Page 152 of Love & Heart Braking

Gug snatched the letter up and read aloud, “Open your emails. Lerome.”

I pulled a face. The expression was echoed by the others as we turned that over. “You got emails?” I asked everyone.

Maligni shook his head.

Devereaux shrugged a shoulder. “None I haven’t opened.”

No surprises there. He hated clutter.

“You?” I asked Gug.

She squinted. “Nothing in my personal email. I haven’t accessed my work inbox in a while. Lerome said not to. That it wasn’t secure like yours was.” She lifted her head. “If he was sending something sensitive, he’d send it to Yearning Hearts.”

I had a feeling she was right. “The messenger said he was meant to bring this if he didn’t hear from Lerome in two days. Do you think...?”

The others were as grim-faced as me.

“What if they’ve taken him?” Gug said nervously. “Where would we start looking for him?”

My thought exactly. I had no love line to follow this time. “What if they’ve killed him?”

“They wouldn’t,” Devereaux said. “Not until they know what Lerome knows. And he has every reason not to give them answers. He’s smart enough to know that when he does, he’ll join Fenton.”

My stomach lurched. “They have three of us now.” Four including Fenton. Another person was taken every couple of days.

“We need to see what his email says.” Maligni leaned forward.

I frowned. “I checked our emails before leaving.”

“Were there any unusual ones?” the daemon asked.

My brow cleared. “There’s an email I haven’t opened in a few days.” I thought of the one labeled System Maintenance. Oops.

“What? Why?” Gug said.

Looked too hard and boring. “Just didn’t get around to it.”

Devereaux, who’d heard me lamenting about answering emails since Monday, smirked.

“Until you can do that then, I did have an idea about the Arbintos,” Gug said. “I got to thinking… the events and shows the Arbintos put on are the media scene for the twelve. The racing event they held last weekend—all the social faces of the twelve were there. Most journalists breathe for the news that the Arbintos’ shows and networking events provide. They’re really far more than fashion moguls. They hold the media in their hands and know absolutely everyone worth knowing.”

That was power. Having a horde of people you could call who’d just be there at the snap of your fingers was huge. As I’d seen with all Soleil’s “guys.” Sintin had saved my ass against the NBC, the air mage journalist had helped us against bad press. Her lab guy. Guys for freakin’ everything.

The Arbintos had often seemed like the smallest players on the field, but with Gug’s words I saw them for the threat they were. “How do you think they link in?”

Devereaux broke the silence that settled in after my question. “We know the Dethnels provide the criminal network to distribute Shade. Perhaps the Arbintos provide the network to spread Shade from the other end of the population.”

The goblin tapped her chin. “That was my feeling.”

“When Gug has a gut feeling, it’s usually right,” her husband said with pride.

Made sense to me too. “When’s their next event?”

Devereaux held up the invite. “Wedding.”

“Really?” I grabbed the invite and read over it carefully. There, in tiny writing at the bottom.

Planned by Arbinto Events Corp.

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