Patricia faced me. “This is home now. We like it here.”
“I’m glad.”
Patricia laughed softly.
“If we do survive this, you will be in high demand,” I said.
She raised her eyebrows at me.
“A security chief who held off Arkan. Whatever stains and blotches are on your record will be wiped clean. Houses will fall over their feet trying to hire you. You could write your own ticket.”
“You realize it’s not in your best interests to point this out?”
“Yes, but it is fair.”
“Then you better think of a way to keep me here, Prime Baylor.” Her tone suggested it wouldn’t be very hard.
“I’ll put it on my list,” I told her.
Chapter 10
I paced back and forth, trying to match the speed of my body to the speed of my brain. I had notified most of our allies and most of the probable high-risk targets that we were under attack and declined a dozen offers of assistance. Cornelius’ sister and brother were in DC on business, in the public eye and well protected. My disaster of an aunt had been pulled off the street in Mexico by a private security firm. They would sit on her until the danger passed.
I had tried Wahl’s cell, but the call went straight to voice mail, which likely meant the FBI agent was still recuperating.
I also had a long and grueling conversation regarding logistics and compensation with the man who would help us make sure Arkan went deaf and blind. It was like swimming in a very small pool with a very large shark. It was so bad, I texted Arabella two-thirds of the way through and let her take over the bargaining.
Alessandro and Konstantin had left an hour ago. They would neutralize Arkan’s mole in the DA’s office. I wasn’t sure what would happen next. Arkan could hit us as soon as he realized his agent had been compromised, or he could wait and gather all of his forces for one decisive assault. Alessandro promised to video call during the meeting. If an attack came, it would be soon.
I had a nagging feeling that I had overlooked something. What was it? What hole did I fail to plug?
“If you keep doing this, I’ll have to replace the rug,” Bern informed me.
He sat at a horseshoe-shaped desk, with an array of monitors arranged around him. When we lived in the warehouse, all of his equipment had been contained in the small room we called the Hut of Evil. Since we’d moved, he had upgraded to a full-blown Lair. The computer lab now occupied the entire first floor of a short tower we had built to Bern’s specifications. The horseshoe desk and the space around it took up most of the floor, with the gaming room featuring a row of computers and gaming chairs separated off to the side by a glass wall. A small fridge stuffed with drinks and a couch on which Runa right now napped completed the furnishings. Bern ruled over his kingdom like an ancient despot, and his tone suggested that he had judged my pacing to be a capital offense.
He’d asked me to come, but when I got there, I was presented with his back and some furious typing.
“What am I forgetting?” I asked him.
“Food. Sleep.”
“Haha. When was the last time you slept?”
“That’s not relevant. Okay. You may look.”
I came over and stood by his chair. A black screen greeted me with some indecipherable code.
“Honey?” Bern said.
Runa pulled herself off the couch and stumbled over to us.
Bern raised his right hand and very deliberately pressed the Enter key.
Code blossomed on the screen, scrolling at dizzying speed. The display went dark.
“I love it,” Runa said. She leaned over, hugged Bern, and kissed his cheek.
Bern smiled.
Runa turned around and went back to her couch.
“What am I looking at?” I asked him.
“I crashed Arkan’s network,” Bern said.
We looked at the dark screen.
“Do you think he’s screaming right now?” I asked.
Bern gave me another smile.
We looked at the screen some more.
My cousin typed a quick sequence. “I have something for you.”
A large monitor directly above us showed the inside of an armored car. Alessandro was in the driver’s seat. The dark-haired woman next to him wore the tactical uniform of our guards. I didn’t recognize her.
The woman said something in Russian in Konstantin’s voice.
“How am I seeing this?”
Bern paused the video. “A hidden dashboard cam. All of our vehicles have them.”
I wasn’t aware of that upgrade. “Since when?”
“Since two months ago.”
“Shouldn’t I have approved something like that?”
“I approved it,” Bern said. “As the Chief of Surveillance and Cyber Security.”
“Chief of what now?”
“Surveillance and Cyber Security. That’s how I’m written into our incorporation papers. This is a good security measure.”
“Can I disable the camera in my vehicle?”
“Yes.”
He left it at that. Fine, I would ask Grandma Frida. Ten to one she had installed them in the first place. Right now, I had bigger fish to fry.
“Are you spying on Alessandro?”
“No, I’m spying on the prince.”
“How old is this recording?” I asked.
“Half an hour.”
“I never took you for a man willing to play second fiddle,” Konstantin said in English. “You were raised to lead your House, the crumbling ruin that it is. You are a man who would rather captain a sinking ship that’s yours than be a sailor on a luxury liner.”
“You serve the throne. You will never sit on it.” Alessandro’s voice was flat and quiet.
“But I wasn’t raised with an expectation of leading. You were, Count Sagredo. She is the Head of her House, issuing orders, making decisions, and what does that make you? A loyal bodyguard? A pretty face in her bed?”
You asshole.
“It has to chafe a bit, trading your independence and your birthright for a seat at her table. You know they only listen to you because she’s there. They tolerate you as long as you make her happy. Not quite the loving family you always wanted.”
Alessandro didn’t answer. Did it actually bother him? Is that the way he saw it?
“If you have a fight, they’ll always take her side. If you break up, they’ll line up to kick you on your way out the door. The only way to secure your position is though children, but we both know the compatibility isn’t there.”
Anxiety squeezed me. I wanted to have children. Not now, but eventually. I wanted to have Alessandro’s children. I didn’t give a crap what kind of powers they might have. I just loved him, and I would love our children. They would be smart and funny like him. They might have his eyes and his smile. And in my selfish little love, I never wondered how he felt about it. His bloodline was so long. His entire childhood was about learning to protect and preserve it. He was always expected to pass his powers to the next generation.
What if our children weren’t antistasi?
“Maybe all of that is true,” Alessandro said. “However, her mother is an excellent shot, and yet all of the former boyfriends and girlfriends of her children are still breathing despite their many sins. What did you think when your mother strangled Liudmilla in that hotel room? How did your perfect older brother take it?”
Konstantin’s smile widened and he bared his teeth at Alessandro. It bothered him. Alessandro’s thrust had hit home.
“My mother loves us unconditionally,” Konstantin said. “She wishes only the best for us, and she will take sins upon herself for our benefit. Can you say the same? More importantly, can you do the same?”