Page 45 of Henri's Little One
Armand turned to Henri as if he wished for him to speak. Cautiously, knowing he was walking a razor’s edge, Henri said, “The Alpha Mate, though softhearted, is correct. Replacing Pierre without Pierre training someone else would be burdensome and upsetting to The Alpha Mate.”
“Would it upset you, baby?” Armand went over to Sean and took him in his arms.
“Yes, it would. Pierre was overwhelmed, and you saw that and authorized him to hire an assistant. But you left the hiring to him without giving him guidance and the means to do a thorough background check on the final candidates. You gave Pierre a job he couldn’t possibly accomplish without your resources at his disposal. With one phone call to Ferone, you could have found out that Hughes was a frequent gambler and owed money. You made that phone call to find out about Bernard in New Mexico, my Mate, you should have taken the time to do this yourself.”
“Pierre, join Meg in the kitchens. You are to remain in the house. Do nothing but your duties as butler and manservant. I will have someone else take over the rest of your duties until I can determine how much you can do competently without stress.”
“Thank you, Alpha, thank you.”
“Say no more…” Armand growled, “before I change my mind. Martin, Rene, to me. Put three Enforcers downstairs. We’ll take two more with us. The last one I want overseeing Pierre. Call Colorado. I want twelve additional Enforcers here by tomorrow. We’ll need them.”
They waited for Martin to make his calls. “We leave for Henri’s. I hope Aline’s dinner isn’t completely spoiled.”
§ § §
Henri’s Townhouse
“Knowing Aline, she has already prepared another in anticipation of our arrival.” Henri felt confident that Aline could read the tea leaves and would know what to do.
Martin drove them back to Henri’s home. The other six Alphas were openly curious, but no one dared ask, and Henri wouldn’t say until the Alpha brought the issue up himself. He was right, Aline prepared the second feast, and there was a wedding cake, but the party was subdued.
Finally, Rémy, as second, bit the bullet. Informally he asked, “Armand, who was it?”
Armand let out a weary sigh. “Hughes.”
“The assistant Pierre hired?” Alexei asked.
“Yes. Hughes told Chernof about Donal. Chernof was responsible for the attack on Julio and the one on Richard. Hughes told Chernof everything that Pierre knew from the time he was hired, which was when Alexei came to us.”
Alexei let out a string of Russian curses that made Vitas blush.
Etienne asked, pulling Julio in his arms, “Did you rip out his throat?”
“No…not until he sings for the Assembly.”
Etienne sat down with Julio on his lap, resigned. “I suppose I can wait that long.”
Aline served the coffee and brought up miniature Italian pastries to go with the beautiful wedding cake.
§ § §
Soon after the cake and pastries were served, The Alpha left the house. Henri and Vitas received the other Alphas and their Mates’ congratulations as they filtered out the door. Julien lingered to speak to Henri.
“I can’t help but think that Frank Ferone would be perfect to take some of the load off Pierre. He’s graduated from Columbia and has a MBA from Harvard,” Julien told Henri.
“Julien, he’s not one of us. The Alpha’s affairs are too mixed in with our secrets. An outsider can’t be privy to them.”
“I’m not so sure he’s an outsider. I think he’s meant for one of the Betas.”
“Rene…he’s meant for Rene, but not until after the Assembly. The Assembly could change that.” Vitas mumbled from his place under Henri’s arm.
Henri looked down at him followed by Julien and Richard. Vitas’ eyes were closed. He emitted a small snore. Vitas yawned, and his eyes opened wide.
Richard poked Julien. “Look, Vitas is asleep standing up. He’s clinging to Henri with his head rested on your arms. He took a nap. Do you think he had a foretelling?”
“We’ll see soon.” Henri kissed Vitas on the back of his neck. “Wake up, little one. We need to go upstairs. Julien, Vitas is very tired. Today was our wedding day, and he only came to us four days ago. I’ll ask him about Frankie in the morning.”
“You’re right, we’ll go home. I’ll call you when we get up.”
