Page 7 of The Defiant Curse

That made him all kinds of nervous that his family was now in danger because their hidey-holes were outed. Oh, and that his mother, the woman who saved him and gave him the life he had, was in danger.

Yeah, he didn’t like that.

At.

All.

So, he went there.

“She’s traveling by herself? Where’s Ivan? Normally, Toady is so far up her ass, he’s cuddled up against her colon. That’s not like him to let her wander around without having a stroke or conniption about it.”

Yeah, well, nothing about what happened was normal, and he knew it.

As for the last part…

Oh, that was still coming. When Gene went back to the office, after saying goodbye to his other family, The Hunters, he fully expected a blow-up.

Tantrum.

Fit.

Or whatever Ivan opted to have.

There was no doubt it was coming.

So, he explained.

“She took down Devon Slater, but it cost her a lot. She’s battered and bruised emotionally. No one knows where she’s heading but me. I think Chris knows, but I’m not sure. Either way, she needs a place to lay low, and the castle is the safest for the time being until the family can regroup. It’s outside of the US, and no one knows about it.”

This was bad.

REALLY bad.

Elizabeth was in danger non-stop, and if she boarded a jet, alone, to head to the haunted castle weeks before the wedding, she was in a bad place.

Michael knew her well enough to say that with nothing but absolute fact.

Elizabeth didn’t like the woo-woo. In fact, she ran from it at any given chance. All she had to hear was ghost, and she started backing out of a room.

Before Ravensmire, he had felt that too.

Now, he’d learned the place grew on you.

LIKE MOLD.

“I don’t like that she’s alone,” Michael said. “Mom is always a target. That she’s flying in, and Ivan isn’t aware, tells me that he’s not able to track her.”

Gene was aware.

When she’d asked him to help her, he knew this was going to cause waves in the unit, because she didn’t want anyone to know where she was.

Yeah, Gene had to prepare for when Ivan was going to shit his britches.

All.

Over.

The.