Page 68 of Midnight Legacy

“You have taken the bare bones of this house and created a home,” Lucas commented in the hallway as he stopped to admire it. “The pictures you sent me do not do it justice.”

This house had been a labour of love for Xavier, and he’d played a part in every aspect of the renovation. Panic rooms were discreetly built into the architecture since he’d pulled the building apart and put it back together in the image of what he wanted. There was a secret room in our kitchen that the original builders probably thought was a pantry, but it had special security doors on it. It was fireproof and acted as another panic room.

All the documents from the safety deposit boxes resided in there, far from prying eyes. Computers were built into a massive workstation that incorporated an entire wall which was covered in monitors. Jordan had happily settled himself there when we’d all arrived home in a convoy a few days ago, sorting everything the way he preferred it to be set up. Xavier had rolled his eyes at him and left him to it.

That room terrified me, mostly because we needed it, and partially because of the secrets it now held.

I had adopted the kitchen as my room because it led into the conservatory that I adored. It overlooked the pond and Xavier had created a window seat for me to sit in and read while watching the pond and garden.

Sasha was an avid baker and had spent the past few days trying to instruct Megan and me in the intricacies of baking and decorating cakes. We’d possibly consumed our bodyweight in frosting and chocolate chips. The whistle kettle sang happily as I spooned tealeaves into the pot and put cupcakes and tray bakes onto a cake stand.

When I finally looked up, our group stood watching me. “What?” I smiled in confusion at their reaction.

“Nothing.” Xavier shook his head. “I was just thinking that you looked happy here.”

I wrinkled my nose at him and continued to prepare the tea. “Can you take the tray into the conservatory?” I asked. “We may as well enjoy the last of the sunshine today.”

One of the lessons my mother engrained in me before she was ripped from my life was tea was always to be made in a pot, and pastries served on a tiered cake stand. To this day, I still followed her code of tea etiquette.

Jordan scowled at the pot since I hadn’t made coffee, and deliberately put three sugar cubes in his cup in protest. Ash cast a discreet glance at Lucrezia before pouring himself a cup with no milk or sugar. Xavier poured me a cup, putting my milk in first and plopping a sugar cube in at the end.

“May I ask what was in the box that has everyone on edge?” Lucas asked, sitting back and sniffing his cup. “The leaves are exquisite, tea always reminds me of home.”

“Papa,” Lucrezia chided him. “You refuse to drink anything but coffee back in Tuscany.”

“Yes, but when I am home, I always drink tea.” He smiled, sniffing the cup again.

“We haven’t sorted out all the contents yet, or the clues that Dante left in the other boxes,” Xavier replied. He lifted another cupcake to eat, since he had an ultra sweet-tooth.

“I will look at them later for you, but in the meantime, I need to know your security arrangements.” Lucas stared at Jordan intently.

“No one knows we’re here,” Jordan replied, slipping into his role as head of security. “I’ve been monitoring some of the Council members’ phones. They’ve been looking for us and seem to think we’re hiding out in the apartment complex.”

“Why do they think that when the apartments are empty?” I asked.

Jordan’s lips pursed and he gave Xavier a side-eyed look. I turned to study my husband.

“Probably because I have decoys there to stop them looking for us while we escaped,” he admitted.

“Clever,” Lucas commented. “It gives you time to assess the situation and establish your new location.”

“Are people sleeping in our bed?” I demanded, stopping at the point in the conversation that people were in our home.

“They’re in the spare bedroom after the lights go out. We can’t be too careful with your safety.” Xavier gave me a haunted look.

Something had happened the day after we arrived here, and the three men disappeared for two days, arriving back just before his uncle. Fear trickled down my spine and I knew there was something he was hiding so I wouldn’t panic. It had the opposite effect and my pulse spiked.

“What happened?” I demanded. The only way I could help him and keep us safe was if I knew everything.

He shook his head and tried to return to the conversation.

“No!” I said in a raised voice. “That look in your eyes tells me that something has happened that has spooked you. Whatever it is, we all need to know.”

He refused to look at me, staring at the half-eaten cupcake on his plate.

I turned my attention to Jordan. He was an asshole and liked to kill things, but he tended to avoid sugar-coating anything and didn’t mind offending everyone.

“You should tell her, Zee,” he said to his friend instead of me. “Secrets are emerging on a daily basis at the moment.”

---