Page 19 of Midnight Salvation

“I never remembered about the chart in his office until you mentioned it. When we returned to my childhood home, it wasn’t there,” Cassandra said. “I wonder where it went?”

“You weren’t there very long,” I replied. “If you think it might be significant, do you think it’s worthwhile for the guys to go and take a look?”

“What do you need us to take a look at?” Xavier stood watching us from the doorway, his hip braced against the frame.

There was no doubt in my head that Ash had phoned him. He’d told me that Papa made a grand announcement to the guys after telling Ash and me that everything needed to be secret.

I turned to look at the table. “A lot of the symbols doodled in the books are zodiac and planet signs that are found in an astrological birth chart,” I explained. “Cassandra remembered that her dad used to have one on the wall of his office.”

“What’s with the diagram with bits and bobs set in it?” Xavier asked.

Cassandra grinned. “Lucrezia thought we should create our own chart and put all the evidence from the safety deposit boxes on it.”

Xavier moved into the room, his blue gaze moving over the table. “How do you decide what goes where?”

“Each house represents a different aspect of human personality,” Cassandra replied and winked at me. “I was getting an astrology lesson.”

The set of his jaw said he wasn’t happy with what he saw on the table. “Your dad had one of these in his office?” Xavier queried, his finger touching a notebook.

“Yeah, he used to tell me that Mum was the moon on the chart and he was Saturn,” Cassandra replied.

“He was right that what those planets depict in the houses,” I said. “Any idea what it means?” If the guys had been chatting after my phone call, then I was sure that they already had working theories.

Xavier shrugged, that practiced smile dancing on his lips. “This is your project, I’ve only just seen it.”

“Do you think Dad’s chart would still be at his house if we go back to take a look?” Cassandra asked, her head resting back on Xavier’s stomach when he came to stand behind where she was sitting.

Something flickered to life in my chest, an evil little gremlin who wanted to be able to claim her husband the same way. My wedding and engagement rings sat in a velvet box at the bottom of my handbag, and that was starting to irritate me. I wanted to wear them like any other wife.

Suppressing my emotions, I turned my attention back to the problem in front of me. I lifted the items in the first house and studied them. “There’s something missing here.”

Xavier gave me a sharp look. “What do you mean?”

“All these clues are incomplete. Is there anything else in the safety deposit boxes or from Cassandra’s old home?”

Papa believed that he had identified the tells of the guys over the years and abolished them, but those shutters and neutral expression said that Xavier was hiding something. Ash was better at hiding his emotions because he never showed any outside our bedroom. Jordan spent his entire time being angry and aggressive.

I set everything down. “Look, I get that you’re trying to keep Cassandra safe, but if you keep details hidden, then we’re never going to know what the hell is going on.”

“What makes you think that I’m hiding anything?” Xavier asked.

“Your blank, bored expression. You do that when you don’t want people to see that you’re thinking and trying to hide your emotions.”

Xavier glared at me and I shrugged. “Maybe when you all decide to tell us everything, we might be able to help.” I got up to leave and came face to face with Jordan at the door.

“I’m not aware of any missing details,” he said. “If you want, I can pinkie swear it.” His lips twitched at the joke.

“You can call me crazy,” I replied. “But when I was younger, I spent a huge amount of time reading mysteries and studying symbology. That is an incomplete picture there.”

Jordan’s gaze flickered to Xavier and my cousin refused to look at him.

“Sonofabitch,” Jordan muttered. “What the fuck are you hiding?”

Xavier trailed his fingers through his hair. “I lifted some stuff from the safety deposit box from Dragon’s Hoard and the box that was in the safe at Cassandra’s house. Nothing that was overly important, but stuff that put a target on Cassandra’s back. If no one knew they existed, then no one would be looking for them.”

Jordan took a step into the room. “Are you seriously fucking telling me that you don’t trust us?” The expression on Jordan’s face was a mixture of shock and disgust. “What the fuck, Zee?”

Even Cassandra stared up at Xavier in confusion. “What did you take out?” she asked.

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