Chapter 6
EVELYN
Sebastian’s fingers ran lazily through my hair as I rested on his chest. An action movie played on the TV, and delicious smells wafted from the kitchen as Alexander rattled around behind us. I hummed as Sebastian’s fingers massaged my scalp. His chest rumbled beneath me as he chuckled.
“Content, my darling?”
I sleepily nodded my head. We hadn’t slept long after they both fucked me into oblivion earlier, but I hadn’t wanted to get up.
It was like there was a bubble surrounding the three of us, and selfishly, I didn’t want to pop it yet.
Sebastian had hauled me out into the living room about thirty minutes ago but was thankfully also on board with not acting like a functional adult.
He tumbled both of us onto the couch where we were currently snuggling.
I hummed again, and he laughed softly. “You’re practically purring.”
“Don’t judge,” I said, pressing my face into his neck.
“Not judging,” he corrected, “just observing.”
“Observe quieter,” I murmured.
He huffed out another laugh but went back to running his fingers through my hair again.
I was drifting in that lovely place between sleep and wakefulness when the door clicked open and familiar voices echoed across the room.
Adrian, Marcus, and Dominic were home. I tried to sit up, but Sebastian’s arms tightened around me.
Marcus peered over the couch down at us. “Well, isn’t this cozy,” he murmured, leaning over and brushing a stray curl out of my face. “Hi, sweetheart.” He leaned down and pressed a kiss to my forehead.
“Hi,” I murmured back, flushing when the simple gesture sent a wave of warmth through me.
Adrian joined him at the back of the couch. “Hi, little warrior,” he said warmly. “Is Sebastian holding you hostage?”
“He is,” I said, pasting a serious look on my face. “He’s forcing me to snuggle.”
“Forcing you to snuggle?” Adrian said. “Well, we can’t have that now, can we?”
He leaned over and plucked me from Sebastian’s arms. Sebastian tried to keep me, but Marcus tickled his sides, and he let out an undignified screech, rolling off the couch to the floor to get away. I giggled.
Sebastian stood, smoothing down his shirt, his blonde curls disheveled. “Just remember,” he warned, “payback’s a bitch.”
“I’m shaking in my boots,” Marcus deadpanned, and I laughed.
Instead of setting me down, Adrian carried me to the table and sat down with me in his lap.
“I thought you were going to free me?” I looked up at him.
He grinned, swooping down and placing a quick kiss on my lips. “That was the plan originally, but now I don’t want to let you go.”
I melted and snuggled into his chest. “Okay.”
“Oh, so when I snuggle you it’s a hostage situation, but when Adrian does it, it’s okay?” Sebastian took a seat across from us, pouting.
“You’ve had her all day,” Adrian said. “You need to share.”
“Oh, I think I proved that I share just fine today.” Sebastian wiggled his eyebrows at me, and I rolled my eyes even as my cheeks burned.
“Stop teasing her,” Alexander chided. “Help me carry this to the table.”
Sebastian grumbled but shot me a teasing wink and stood to help.
Marcus set the table while Alexander and Sebastian carried the food.
Steam rose from the salmon, green beans, and those lemon herb potatoes I loved.
Dominic took a hesitant seat next to Sebastian, as if he wasn’t sure he was welcome.
I smiled when his eyes met mine, and he returned it.
His smile did something inconvenient to my pulse, which I chose to ignore.
Adrian didn’t let me up from his lap and filled his plate for both of us. I stopped him from feeding me, though. I shifted so I could lean back against him and eat. He wrapped his arm around me, hand resting on my thigh as he ate one-handed.
After dinner was done and the plates were cleared, I shifted off Adrian’s lap.
We needed to make a plan for the coming weeks.
I needed to shift into Evelyn the leader, not Evelyn the girlfriend.
As much as I would rather stay in this cozy bubble forever, people relied on me.
They needed me focused, not half asleep on my boyfriend’s lap.
The guys responded to my change in seating by also sitting up around the table.
“How was the office?” I asked Marcus.
“Fine,” Marcus said. “Daily operations are running smoothly. We put a halt on new contracts or clients temporarily, and I briefed our VPs that we may be absent for a bit. They’re stretched a bit thin, but with the halt on new contracts, their workloads should balance out.
I also told them to keep an eye on their departments to see who may be ready for a promotion, and that will help ease their loads as well. ”
I bit my lip. I still didn’t love that they were going to lose business because of me.
“It’s not just because of the Kingfisher situation,” Alexander said, reading my mind. “We’re at capacity with all the new Citadel clients coming in. And I don’t want to hire randomly and risk having another leak. We’ll take our time and grow strategically. The clients will still be there.”
That was fair, and I nodded.
“There was nothing on the traffic footage Liam could find surrounding your HQ in the last few weeks. No unusual activity or repeating vehicles. We can’t rule it out completely, but if they did case the place, they were smart and switched out vehicles. Whoever this crew was, they’re professionals.”
“That fits the bill of who Kingfisher hires,” Dominic confirmed. “He wouldn’t use anyone except the best.”
