“And maybe the person who sent me the USB via Tane also sent him one.”
Ginny’s eyebrows shot up. “Bit of overreach there, don’t you think?”
“Maybe, but something isn’t sitting right with my gut.”
“And the wise do not ignore the gut,” she said with a roll of her eyes.
“My gut has gotten us out of more trouble than in.”
“Only by mere fractions.”
I grinned and didn’t deny it. “How did he end up hog-tied and unconscious in that hotel room? How’d he even know they were there?”
“He put an AirTag in her favorite handbag and traced her location through that.”
And she didn’t notice said AirTag? Either she was an idiot—and while she was many things, she wasn’t stupid—or she hadn’t cared. “Why do that if all he intended was to have it out with Monica and end their engagement? He could have easily done that at his family’s compound once she and her crew returned to Canberra.”
“Maybe he thought it would be safer in a location where nobody knew them? Maybe he simply didn’t want to risk Monica getting her mitts on any more of the family jewels by calling her father in and demanding compensation.” She shrugged and took a drink. “And yes, I know changing location to end an agreement would not stop any request for compensation.”
I grinned. “I will resist making the obvious family jewels comment here.”
She rolled her eyes. “Anyways, he claimed that the minute he stepped into the hotel room, and before he could say anything or even raise a defense, he was hit magically, then stripped, trussed up, and knocked out.”
“Do you believe that is how it played out?”
“Hell, no, which is why I requested the urgent services of a telepath.”
I couldn’t help but wonder if the telepath’s name was Jenna. “And?”
“Apparently, before his arrival in Australia, the marriage agreement was amended to include a number of runes that had been in Mark’s family for decades.”
I frowned. “Which ones? Not the Lancet one, by any chance?”
She nodded. “He was extremely unhappy it had been done without his consent and came up here to not only confront the two of them, but to inform her she would get nothing from his family, not even compensation, because they’d fight it with every fucking penny they had. Unfortunately for him, it was Lanie with Luke in the room, not Monica, and she magically pinned him to the wall then raged through his mind—Mark’s words, not mine.”
Surprise ran through me. “Lanie’s working with them?”
“Apparently. It would certainly explain why she wasn’t killed with the other two. I’ve already asked for a deeper dive into her background.”
“I thought we’d already done that?”
“We only went as far back as the accident?—”
“What accident?”
Ginny rolled her eyes. “The one that landed her on death’s door in the hospital? The one she made a miraculous recovery from?”
“Maybe I need to start reading the files more closely.” I took a drink. “Did our telepath confirm what Mark said about the rampaging?”
She nodded. “Oddly, she said it felt like magic rather than telepathy. Apparently, it had a very dark feel to it.”
“I wonder if that is how they’re controlling Monica. It would certainly explain her sudden fixation with Luke.”
Ginny frowned. “She’s an Ashworth of some power, so surely if he or Lanie was using magic against her, she’d know about it?”
“It would depend on what type of magic is being used. Hell, it might be another kind of rune, for all we know.”
“If Lanieisinvolved in this mess,” Ginny said, “why would she draw attention to herself by murdering that lad in such a brutal manner? That makes no sense.”
