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We were almost home when a black limo with darkly tinted windows pulled up to the curb. I heaved a sigh and kept walking. I heard the hum of a window being rolled down, but I didn't bother to look. "Keep driving, Jeeves. Nothing to see here," I called.
I expected it to be Bobby, White's little bodyguard-slash-errand boy, who answered. But the smoky, dangerous voice that greeted me had all the fine hairs on the back of my neck standing up. "Get in, Miss Lionheart. We need to chat."
Derek fucking White himself.
The Gods really do hate me.
The limo pulled up to the curb and I stopped, hands on my hips as I glared at him through the open window in the back of the monstrosity of a car. "There's this thing called a phone."
He scoffed. His black eyes were covered by reflective designer sunglasses today, so I couldn't tell if they were doing that red around the edges thing. For some reason that was freakier than if I could actually see it. "Phones have a nasty little tendency to be...unreliable," he purred.
Oisin drew up even with me. "He means phones can be tapped. What do you want that you can't discuss with Gesa—with us—over the phone?"
I appreciated the show of solidarity. I'd appreciate it a little more if he would tell me what the fuck White was.
"Sorry," I told the millionaire creepo with a sweet smile. "You know how it is though, people to meet, places to be." I turned to walk away.
"It's interesting to see one of your clan so far from the sea," the smarmy asshole called out. "In fact...I didn't even know you existed anymore. I thought fishermen and insane marine biologists had gotten the best of you."
Kaimana froze. She glanced between White and me, confusion written on her pretty face.
"Don't mind him," I told her. "He's just bored. Happens when you have more money than brains." I turned to White. "What, no rival mobs to murder today?"
He kept that calm demeanor in place, but I could see it beginning to thin. "Our darling Gesa has watched too many human crime dramas. Sad, how badly that can damage one's brain." He tapped his perfectly manicured fingers on the door. "Quite the collection you've got for yourself, Miss Lionheart," he observed, his head turning toward Hisashi.
"Just stop," I said, cutting off whatever taunt he was about to throw at the fox. "What the fuck do you want, White."
He grinned. "I want you to get in the car, Lionheart."
I shook my head. "You didn't even offer me candy. Every psychopath knows you have to offer candy."
He took a breath and I smirked. I was getting to him. It's the small victories in life.
"I need to discuss a missing person case with you," he said in an even, controlled voice. "Two, actually. Seems a powerful fae clan has lost a couple of their flock. They wanted to send a bunch of mages into my territory to find them."
I barely kept my claws from bursting out. Oisin went all liquid beside me, his hip cocked in what could only be fake casualness. "Fae you say? Strange for a fae clan to be so...controlling." He sighed. "But it's quite common for young fae to leave the clan to sow their wild oats. I'm sure they'll return when they've got that out of their systems."
Silence descended. People passed on the street. A pissed off driver honked at White's fucking limo for being parked illegally, half in the street, half in a parking space. But between White and my group it was like nothing else existed.
"Fine. I'll get in the fucking car. But I swear to the Gods if you dump my body somewhere, people will hunt you down." I ignored Oisin and Con's protests and heaved open the front passenger door. I knew White wanted me in the back with him. Fuck that.
I slid in, pausing to wave at the others. "Meet you at home. I want steak for dinner." White snorted from the back of the limo. "You might want to add rabbit and fish to that menu."
I ignored him and rolled the window up. Oisin was still standing right where I'd left him. Fuming. He was going to make my life a living hell if I left without him. I rolled the window back down. "Oh, hurry the fuck up already, Oisin."
He opened the back door and slid right in on White's side, pushing the amused millionaire across the seat. He slammed the door so hard the car rocked. "Talk."
White gestured toward the driver. "Circle around please, Bobby."
I sat sideways in my seat so I could see Bobby and look through the divider at Oisin and White at the same time. "Hey Bobby, how the hell are you? How's life treating you? Made any good concrete shoes lately?"
The bodyguard scowled but didn't reply.
"The fae," Oisin prompted. "Speak or I swear I will send you back to the depths of hell where you belong."
White chuckled and leaned back in his seat, unconcerned. He pulled off his sunglasses and I could see his eyes were just a bit blood red. "I was contacted this morning by a rather powerful and rather pissed off fae lord. He insisted two of his clan were being held here in my city against their will. He wanted to send his hired mages to retrieve them. He called as a courtesy. Warned me there might be...fallout."