“Well, they may be good, but we’re better,” Alexander said.
I wanted to believe in his easy confidence, but I wasn’t going to underestimate Kingfisher. He was smart. We had to be smarter.
“Did you get anything from SID?” I asked Dominic.
He shook his head. “Agent Mercer didn’t share any details with me. He also isn’t giving me any details on the girls, other than that they’re safe.”
“Well, we predicted that Agent Mercer wouldn’t share any information, but it’s still frustrating,” Alexander said. “Hopefully he changes his mind in the future.”
Dominic nodded. He rubbed the back of his neck. “I got an email this morning from the FIA Deputy Director that all FIA operations are suspended till further notice, and agents are placed on leave, pending the SID investigation.”
“What does that mean?” I frowned. Was he planning to go home? Kingfisher probably wasn’t going to be too happy Dominic helped arrest the director.
“That means I don’t have anything going on for the next few weeks at least, so I’m happy to help.” He rubbed the back of his neck. “That is, if the offer to stick around still stands. I’d understand if you wanted me out of your hair.”
“No,” I said, maybe a little too quickly. “I think it would be safest if we stuck together. For the time being,” I clarified. “I don’t think Kingfisher is too happy with you since you helped us take down the director.”
“Okay.” The tension in Dominic’s shoulders eased slightly, like he had been more uncertain about the answer than he let on. “I’ll stay.”
“We’re all in agreement that the director is not Kingfisher, right?” Marcus asked, looking around the table.
I nodded. “I don’t think he is. The way he talked, for one, the messages Dominic got sent afterwards, HQ…it’s all pointing to him not being Kingfisher.”
“Could he have arranged it from inside or ahead of time?” Adrian asked. “Some kind of fail safe?”
“It’s possible,” Alexander mused, “but I agree with Evelyn. It’s not likely. I think we should proceed under the assumption that Kingfisher is still free and making moves.”
“So how do we find him?” Sebastian asked. “Where do we start?”
“Well, we know the rail yard is important,” Adrian pointed out. “We can keep monitoring it with the cameras we have up.”
I shook my head. “We’re going to have to take those cameras down. We’ll need them in other places, and renovations are starting at the yard this week on the new development. If we leave them up, they’ll be discovered.”
“What about approaching Nathaniel Drake and seeing if we could get access to his camera system?” Alexander suggested. “He’ll definitely install a security system at the construction site. We could even offer to cover it as SDS; that way, we’ll retain access.”
I hesitated. “I don’t really want to open SDS up to that kind of liability.
Plus, if clients learned you knowingly let a third party have access to their systems, that could ruin SDS’s reputation.
We should try to keep this as separate as possible.
” I looked at Marcus. I’m sure he wanted to keep things separate as well.
“Who said it had to be knowingly?” Sebastian asked. “We could unknowingly let a third party have access.” He winked at me.
I rolled my eyes. “I think that ship has sailed.”
“I see your point,” Marcus said. “But maybe we approach it from a philanthropy angle. If we let him know what’s happening, he may be open to help.”
“I’ll arrange a meeting,” Alexander said. “We can start with the client angle and then pivot to the philanthropy angle if he’s not biting.”
I would still rather keep SDS separate from this, but it wasn’t my decision to make, so I moved on.
“We should also figure out where the truck originated,” I said. “Traffickers often have way stations or halfway houses where they stash the women in between moving them. If we can track the truck back to where it originates, we may find other women or something they left behind.”
Sebastian nodded. “I can help Liam with that tomorrow. It had to have been somewhere close, so we should be able to find it.”
“I wish we could talk to the girls,” Marcus said. “Maybe one of us should try asking SID if we can?” He gestured between himself and Alexander.
“He may be more amenable talking to you or me,” Alexander agreed. “We should let the dust settle first, then we can reach out in a day or two.”
We needed the information now, but I knew from experience that the girls probably wouldn’t be up for answering questions right away.
“That sounds like a plan,” I said.
This all helped us narrow down Kingfisher’s trafficking operation, but it wasn’t getting us closer to his identity. But maybe we would get lucky.
“We also need to get your insurance claims filed,” Marcus said.
I rubbed my temples. “I know,” I said. “I need to talk to the others tomorrow and get a full list. And go through the rubble to see if anything’s salvageable.”
“We’ll help,” Adrian said, rubbing circles on my back.
“I know,” I said softly, flashing him a small smile.
“Okay,” Sebastian said, clapping his hands together softly. “That’s a great start to a plan and all stuff we can get started on tomorrow. Tonight, we have a movie to finish and more snuggles to steal.”
“I can get out of your hair and leave you all to it,” Dominic said, rising from the table.
“Nonsense,” Sebastian said in a fake posh accent. “You must stay. I insist.”
Marcus stared at Sebastian. “I swear Mom dropped you on your head when you were a baby.”
“You’re just jealous I’m cooler than you are.”
“Cool is not the word I would use,” Marcus shot back.
I smiled, but my brain was racing. Sebastian was right. It was the start of a plan, but was it enough? I had a sinking feeling that Kingfisher was already planning his next move.