Chapter 43
CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
NELL
The suite at the Waldorf Astoria was extraordinary.
Three rooms, floor-to-ceiling windows, furniture that had been chosen by someone with both taste and a very large budget, a bathroom with a soaking tub that I had been looking at for forty-five minutes and had not used because every time I moved toward it someone knocked on the door to ask if I needed anything.
A woman named Ama, who had introduced herself as the clan's hospitality coordinator and whose actual function appeared to be ensuring that the lost Omondi princess did not do anything for herself, had appeared three times in the last hour.
Once with food. Once with clothing: a kikoy in deep indigo and rust, the cotton so fine it felt like water.
Along with a beaded collar piece that caught the light when it moved.
Once, simply to check that I was comfortable, which I was, in the way of a person who was climbing the walls.
I had grown up doing everything for myself. Being treated like a princess was driving me absolutely insane.
I sat at the suite's desk — mahogany, a lamp with actual brass fittings — and opened my laptop, which Darius had retrieved from my apartment, and finished the Omondi proposal.
It was good work. The disruption of the last twelve hours had not improved it, but it had clarified something in me about what mattered and what didn't, and the proposal reflected that.
I printed it from the suite's printer — of course there was a suite printer — and knocked on the door of the adjacent room where Darius had been conducting what sounded like a series of calls in Swahili and two other languages I didn't know.
My grandmother had sometimes spoken to my mother in their native tongue, but my mother never bothered to respond and had only addressed me, when she was mindful enough to recognize I was in the room, in English.
"As you can see, the distribution restructuring will increase your U.S.
margins by approximately thirty-one percent in the first year.
The brand consolidation under a single import license eliminates the redundancy costs you're currently absorbing through the London broker.
I'd like to schedule a formal presentation for your board within the week. "
Darius took the document. He looked at it. He looked at me.
"You were in a car accident last night," he said.
"Yes."
"You were held by a pack of Russian wolves who wanted your head."
"I'm aware," I said. "The proposal is still good."
"You are very much your father's daughter."
He held my gaze, smiling at me. It was the first time I realized our eyes were the exact same color. I wondered how much he resembled my father. I wondered if he had a picture of my father.
"Get some rest," he said. "Ama will bring you anything you need."
"I need to get back to my office."
"You don't need to work again in your life. You're a very wealthy woman, Nell."
It was never about the money for me. It was about the work. I loved the work. It gave me my self-worth being the smartest person in the room. I opened my mouth to tell my cousin this when he said the one thing that rocked me back on my heels.
"Magnus Blackwood's wedding is this weekend. Should I assume I'll be declining on your behalf?"
I didn't gasp. I didn't crumble. I didn't place my hand to my chest like I was clutching my pearls. This is what I had bargained for. Didn't mean I had to watch that bargain play out.
"I'll think about it."
I left the proposal on the desk and walked out of the room.
Back in the massive living room, I sat at the window.
I looked at the Manhattan skyline, the geometry of the buildings, the way the darkness between them was not really dark at all.
I found the Odhiambo, Blackwood a wedding suit. That would be devastating to behold. For the people in attendance. Which I would not be. I wasn't a masochist.
The front door of the suite opened again. I did let out a sigh this time. I didn't want to deal with Ama and her helpfulness. I just wanted to be left alone.
But it wasn't Ama.
Addie stood in the doorway. She was in a dark coat, slightly out of breath, a grin on her face, concern in her gaze.
I was across the room before I had decided to move.
She caught me. Her arms around me, mine around her.
Something in my chest released — a tension I had been holding since the bridge, since the river, since stepping off the Volki boat and leaving him behind — releasing into the warmth of a friendship that did not require explanation. The cavalry was here.
"How did you get in?" I said, into her shoulder.
"I grew up in a hotel. I can get in and out of any of them.
" Addie pulled back, looked at my face, and did the rapid assessment of a woman who was used to reading damage reports.
"I don't have long. I slipped my detail.
Vidar will figure out where I am in approximately twenty minutes, and then there will be a war, so talk fast."
I sniffled, wiping at the corner of my eye. There wasn't a tear there. There was no need. I was being rescued. It occurred to me that my savior could've saved me from this weeks ago. "How dare you not tell me Magnus was engaged?"
"You told me it was going to be your typical one-night stand. You specifically said stress relief, purely transactional, you don't do the other thing. And it was pack business. You weren't pack."
"Fuck you. I'm your pack."
"Fuck me." She nodded. "You are my pack. It sounds like you’re Magnus' pack. Elias said he was holding you hostage. Wolves don't do that unless you're an asset or a fated mate."
I swallowed, but held my best friend's gaze.
"Fuck, Nell."
"I don't want to be an alpha queen. And I don't want to be a panther princess."
"Yeah, about that. You're a leopard?"
"Panther. Probably. My dad was. I didn't know. I never shifted."
"Still, there's an animal inside you. No wonder we clicked." She bumped my shoulder with hers. "A wolf and a panther. It makes sense."
Her phone buzzed. We both looked at it. Text bubbles popped onto the screen in quick succession.
"Vidar," she said.
"How bad?"
"He's using complete sentences, which means he's past the point of shouting." Addie turned her phone over and looked at me. "What are we doing? Am I rescuing the princess from the tower? Are we crashing a wedding this weekend? Are we ordering room service and watching bad reality television?"
"All reality television is bad."
"Facts."
"Magnus doesn't want to marry her." It came out quieter than I intended.
"No," Addie agreed. "He doesn't. But he wants to be a good alpha. My brother-in-law can handle himself. What do you want, Nell?"
I wanted my company.
I wanted to go home to my apartment that I had bought with my own money.
I wanted to know my heritage and learn more about my father and his people.
I wanted Magnus to hold me tight and not let me go, as he'd promised.
I wanted to curl up on this couch with my best friend and get stupid drunk on sweet cocktails.
"Addie?"
"Yeah, babe?"
"What does Rosalind Lobo want?"
Addie frowned, as if she'd never considered the question. Had anyone ever asked Rosalind what she wanted?
The question sat between us in the suite's expensive quiet. Outside, the city continued. The building with my name on it caught the light as the question went unanswered.
Addie's phone buzzed again. There were no longer complete sentences in the text bubbles. The singular words popped up one at a time. They were in all caps.
"Addie, do you know where Rosalind Lobo is right now?"