Page 5 of Unleash Hades
The only thing that appealed to me was the pomegranate loaf that they placed right in front of me. The only thing I ate willingly.
Alastair’s wife, Rose, smirked. “Come on, it’s not that bad.”
Her Filipino accent was a refreshing change from the British I was surrounded by.
What’s bad was that I was away from my screens right now. I should be watchingher.But instead, they insisted I take a break for a warm meal.
I’d rather eat my protein powder.
I wrinkled my nose at the meat-goo I was supposed to consume. It was covered in something I would generously call gravy, though it did not merit the name.
“Before the Frenchie puts us off our dinner,” Alastair placed his fork down, and stared at his wife with a fond smile on his lips. “What do you say to a stroll with the little ones this evening?”
Rose’s face fell. Her deep tanned skin had been paler recently since they had whelped their twins. Her thin eyes were dragged down by heavy bags, and her fingers trembled with exhaustion.
“I… I don’t think that’s a good idea. I’ll need to start getting them bathed and ready for sleep.” She looked away, past the door, as if she could see right down the hall and into the nursery.
A listening device stood beside them. It was nothing more than a radio we used for work that came with infrared cameras and one-way sound. Now it doubled as baby monitors for the recent boon of children my business partners were dragging into this house.
Callum and Lea also had twins. Which meant that there were four sets of diapers in need of changing at any given moment.
I learned, as I wasforcedto change one during an evening of surveillance through CCTVs, that babies have different coloredshits during the course of their development. Newborns? It comes out yellow, and oddly grainy. Which wasn’t so bad, even though it was a bit runny. But toddlers? Thesmellwas odious and could knock out a charging bull elephant.
Shealso had twins.
Though hers were almost adults now… just a little bit longer. Then she’d be free.
They’d all be free of him. Free of Dick Davenport.
Rose looked away from her husband, her eyes growing tired and distant, as though restraining a lifetime of exhaustion behind her hazel pupils.
Alastair’s face fell, as his affection went unrequited, his hand stroking hers, as if to coax a response. She did not reach for him.
Trouble was brewing, but it was none of my fucking business.
So I kept quiet.
The bitterness in Alastair’s gaze turned to me. A small hint of mirth returned.
“It won’t be long for Pippa and Geordie,” Alastair said, pensively. “When will you be joining us in the family way?”
Rose smiled, a little.
“Seeing anyone, lately?” Alastair placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his palm.
I said nothing and waited it out, letting him get it out of his system.
“Hugo, I know that you care for her, but you haven’t spoken in years…” Alastair began.
This conversation came around like clockwork. Was it his turn to give me the lecture? It must be. Last month it was Geordie that talked to me. Before that, Callum… Yup. It was his turn to check the box. It was almost like maintenance at this point.
“We spoke at Philippa and Geordie’s wedding.” I clenched my fist. He had known that. The news of my last encounter had spread like wildfire.
My vision clouded, as I started to see red.
Less than six months ago, we had been at Geordie’s Venetian wedding. She had been there, dragged by her prison guard, Richard the Dick, who wanted to talk about some proprietary security tech we’d secured the patents for. Dick wanted to get his hands on it…over my dead body.
But Calissandra… in a quiet moment away from her “husband”, she had kissed me.
