it—the shape of her nose, her V-shaped jawline hidden under the beard I was keeping for Sage.
“Yeah?”
She nodded, her focus now landing on her reflection as she studied her own face and fixed her hair. “While I’m over here looking like dad’s fucking clone.
I chuckled, washing my hands. “That’s a good thing, you know. Don’t they say girls who look like their dads tend to be more beautiful?”
Her expression lightened at this, amusement curling her lips. “I think that’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
“Sorry,” I replied with an equally snarky smile. “Momentary lapse in judgment. Won’t happen again.”
She playfully punched me on the arm. “You ready for tonight? Know what Fontaine looks like?”
Shake down a club owner, sell some drugs—yeah, that was gangster shit. Shit I’d grown up doing, even if I’d never liked it.
But this? Hiding in plain sight to take some photos of a target doing something shady? Mere child’s play for a bounty hunter like me.
Out of all my tests, this was the only one not leaving me with a nasty taste in my mouth.
“Yeah, I know how to spot someone in a crowd. I’ve been doing it for years.”
She held up her hands and spoke in a low, mimicking voice. “I’ve been doing it for years, meh meh meh. Just get as many shots as you can. We need all angles and close-ups so there’s no ambiguity. No reasonable doubt.”
“I know how to take a photo.”
“Do you?” she asked, holding up my phone. “Because you have like, ten photos on here, and they’re all just cats, birds, and creepy screenshots of Sage.”
I tried to snatch it back but she held it out of reach. “What the hell?” I snarled. “How’d you get my passcode?”
“Took me two seconds to guess. I mean, your mate’s birthday? Come on.”
She tossed it back to me and I caught it with a growl. I’d only updated it the other day, as though that might make us closer somehow. Make our bond more… legitimate. Like we were a real couple.
And not like she was currently being held captive by Premier Victor Corvane in Noctis.
“Whatever,” I grumbled. “And what the hell else would I have to take pictures of, anyway?”
She looked at me like I’d just grown two heads. “Ugh, I still can’t believe you’re the one Dad wants to take over the family.”
“You and me both.”
She walked back into my room and sat on my bed as I looked over my accessories, and then thought better of it. I was supposed to be a bouncer, so expensive rings and watches wouldn’t fit.
“What’d this guy do to find himself on the Oniguro shit list, anyway?” I asked, taking out a belt and a pair of boots from the bag I’d brought with me. They were good brands, but accessible to someone on a bouncer’s salary.
Maia gave a casual shrug. “Does it matter?”
“Kind of. I mean, on just the word of Corvane, I’d signed away my soul to track Sage down like she was a criminal. If I’d stopped and thought about it first, maybe—”
Maia put out her hand to stop me. “You’re going to kill yourself going down a road of ‘coulda-woulda-shouldas.’ We just deal with the situation as it is now, got it?”
I took a deep breath, happy she’d caught me before I fell into a dark spiral of regret, loathing, and despair. “You’re right. But at some point, I gotta learn from my mistakes, too. So what did Fontaine do?”
He certainly wasn’t the first wealthy Magik to cheat on his significant other while in town. If we made it a habit to blackmail all of them, they’d stop coming.
Maia’s tongue ran along her teeth, calculating her response.
“It’s one of his friends who’s asking us to do this.
Apparently, Fontaine’s a piece of shit and he wants him to call off the wedding because the fiancée is a ‘nice girl.’ Says he’ll leak the photos no matter what, but the blackmail is our cut for the work. ”
Well, I supposed that was motivation enough.