“He said he still has the signing power for your personal accounts. He said that you should transfer that to me,” she says quickly with a deep flush of her own.
“Oh, did he now?” I say with a slight smile. I cast a quick gaze at Cole who looks amused and CK who is frowning. He is such a worry wart when it comes to my finances. I have no idea why, when I am not exactly careless and hardly broke. In fact, it’s the complete opposite.
“Well, that would mean that you have proven yourself and that your trial period is up. Do you think that you can do this job and all that it entails?” I ask her.
“Yes,” she says without hesitation. Well, I have to admire her confidence.
“Fine. I happen to agree that you will be able to keep up and keep things to yourself. However, you will have to go and ask Devon to sort you out. He does all my accounting. Oh, and while you are at it, ask him to sort you out a contract.”
“Sebastian can do that,” CK says quickly.
“Oh no, that isn’t going to happen,” I say firmly.
“Why not?” he asks, offended on his charge’s behalf. “He is very good at his chosen profession.”
“I know he is. There is a very definite conflict of interest though.”
“What do you mean?” he asks, confused.
“Cade told me about his own contract that Sebastian just handed to him without discussing it with me. Which, by the way, he won’t sign, and I agree with his decision.”
“But why not? It is for your own protection,” he says in a huff.
“Yours, more like,” I retort.
“What did it say?” Cole asks, intrigued.
“Basically, that Cade is to report to Nico.”
Cole looks askance at CK who just sits there quietly.
“Fortunately, these Hunters seem to have a strong sense of loyalty and he refused as he said it was insulting as he works for me, not you,” I continue casually, not wanting to piss him off but not wanting him to get away with it, either.
“We are just looking out for you. A few short weeks ago, he was hell-bent on killing you,” CK snaps.
“As was Nico before you brought him into the fold and now you trust him with my life.”
“I have worked with Nico for twenty years, Aefre. It is a bit different.”
“Is it? Twenty years ago, you had Nico escort me back to New York from Rome all by himself. Admittedly, had I known who he was, not to mention how young he was, I may have refused.” My turn for a bit of a huff.
“I knew I could trust him.”
“And I know I can trust Cade. He has more than proven himself with me and I am surprised you think otherwise after everything he did in Italy,” I say.
“Yes, well he did help you; I will admit to that.”
“Exactly.”
“What did he do in Italy?” Cole asks.
“He helped me stand up to the Lance creature. Reminded me that I could.” I leave out the bit about him getting me to Shift back to Liv from Emily.
“Oh. Are yo
u finished here? I want to spend some time alone with you.”
I look at Jess and she nods. “For now. You fed properly, yes?” She waves her hand dismissively at the glass in my hand.