“The same is true for you.”
“Not really. I bought this house as well as my flat in London.”
“What about the plane?”
“It depends on which plane you’re speaking of.”
“The first plane.”
“I bought that as well.”
“The money came from your family, though.”
He shook his head. “Some, but not the bulk of it.”
“You made enough money from working at MI6 to afford two multi-million dollar homes and an airplane? Teagon said MI6 paid well, but I never dreamed it was that well. Which reminds me, have you heard anything about her condition? I’d really like to talk to her today if I could.”
Cortez smiled. “MI6 does not pay quite that well. I made many good investments with the money I inherited from my grandparents. Angel is fine, and that has been confirmed by Crash. And finally, yes, you may talk with her whenever you’d like.”
As much as I didn’t want to talk about what had happened yesterday, there were things I needed to know.
“How did you know to come to my house?”
“Come,” he said, pulling me away from the table. “Let’s go back to the solarium.”
“Wait,” I said when he pressed the button for the lift.
“Good thinking,” he said when I got on carrying a plateful of crumble cakes.
We sat by the pool and dangled our feet in the water. I raised my face to the sun, wondering if there’d ever been a time in my life when I felt as at peace or happy.
“I was on my way back from Italy when something told me I had to get to London as soon as possible.”
“Something or someone?”
He smiled. “I was already in the air when I received a call from Smoke, alerting me that Konstantine had escaped the psychiatric facility.”
“There’s more to it, isn’t there?”
“I’m going to have to get used to this.”
“They say to marry a woman who reminds you of your mother.”
The smile that had momentarily left his face, came back, only to leave again. “Siren sustained injuries serious enough she required surgery. She’s stable now. Smoke is with her. He’ll keep me updated.”
“You knew Konstantine would come to London.”
“Yes. I also had reason to believ
e his mother aided his escape.”
“He was stark-raving mad, Cortez.”
“As, I believe, was she.”
“Why in the world did he set his sights on me. I hardly knew him?”
Cortez explained what he’d learned at a meeting that took place at Buckingham Palace and how I was, evidently, the only single woman of marrying age that would fulfill the von Habsburg’s crazy family statute about who heirs could marry. I shuddered at the archaicness of it.