Page 65 of Midnight Salvation

“You need time to recover. There were a few moments that we didn’t think you’d make it.”

I sighed and slumped back on the sofa. “I need to work and promised I’d help Harold on his latest design project.”

His features sharpened and I knew he was about to argue with me since that was where I had been originally shot.

“Harold could come here,” I coaxed. “Catarina helped a lot the last time and she could model some of the design to see if it has worked.” I’d been emailing him design ideas for the past few weeks while I recovered, and he had some of the first models created.

“Fine,” Ash huffed. “But the first sign that you’re exhausted, I’ll putting you to bed.”

“Are you going to tuck me in and read me a bedtime story?” I teased.

“Try to behave,” he chided me, but leaned down and pressed a soft kiss to my lips. “I’ll be back soon.”

I took the time to send a quick email to Harold telling him to bring all his stuff here and we could use Catarina as a model. That was business taken care of. Then, I slowly made my way through the house to where Papa held court in his library. The room under the stairs had been converted into a toilet years ago. It was right beside the library and if you moved the back panel you could hear every word spoken.

Over the years, I had made the panel removeable with very little noise, ever since the girls at school told me Papa was a mafia boss. I had spent a lot of time sitting here, listening to his conversations.

The panel slid out of place and I sat cross-legged on top of the toilet seat with my head craned toward where I had removed the piece of wood.

“The Council has convened a meeting. It’s the first since Ash took control of his family business,” Xavier said. “Personally, I think it’s a trap, but I can check with Dad first to gauge his reactions.”

“Matteus will be furious now that he’s realised the extent to how you’ve cut him off,” Papa replied. “He still doesn’t know if Aaron and Oliver are alive since you removed their trackers and put them into hiding. Dylan paid the five million ransom for Nicole and received a photograph of her dead body.”

My hand covered my mouth and my eyes widened. They killed Nicole? I didn’t like her being my husband’s fake fiancée, but even so…

“Her therapy has been a success so far,” Ash said. “The doctor said that she’s suffering from a form of post-traumatic stress disorder. He thinks it’s too early to tell her anything about her real family and who she is as it will upset the progress she made.”

Why was Ash involved in her therapy?

“Of all the twisted, fucked-up games that Matteus played over the years, that had to be the worst,” Jordan continued. “He’ll be pissed, as he probably paid the ransom since you refused and told them to contact her father.”

Someone laughed at that and my confusion grew.

“I vote that we just attend as if nothing has happened. We’ve cleaned up too many of their messes and know all their dirty little secrets. I doubt any of them would have the balls to murder us in the Council chamber.” My heart contracted at Ash’s words.

“I think you should have an extraction team close at hand just in case,” Papa said. “They are cowards but when backed into a corner they have access to some powerful allies.”

My heart leapt into my throat. This was what Ash was trying to hide from me. He was in imminent danger right now and trying to protect me at the same time.

“Look, we made a decision when we took Blackwood Enterprises from Dad,” Ash said. “We knew he’d be pissed, but we also needed to see who he was working with. This is our best chance to see what way the board lies. If we go and are ambushed, we fight and run. Otherwise, we go and pretend to be assholes who took over a lucrative business. It’s how Dad took control of the company.”

In my head, I could see him shrugging when he said the last part.

“I could head up tonight and have a look around,” Jordan offered.

“No,” Papa almost shouted. “That would alert them. If you are all insisting on going, then I believe that it is best to pretend that nothing is amiss.”

“I don’t like how quiet Dad has been,” Ash continued. “I want double the protection on Lucrezia right now. He knows that I’m married to one of your daughters, but he doesn’t know which one. He’s not stupid considering that Michael already targeted her. My guess is that he’ll be biding his time to get to her. She’s my one weakness and he will exploit it.”

“This place is solid,” Jordan replied. “But I’ll add a few extras just in case.”

“Have you not been showing her how to shoot?” Xavier asked.

“Yeah, but her shoulder’s aching and she keeps dropping the gun. She’s exhausted even though she pretends that she’s not. I wish I could kill that fucker all over again for shooting her.”

I didn’t know that Ash had killed him… I also didn’t realise that he saw through my feeble attempts to pretend I was okay.

“Meeting tomorrow morning is at ten, let’s leave here at nine and that gives us plenty of time to arrive and have a wander around to gauge the atmosphere,” Xavier said.

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