Ward's Castle

HENDRIX

I tossdown the photos Captain Park just delivered.

“Marina is up to something, but talking to either of these women will get me nowhere. They would only spend more time together out of spite.”

“Any instructions?” he asks.

“Not at this time. Make sure that Jessup is on the alert.”

“Of course,” he replies stiffly, taking slight offense to my suggestion that one of his employees is not on the alert.

“Thank you,” I say, hoping to smooth things over.

He gives me a sharp nod and pivots with military preciseness toward the door.

Next to me, Colin lets out his breath with a swoosh when the door closes behind the security officer. “I thought he might take off your head there.”

“I know.” I grin ruefully. “I realize Captain Park only works for me for lack of anything better to do. I promise not to unintentionally insult his employees again.”

Colin reaches over my shoulder and taps a photo of Lila grinning at Marina. The two are trying on clothes at the mall. I don’t know if Marina had ever stepped foot in a mall prior to befriending Lila. All of Marina’s clothes were bought off the runway or in boutiques where she made purchases from a selection of outfits her personal shopper had arranged.

“Do you think her dad put her up to this?”

Old man Kovalenko has not signed the contract we had agreed upon. Each time that I call him, he is out of the office. I’m going to have to fly to London to pin him down, but I don’t want to leave Beau and Lila. Lila, especially, seems to be in more danger than Beau. At least Beau listens to me and stays put when I tell him to. Lila doesn’t hear a word I say and pays even less attention to the rules I’ve put in place.

The only things that she has agreed to is the existence of Jessup, her bodyguard, and no men in the house. From what Jessup reports to Captain Park, Lila does appear to be abiding by the no men rule out of the house, too, which is why I’ve been able to tolerate her leaving the house at all. One sight of a man in these photos, and she would be locked up in the house.

I want to do that anyway, but she’d find a way to escape.

“Maybe we should send her away,” Colin suggests.

Dark anger thickens my throat. “Absolutely not.” It takes everything not to bellow at Colin, but he sees the storm in my eyes and backs away, all the way out of my office.

I shouldn’t be angry at him for voicing the thought I’ve entertained a million times since Lila arrived at the house.

When I arrive home, Lila and Beau are watching an anime.

“Drix, come watch with us.” Beau pats a space on the floor next to him.

I oblige, folding my long legs underneath me. “Is this your spy kid show?” He has told me about it before. The orphan kid read people’s minds and was trying to navigate life using this skill. Her success depended on who she was listening to—sort of the garbage in/garbage out theory. If she relied on someone who was dumb as shit, she got into trouble.

“Yeah.” Beau tilts his head. “You’re not a spy, right?”

The kid’s adopted dad was a spymaster. “No, and Lila is not a hit woman.” The mother was a hired assassin.

“We don’t know that.”

“Right. You don’t know that, Mason. I could be hiding that from you like the Thorn Princess hides from Twilight.”

“Drix.”

“Huh?”

“He wants you to call him Drix, like the rest of us,” Beau helpfully chirps.

I brush my hand over his hair. “That’s my boy.”

Beau beams at me. “So you could be Twilight while I’m sleeping or at school. And Lila could be Thorn Princess taking out bad guys.” He points a fake rifle and shoots at imaginary targets. “And I could help you both with my psychic skills.” He drops his fake rifle and presses his fingers against his temple. “Right now you’re thinking…”