Page 14 of Midnight Salvation

Me:What are you wearing?

Lucrezia:Clothes. What are you wearing?

She was being a brat who needed put over my knee.

Me:You’re hilarious. I’m having to sit in a meeting with your papa and pretend to be interested. Maybe I should text my new fiancée?

Lucrezia:Your wife might not be happy about that and she outranks a fiancée.

Me:Yeah, but my fiancée might be wearing sexy lingerie.

I swear my phone was heating up in my hand with the force of her temper radiating down it. My phone pinged and a picture message came through with black lace trying to cover the bulge of one of her breasts.

Lucrezia:Happy?

Me:Have you ever heard of sexting?

Time passed and I could almost imagine her Googling the word.

Lucrezia:Oh… I have now. Want to start again?

I almost rolled my eyes. How did I end up falling for someone so naïve?

Me:Maybe later… Everything okay?

Lucrezia:I think so. Cassandra was out talking to her fish earlier and Megan was arguing over the custody of a cat in a conference call. I’m thinking maybe I should get a pet to join in with the group.

Me:I’ll adopt a dog for us when we get a house of our own.

Lucrezia:Can I get a small fluffy dog so I can put bows in her hair?

Me:Whatever makes you happy.

It was true. Mum loved her little Pomeranian more than anything else in the world. Dogs gave you unconditional love. My grandmother’s cat used to look down its nose at the world and scrab you every opportunity it found.

“Thank you all for joining me today. I’ll be in touch,” Lucas concluded.

All the screens turned to black.

“Now.” Lucas turned to me. “We have another matter to attend to.” He pushed himself to his feet and prowled from the room.

I followed him on his mystery tour and found myself walking down a narrow, stone rear staircase into a cold dungeon. Metal manacles hung from the walls, and in the corner was a man slumped against the wall. My eyes closed for several seconds when I recognised him as one of the security personnel from the Council. Phil.

“This gentleman was found sniffing around my residence in Tuscany,” Lucas said. “He refuses to answer any questions, so I thought I’d pay him a personal visit.”

I didn’t like the sound of him snooping around or questions. He was one of Jordan’s team and yet he wasn’t there on Jordan’s authority.

His eyes widened in hope when he saw me. I wasn’t here to save him, but my advice to him would be to sing like a bird because I had seen what Lucas was capable of. In recent years, he had taken a step back, but he was the man who trained us to become assassins. He could retire to Tuscany because his legacy was legendary.

“Hey, Phil,” I said. “We both know you weren’t there on Jay’s orders. You need me to put a call into him?”

He glared at me while wordlessly shaking his head.

“Maybe you should tell us what you were doing at Lucas’ estate,” I coaxed.

“I was just following orders,” he said in a low tone. “As a Council member, it is your duty to protect me.”

My laugh sounded hollow even to my ears. My days of being at the beck and call of the Council were long gone. “Yeah, I’ll be honest with you. I would happily light the match that burnt that entire building filled with its corrupt beneficiaries to the ground.”

---