Chapter 23 Helena
HELENA
My phone buzzed as I turned the corner toward the mess, and I pulled it out automatically, expecting another message from Erryn. The moment I saw the number on the screen, my stomach bottomed out.
There was only one call that would come in from Italy, and I was wholly unprepared for it.
“Fuuuuuuck,” I breathed, glancing around as if I could hide from this.
The phone buzzed again. I exhaled slowly, ran a hand through my hair, and answered. “What?”
There was a brief pause on the other end before the voice I hadn’t heard in ten years slid down the line. “Is that any way to answer the phone?”
It was strange how little had changed. His voice was calm. Controlled. And still carried the faint, ever-present note of disappointment I’d come to expect from the man.
“You took your time answering,” he said.
“Apologies,” I replied flatly, starting down the corridor again. “I was contemplating throwing myself out the nearest window.”
“You always were dramatic.”
“And you always knew how to play the long game,” I said. “So here we are.”
He didn’t react to that. My father rarely reacted to anything without full intention.
“You received the information you asked for, and yet,”—his tone settled into that calm, measured, fucking infuriating cadence that made me seriously reconsider the window—“you whine about fulfilling your part of the arrangement.”
I reached the mess door and paused, leaning my shoulder against the wall.
“Get on with it then.”
“We gave you something valuable, Helena,” he said. “Information that required considerable effort to obtain, and we know who it is for.”
My stomach went cold.
“You think I did not know where my only daughter was all these years? You were always going to climb,” he said calmly. “Ambition runs in the family. I simply waited to see how high. You are exactly where I anticipated you would be.”
“I am not one of your pawns,” I snapped. “I am where I am because of my own choices.”
“And your choices led you back home,” he replied. “Do not forget who you are.”
I scoffed. “Trust me, that’s never been the problem.”
“Then you will also remember that debts are not optional,” he said. “We will be in touch again soon.”
I ended the call before he could say anything else, shoved the phone back into my pocket, and stepped fully into the mess, my mind reeling. I headed straight for the fridges, trying to get in and out without having to speak to anyone.
“Oh look, it’s Loxley’s new pet.”
I tried to ignore it. I fucking swear I did, leaning against the side of the huge bar fridge in the mess and surveying the drinks available.
Erryn hadn’t hired a new assistant yet, and both of us had been too distracted to think of things like stocking her personal bar fridge.
I grabbed a few bottles of fruit juice for Erryn and an energy drink for myself, kicking the door shut, only to be blocked by Masters. She was eyeing me with open contempt.
“Who shit in your cereal?” I asked, tossing one of the juices and catching it again. “Want to get out of my way? Because today is not the fucking day.”
“Not particularly,” she said. “So, is it true?”
“Leave her be, Masters,” one of the men called. “You don’t want to start that fight, she’s rabid.”
“I’d listen to him and think real carefully about your next words,” I warned.
She scoffed.
“And while you are trying to catch that singular brain cell you have knocking around up there, why don’t you use it to reconsider your disrespect of our Chair?” I said, grappling hard with my temper. “I’m fulfilling a contract that requires working alongside her.”
“I have nothing but respect for our Chair,” Masters said, smirking at me. “London wouldn’t be what it is without her. I just want to know if getting in her bed is a contract perk when you inevitably fuck up. I hear I’m next in line—”
I punched her in the throat with the energy drink, cutting her off mid-sentence.
Masters doubled over, clutching her neck as she struggled to breathe in, and I leaned down so only she heard my next words.
“Next time I hear you talking about Loxley’s bed, I’ll cut your fucking tongue out and shove it all the way up your arse until you can lick your own tonsils. Got it, bitch?”
She rasped something, her eyes streaming.
“Speak up, sweetheart. I didn’t hear you,” I said.
“Fuck you.”
I shook my head, bringing my knee up as I stood in one swift movement and slammed it into her nose. Bone crunched and she flew back, sprawling onto her arse, blood streaming from her nose.
“Oh, for fuck’s sake, Rossi!” A couple of Masters’s friends rushed over to help her staunch the bleeding, and I stepped over her, tucking a drink under my arm as my phone buzzed with a notification.
I glanced at it, simultaneously relieved to see Erryn’s name, and slightly guilty.
I hated that one phone call with him could taint the one thing I coveted most in this world.
Erryn
That’s only going to get worse.
I tapped out a quick reply, trying to sound normal.
We discussed this. Now is not the time for it to get out that you have fallen for my unearthly beauty.
Erryn
It certainly wasn’t your choice in music.
Rude.
Erryn
When you are done making friends, I need you up here.
Need for work, or need for
Erryn
Look at you using an emoji! Turns out you can teach an old dog new tricks.
She left me on read, and I slipped my phone back into my pocket, making my way back up as I contemplated my position.
Erryn was still on the phone when I got back to her office, pacing slowly behind the desk as she listened to whoever was on the other end. I set the juice beside her laptop and leaned over her shoulder, my eyes scanning the screen automatically.
Octavia hadn’t replied to the last email yet, and for a moment I thought we were still waiting.
Then I saw it.
A transaction confirmation sitting in the shadow inbox. The credit voucher had been redeemed for a same-day ticket from Boston to London, and there was only one flight left that would make it in time—and it left in two hours.
Erryn ended the call and glanced at me, the corner of her mouth curving slightly right in the spot I loved to kiss.
“We’ve got her,” she said calmly. “Theo is moving into position. She’ll land at 0200hrs.”