Page 38 of The Dancer and the Dark
“Gavin—”
“I know we’re not married, Chloe. I know that.”
Chloe saw Beatrice slip out of the room, leaving her and Gavin alone.
“But when they took you, I knew it was my fault. If they’d known what you are to me, they never would have dared. Mila would never have even touched—”
“Mila?” Chloe wiped her eyes. “Who’s Mila?”
“She was the person I approached to form a new telecommunications business with before I went to Marie-Hélène. I decided not to collaborate with her because I didn’t think she was trustworthy. Clearly I was correct. I never even imagined she would do something like this, however. Holding you as some kind of leverage—”
“That’s not what they were doing though.”
Gavin frowned. “Explain.”
“Telecommunications?” Chloe nodded. “Like Nocht, you mean?”
“A Nocht competitor is what we’re aiming for, yes. But with better hardware and more secure software.”
She sighed. “Okay, everything makes a lot more sense now.”
“What did they do to you, Chloe?” His hands were tight on her legs.
“Relax.” She squeezed his hand. “There was no torture or anything like that. They didn’t use amnis. Believe it or not, they were trying to hire me.”
He frowned. “For what?”
“This is the crazy part.” She frowned. “They must have been following me, right? You said that happens sometimes because people want to know why you have so much security on a human employee.”
“And most of them realize fairly quickly why you have security because we’ve never hidden our relationship.”
“Exactly.” They hadn’t hidden it, but they hadn’t publicized it either. Chloe was starting to see why that could be a problem. “They searched my name and apparently found a Dr. Reardon who works out of Boston in voice programming for robotics.”
Gavin’s eyes widened. “They thought you were your cousin Keisha?”
“How do you know—?”
“I met her and her fiancé at the reception the night before the funeral. Really, both of them are fascinating individuals. I only understood about half of what they were talking about, but they were clearly…” He caught her expression. “Sorry. They thought you were Keisha and that I’d hired you for the new company.”
“They thought I had to be your ace in the hole or something, I guess.”
His arms went around her, his amnis spread over her skin, and he hugged her to his chest, nearly crushing her. “You are, but not for business reasons.”
Gavin’s arms and amnis felt like a full-body embrace, and the pressure unlocked her body. Chloe’s heart rate settled. The nausea subsided, and the painful tension in her back started to melt. She slid her arms around Gavin’s abdomen and let herself relax, laying her head on his shoulder.
“They didn’t hurt me,” she repeated. “They didn’t even threaten me. Not really.” Though she had been completely terrified. “If they died because of me—”
“Chloe, a normal person—immortal or not—would not tranquilize an innocent man and kidnap someone from their mother’s home in order to entice that person to work for them. That is unacceptable in any culture, mortal or immortal.”
Chloe blinked. “I mean… Tenzin?”
“Tenzin is not normal, and I don’t even think she would do something like this.” Gavin’s voice hardened. “If you had said no, do you think they would have let you go?”
No. Chloe had known that instinctively. It was why she’d tried so hard to stall. “I know what you’re saying.”
“Those men sealed their fates the moment they shot Zain, whether they realized it or not. He’s Beatrice’s driver, which means he’s under her aegis, and her great-grandfather is the vampire regent of Southern California. Once Mila’s people violated his trust and committed violence against one of his humans, Ernesto had no choice.”
“Consequences.”
