Page 56 of Midnight Legacy

Cassandra

“I hate you.”

Xavier’s grin contradicted me.

How did a man used to wearing designer suits and fitted clothes look so damn good in ripped jeans and a black hooded jacket? He had a baseball cap on backward and sunglasses to hide his eyes. He was drop-dead gorgeous with his scruff since he hadn’t shaved in a few days.

I pulled at my own dark-red hooded top and felt frumpy in comparison. My hair was piled up in a messy bun and my eyes hidden with a huge pair of sunglasses that would mess with facial recognition.

Xavier grasped my hips and dragged me against him. We were currently “sight-seeing” in London with Xavier adopting a perfect American accent. He made it more realistic by making us take selfies in front of landmarks. Jordan was somewhere in the background, dressed similar to Xavier and jamming security feeds before we arrived at each safety deposit location. Ash chatted away in all our ears as I decided I wanted to be part of the gang.

Jordan had glared at me, Ash rolled his eyes, and Xavier gave me one of his smiles that made me make stupid decisions.

Over the years, the contents of the safety deposit boxes had been a comfort to me. I’d sat in the private booth and ran my fingers over documents that my dad had touched, trying to find a connection to the family I’d loved and lost.

We wandered into the next facility on our list.

“I’d like to view my box,” I said, producing the appropriate key.

“And I phoned to create a new account.” Xavier handed them his fake documentation. My eyes had bugged earlier when I saw he had an entire collection of aliases. I’d thought I was badass with one, and I didn’t even create it.

The girl lifted his passport, but her eyes were glued on my husband. I fought the desire to poke her in the eye or close her mouth. Normally I could walk in and out of these places with no one noticing me.

My discreet cough made Xavier’s lips twitch. He may be used to these reactions from hormonal women, but I wasn’t. The woman cast me a glance, her gaze assessing me. Her wrinkled nose said she found me wanting.

Xavier turned his back to her and tugged my back against his stomach, his arms wrapped around me, and chin propped on top of my head. He tended to do this every time I felt insecure, almost as if he was subtly telling me he had my back.

“Your box has been arranged, Mr. Black. Did you want it brought up?”

“Yeah, we’ll view both boxes together.” He flashed her that smile that caused her to forget the protocol of viewing boxes separately.

This was the third box we’d visited. At the first facility, it surprised me to discover he’d organised another box. He moved all the paperwork into the new one. “Best to remove temptation,” he explained.

Xavier watched silently as I checked all the paperwork and other contents that were precious to me, carefully moving them to their new location.

“That’s new,” I said, handing him a few pieces of paper. He’d already photographed everything on his phone on a previous visit.

Xavier photographed the new documents and put them back into the old box. “Let’s not contaminate what your dad left behind,” he said in explanation.

I didn’t question his actions because he knew more about keeping us safe than I did.

He reached into the backpack he had and dropped a pouch into my new safety deposit box.

“What is it?”

“The jewels from the auction. I still had them, and figured this was as good a place to hide them as any.”

“Why this box?”

“Your mum’s jewellery is in this one.”

I sat back and looked at the box. “She always wore her engagement and wedding rings. I never worked out how they were in here and not on her the night of the accident.”

“I’ve been looking into it and think they were making a run for it. The police files say there was packed luggage in the boot.” Everything in the room stilled around me until there was only the words Xavier spoke left. “Maybe she put her jewellery and rings into storage to come back for them at a later date? Was her ring recognisable?”

The closed jewellery box stared at me in accusation because I had never been able to open it before. I knew it was her engagement ring since I’d seen the box a thousand times at the side of her bed. It was the last piece of her that had been untouched by time.

I chewed the side of my mouth, my gaze locked on that red velvet box with a gold clasp. “The last time I saw it was when it was on her finger. I’ve never been able to open the box.” My fingertip touched the top of the box.

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