Page 53 of Midnight Legacy

He gave her the look that only a parent gave an exasperating child. “Every safety deposit box has two keys. Who do you think has the other one?”

I hadn’t considered that. Now it made me very nervous.

“This opens the last box. It was a failsafe in case either of us was killed. Unfortunately, they got to Frank and kept me out of the loop.” His piercing gaze moved to me. “She needs to be more protected than she is right now. When they thought she was dead, she was safe. Now she has a target on her back.”

“What the fuck is going on?” I demanded.

“I don’t have time to explain. The answers are in that box. Frank and I had our own missions and I often wondered why the Council was still standing when he fucking hated everything it stood for. They must have suspected and had him executed.”

His answers only created more questions as the mystery surrounding what happened to Frank Jenkins increased.

“Every so often, the Council cleans house,” Dante said. “Just make sure they don’t clean you and your friends from their memoires. You’ve been in it a long time. Have you ever heard of Franklin Jenkins?”

“No, I haven’t.” I shook my head. We were supposed to know everything, yet there was a human trafficker in our midst and a murder of a Council member that had been hidden for twenty years. Things were beginning to stink like a ten-day-old corpse in the height of summer. Jordan had only remembered the surname because he was never out of the archives that none of us should technically be in.

“And I’m sure I’m nowhere on their precious files,” he seethed, his fists clenching. “I’ll try and find a time and place to give you answers, but you might need to come to me next time. Travel to this country is difficult. I’ve left you a few gifts in the other deposit boxes.”

The phone beside the door buzzed to let me know someone downstairs was looking for me.

“That’ll be my security patrol searching for me,” Dante replied while rolling his eyes. “Remember what I said. If you love her, keep her safe because they’ll know she’s the only one with access to the files that could take the entire Council down.”

I watched as he hugged Cassandra one last time, whispering something in her ear. My protective instincts went into overdrive as I dragged her against me, resting my chin on top of her head while he walked to the door.

“The past is no longer asleep, and the dead are starting to awaken. Matteus is already panicked by my re-emergence, so expect a recall by the Council. Keep your eyes open and ears to the ground, Xavier, because sooner or later that Council will burn, and I’ll piss on its ashes.”

He didn’t bother to look back, closing the door behind him quietly.

“What did all that mean?” Cassandra asked.

“No idea, but we’re all leaving tomorrow. This building is no longer safe. At least no one knows about the estate since it was bought through one of my alias names. He’s right about one thing: if we’re not Xavier and Cassandra Bartholomew, then no one will know where to find us.”

Her arms snaked around my waist. “I’ve run from this all my life, and now it feels like the past has finally caught up with me.”

I kissed the top of her head, staring at the door. “What did he say to you when he hugged you?”

“He said a series of numbers, although I have no idea what they mean.”

“Let me get the guys, because they are the only people in the world that I trust with your safety apart from me.”

“What about Megan?”

“We’re all going. There are plenty of rooms. I think we need to get Uncle Lucas involved, since I trust him with my life. Start packing our stuff, baby, while I try to decipher this mess with the guys. Make sure you memorise those numbers.”

Cassandra went into our room where Megan still sat beside the window. Jordan and Ash waited for me in the other living room I rarely used.

“Do we want to know?” Jordan asked between grated teeth.

“Probably not, but we’re all going on a road trip. We’ll leave at first light tomorrow, so best pack what we’ll need for a new base of operations.” For the first time in a long time I felt uncertain about the future. The hand of death had finally caught up with me and currently breathed down my neck and sent a shiver down my spine.

***

Chapter Fifteen

Cassandra

I spent my entire adult life looking over my shoulder. Over time, I learnt not to buy items that couldn’t be packed quickly and easily. Xavier told me only to pack the essentials since he’d been periodically moving stuff to our new home. Half his suits and clothes had disappeared. He’d made me pack a suitcase of my stuff every time he was passing the area on business.

We were in London because it was convenient and central. Now we were setting up a new basecamp.

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