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“Well, now that he has, I’ll leave Persephone in your very capable hands.” He turned to once again go up the stairs.
“Excuse me…?”
There was no urgency in Persephone’s tone, but it was enough to cause Casper to pause and look down again. “What?”
She began to ascend the stairs toward him, also taking two at a time, her legs almost as long as his. “I’ll need to check out your suite and workspace before I rejoin Mrs. Kingston downstairs.”
He eyed her incredulously. “I assure you there isn’t an assassin hiding under my bed or desk just waiting to leap out at me.”
She shrugged. “Nevertheless, I need to check out the space.”
“This is fucking ridiculous!”
“It’s protocol,” Persephone reminded him.
Yes, it was. But that didn’t mean Casper had to like it.
“I’ll go and put on a pot of coffee. Join me when you can, Persy,” Remy called up the stairs before wisely disappearing in the direction of the kitchen at the back of the house.
Casper glared his frustration now that Persephone had joined him at the top of the staircase. But there was nothing he could say to stop her when he knew she was only carrying out the job, with due diligence, she was paid for.
The one benefit of the anger he felt at her stubborn determination to do that seemed to be that his cock had finally decided to give up any idea of pleasure or release.
“Before you start work, I’m going to need that list of…past lovers.” Persephone infuriated him even further by demanding that after she’d checked out his suite of rooms and the turret room where he was now seated behind his computer screens, ready to go to work.
He drew in several controlling breaths before answering her. “I don’t have lovers, I have hookups. One-night stands who I never see or hear from again.”
Her mouth twisted. “I would say you’ve been hearing from one of them again for the past few months, wouldn’t you?” She eyed him mockingly.
Casper knew he had no defense against Persephone’s blunt observation.
Surveillance footage he’d studied intensely over the last four days meant he could no longer deny that the scratches on his car, the slashed tires, and then the crashing of his car were probably the deliberate actions of that same shadowy and unidentifiable person in the hoodie.
He just had no idea who could possibly hate him enough to carry out such destructive acts, the last one almost killing him.
He nodded abruptly. “I’ll get on that now and give the list to you later today.” It could take him a while to find addresses for a couple of those hookups when he had taken them back to his apartment in London and he only had their name to go on.
“Thank you.”
Casper waited until Persephone had left the room and closed the door behind her before pushing back his chair and lowering his head until his forehead rested against the wood of his desktop.
It was going to be a loooong few weeks until this situation was resolved.
Returning his attention to his computer minutes later and seeing a grinning scorpion gazing back at him did absolutely nothing to improve his mood.
CHAPTER SIX
“He isn’t usually this grouchy,” Remy Kingston told Persy, the two women sitting opposite each other in the breakfast nook in the large country-style kitchen.
The other woman had finished making a delicious-smelling pot of coffee by the time Persy joined her after taking a bathroom break. They both had a steaming mug of the rich coffee on the table in front of them.
“Sinclair says Casper is only behaving like this now because, after years of doing exactly what he wanted, the accident was a stark reminder of his mortality.” Remy smiled affectionately.
Persy might not have met Casper before, but she had instinctively known that about him. It was one of the reasons she hadn’t taken offense at anything he’d said to her this morning.
She took a sip of her coffee. “Sinclair told me earlier this morning, when he assigned me as lead on Casper’s security, that none of you have any idea who might be doing these things to Casper.” She made it a statement rather than a question, knowing from their conversation earlier that Casper was still hiding something from his family.
Remy grimaced. “Unfortunately not. In fact, none of us can think of a single person who doesn’t like Casper.” She eyed Persy speculatively. “Although the two of you seemed to be a little at odds earlier.”
