“They also walked into that underground party and tried to take Cassie.”
“That was different. That guy used one of the old emergency tunnels to get in. He wasn’t brazen. That prick last night…”
“What are you trying to say?”
Leo’s smart, perceptive, but he doesn’t have the best track record at seeing what’s right in front of his eyes. But then neither do I, apparently.
“What Fleur said to me at the hospital. I know you all think it was coincidence. I know it’s a common saying, but for her to bring it up then?”
“Charles Winterbourne is too much of a people-pleasing pussy to do anything that stupid.”
“I don’t trust him,” he says, standing as he grabs his suit jacket from the back of his desk chair. “And you can’t say he’s a pussy when he’s Foreign Secretary. He had to get there somehow.”
True, but I’ve known him all my life. He and our fathers grew up together. And besides— “If you’re right, that would make him a mole. You know what happens to the cunts?”
His nod is unconvinced.
“Don’t you think that it’s all a big motherfucking coincidence? My grandfather, Fleur mentioning that saying, Charles nominating the Russian…and then last night after you dragged Arabella to the dinner…”
Gathering his wallet, phone, and pack of smokes from his desk, he distributes them through his pockets.
“You think we’ve been breached?”
“No. I think we’ve been turned out.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying we’re the only ones getting fired at.”
“No one knows about us unless they’re one of us. The illusion of democracy has to be maintained, and you can’t do that if people know.”
“This isn’t about the Order, Christopher. It’s us. Why else are they pushing us aside?”
I shrug.
“Come on, man! Think about it,” he says, checking the time on his Breguet masterpiece. “We don’t follow the rules.”
“Leo…”
“We don’t keep the peace like they do.”
“It doesn’t make sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. They get rid of us and they can replace us.”
You’re not irreplaceable. Charles’ words resound in my head.
“Dad and Benedict would neve—”
“They don’t have a choice if we break the rules. If we keep pushing…”
If he’s right, we’re beyond fucked.
Dialling Arabella one more time, I wait for her to pick up, but it goes to voicemail again. Unease grows deep in my gut, and I’m about to tell him I have to go when he does up his suit jacket and heads for the door.
“So what? We just sit back and take all the shit?”
“Fuck no. We just have to find the reason why they want to replace us. And I am certain it has everything to do with my grandfather.”