She waves that off.
“I’ve been discussing that with everyone. Believe me, we’re more than happy to work in smaller numbers, and if anyone starts to get overwhelmed, we’ll get them the support they need.”
“Good.” I nod once then smile at all of them. “You can all reach me if you need anything. I need to get back home now.”
The art of never saying too much and never having to give excuses is something Lyla taught me, surprisingly enough, and since I can’t tell anyone shit about anything else going on in my life, I stand to take my leave with only a few nods in answer.
But as soon as I take one step, an idea slams into me.
“Hey, would you guys like to have an office holiday party next month?”
Austin informsme Dad is at his office, not at home, so we head there instead. He’s finishing up a meeting with the new head of ENN when I make it up to the top floor, so I walk in ready to kill thirty minutes.
First, by scanning the office for bugs, and when there’s nothing pinging on the radar, I decide it’s time to bite the bullet and call Eian—gulp—Dempsey.
“Who is this?” I flinch at the deadly tone, and hurry to answer.
“It’s Eli.” Only silence, so I clarify further. “Ellsworth? I told you I had your number. I’ve been chatting with S—your guy,” I quickly course-correct.
There’s another long second of silence and then a short, amused snort.
“Great save,” he says, and the sarcasm comes through annoyingly clearly.
“Whatever,” I mumble. It’s fine, Eian knows I have a lot of information, he can’t be really surprised by this. “In any case, Seamus called me earlier and asked if I could go check out hissetup and maybe give him some advice. I have no idea where exactly he is, but since he’s part of your family and since none of your other...employeesare supposed to know I know you, I wanted to ask what you want me to do about it. I’m just waiting now for my dad and I’m gonna ask him the same.”
He hums thoughtfully, but takes his time answering.
“Look, I can make sure no one sees you come in and out, but you check with your father first. Just know that if you decide to come, you’ll be inside my home.”
“Oh,” I answer, a bit stupidly, I know. “Can I bring my bodyguard?” If he says no, then I know Dad’s never going to let me go no matter how bad he feels for how Eian’s boyfriend lost his job.
“Yeah, if he’s not easily spooked, then it should be fine, but I’m going to be there with you the whole time.” I don’t miss the warning tone at the end there, and I can’t say I blame him.
“Of course. I’ll talk to Dad and let you know.”
Five minutes later Dad strolls in, and after a brief conversation about our days—one where I avoid any mention of me using social media again, though I’m sure he’ll find out soon enough—I tell him about my calls with the men of the Irish mafia.
“You know Austin better than me,” Dad says, with a calm I didn’t expect from him. “Do you think he can keep his shit together while you’re in the same room with Eian for who knows how long?”
I don’t know exactly why I’m so surprised Dad’s leaving this more or less up to me, but I shouldn’t be. Despite some stupid happenings during my heartbroken teenage years, he’s beentrusting my judgement for a while now, and regularly lets me make choices for myself.
“I’ll think about it on our way home,” I say at last, and stand to give him a quick hug. “See you there later.”
“I’ve just got one more meeting then I’m right behind you.”
I meet Austin just outside Dad’s office and follow him silently to the private elevator.
I consider him—tall and strong, the way he’s always been since Dad hired him about five years back. He’s come to be the person who probably knows the most about me, except maybe Lex.
I keep thinking about everything I know about him, how he’s reacted to other shocking news in the past, and I wait until the car’s safely parked in front of the house and there’s no danger of me startling him so much we get into an accident.
“Hey, Austin, how would you feel about going to Eian Dempsey’s house?”
7
Eli
“Hey!” I cringe at the loud tone of my own greeting, but quickly school my face because it’s a video call.
