“No? Then what? Because we clearly weren’t getting any of those coins you promised us.”
“I was desperate,” he said. “I needed help and didn’t know where else to go. I hoped once the ghost was dealt with, we could hire new staff, the vineyards would be tended to again, after a few years the winery would be profitable—”
“A few years? What were we supposed to do until then, while we waited for you to get your affairs in order?”
“I don’t know! Stay with me?” He looked almost pleading. Almost hopeful. “Once you were here, I hoped that… I didn’t want you to leave.”
“That isn’t your decision to make.”
“I know. I would have told you.”
“When? After we got rid of Le Bleu? How about the monsters? How about—”
Anaïs loudly cleared her throat. “Perhaps,” she said mildly, pressing a hand on Mallory’s arm, “this would be a good time to tell Lord Armand that we are not actually—”
Mallory yanked her arm away. “It most certainly wouldnotbe a good time.”
Anaïs drew back. “All right. Maybe later, then.”
“Tell me what?” Armand asked.
“Nothing,” they said in unison.
Eyes darkening with suspicion, Armand continued, “Why are you here if you knew I couldn’t pay you and that Bastien wants one of you dead?” He shook his head. “Why did you come back?”
Mallory’s heart was a deafening staccato beat in her ears as she stared down at him. After a moment, she lifted her chin and proclaimed, “Because it was the right thing to do.”
Fitcher choked, clapping a hand to his mouth. Even Gabrielle let out a disappointed whistle.
“What?” she snapped at them.
With an equally unconvinced smirk, Armand asked, “And now for the real reason?”
“Because,” she said forcefully, “you have some foul, manipulative spirit living inside of you, controlling you like a puppet master, making foolish girls swoon at your feet, and I find that intolerable. I will stop him. And when we are finished here, I will let the world know that I was the one to defeat the infamous Monsieur Le Bleu.” She smiled wickedly. “It will be very good for business.”
“In theory, I’ll have had something to do with it,” said Anaïs. “And Fitcher, and Constantino…”
“Not the point,” said Mallory.
Armand was watching Mallory with thoughtfully narrowed eyes. “Are you one of the foolish girls in this scenario?”
“What?”
“The ones who supposedly swooned at my feet. Are you including yourself?”
She bristled, unable to tell if he was mocking her. “Don’t insult me.”
“Is that…” The wrinkle pinched between his brows. “Do you think it was him? Bastien? This whole time?”
She didn’t respond.
A bellowing laugh escaped from Armand. “Oh, it just gets better. Not only did you think I might try to murder you, but you also assumed that my pathetic attempts at romance werethe ghost.”
“Given the situation, I do not think it implausible that Bastien could have been manipulating me… through you.”
Armand leaned forward, as much as he could against his restraints. “And yet, as far as we can surmise, he is not here. Not right now. So, Mallory. Do you believe it is Bastien talking to you at this moment? Saying that you are both the most clever and the most frustrating person I’ve ever met? And that when this is over, Idon’t want you to leave.”
Though her pulse raced, Mallory slipped a step away from him. “That’s the problem, isn’t it? I don’t know how to tell.”