I growled. Oisin went all cold and deadly, his silky voice like a chill breeze. "Thank you for the warning. When will they arrive?"
White chuckled. "This is my city, little fae. No one sends their hired dogs into my territory to hunt without my permission. I told him I would look into the matter. That I had my own amazing private supe investigators, and that if he pushed the matter, he would start a clan war."
"What do you want," I demanded. No way was he sheltering Oisin out of the kindness of his shriveled black heart. "And what the fuck are you?"
White sighed. "Is it really that difficult to understand, Miss Lionheart? I want you to work for me. As I've told you countless times before. Your job would be so much easier if you leaned on my considerable resources."
I noticed he didn't answer either of my questions.
"Why?" Oisin said softly, cutting off my string of cussing. "Why are you so interested in Gesa? You have your own thugs and minions."
White leaned forward with his elbows on his knees, wrinkling his thousand-dollar suit. "My business is my own," he drawled. "But suffice it to say this city is mine. And I have its best interests at heart. It would be helpful to have your agency to call on for matters that don't require humans or hired guns. I want you to keep doing what you're doing, Miss Lionheart. I just want you to do it under my...supervision."
I snorted. "No fucking thanks."
Then my eyes landed on Oisin. Gods, what would we do if White decided to let the fae come here and hunt him?
"But maybe we can find some compromise," I added.
"Gesa—"Oisin protested, but I cut him off.
"I'm not going to be your lapdog," I told White. "I left my clan to prevent being made into someone's obedient little woman."
White nodded. "I see. Perhaps for the time being you could just let me know what cases you are working on?"
I narrowed my eyes at him. That seemed harmless. Which probably meant it was a big fucking red flag. But what other choice did we have? I would do anything to keep Oisin—and probably Hisashi—safe from the assholes who were looking for my fae. "Okay."
Oisin's nostrils flared, but he didn't say anything.
"Good, good," White said, leaning back again, all jovial and charming. "Oh...but...the fae who contacted me mentioned two fae were missing. You wouldn't know anything about that, would you?"
Oisin completely dropped his glamour. His pointy ears and sharp elfin features should have looked cute. But they didn't. It was a reminder that he wasn't human. That he was part of a race that hunted others for sport, or took control of their minds and used them until they died of exhaustion or madness. "There are a few fae here and there in the city," he said calmly. "I have no idea who he's looking for."
My gryphon senses pinged. That was a complete and total lie.
I pressed my lips together to keep from shouting at the redheaded terror. He was hiding someone else. Motherfucker.
White nodded, as if he didn't know the fae was full of shit. "Of course. Just thought I'd ask. In case I could offer any assistance."
"No assistance needed," Oisin said with a smile. "Since we don't know any other fae."
I narrowed my eyes at both the assholes in the backseat. "Are we done here?"
"Yes, yes," White agreed jovially. "Of course, Miss Lionheart. I wouldn't want to keep you from your meal."
We pulled up outside the bookstore and I reached for the door handle to get out. "Oh," White added in a nonchalant tone. "Good work finding the fish, by the way," he said. "But do try to clean up after yourself a little better, hmm?"
I leaned back to look at him through the divider. "What the hell are you going on about now?"
He smiled. "The police had a call from an old man down at one of those chintzy tourist shops on main street not twenty minutes ago. Not too far from where you were when I found you, actually. Imagine that. Anyway, the man insisted a group of people had kidnapped his mentally impaired granddaughter."
I froze. Son of a bitch.
"Don't worry," he said lightly, waving a hand. "I took care of it. Poor old coot had a heart attack while he was on the phone with the authorities. His ranting was probably just delirium. Luckily a customer was there to take over the call."
I stared at him with my mouth open. "What did you do?" Fuck, fuck, fuck.
He smiled, slow, sexy and deadly. I recalled exactly why I didn't want to work for this psycho. "Do? Why Gesa, I didn't do anything. I was here, looking for you." He shrugged. "There may have been some badly forged paperwork proving the girl was his granddaughter and not in her right mind. But that's all hearsay, since no one could find it anywhere."
I gripped the seat dividing me from the monster in the back. "You fucking killed him and destroyed the paperwork."
He winked. "It always helps to have friends, Miss Lionheart."
I felt sick.
I slid out of the car and slammed the door. What the hell was I even doing?