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My eyes quickly flashed from the floor to Kimble. “How do you know they are working together?”
“The sister was there. It seemed friendly.”
“Seraphina?” I gawked.
“I need to put full surveillance on Crew, starting tonight. I had to let you know.”
I didn’t like how sick it made me feel. He was my assistant. My right-hand. The only person I had offered to train. Other than Renee and Kimble one of the only people I trusted. None of this made sense. I gripped the front edge of the desk. It had to be Knight. What had he offered him? Paid him? Was he trying to tear my organization apart from every possible angle? And why the Vieux Carre?
“Do it.” I exhaled. “I want daily updates. Twice a day if something comes up that’s useful. I need to know what those two are doing together.”
Kimble nodded. “I’ll find out what’s going on.”
“Seraphina too,” I added. “What does she have to do with this?”
The house shook with another crash of thunder. The storm had stalled directly over the mansion. I wondered if Felicia Corban was involved too or even the Castilles. How far-reaching was the betrayal?
“I’ll find out.”
“Thank you.”
Kimble walked out briskly.
I sat in my office, trying to understand what this meant. I had to get ahead of Knight. There was no way to do that if I didn’t know what he was planning. Hadn’t he done enough? Caused enough pain? I hadn’t returned his calls or texts. Maybe it was time I offered an olive branch. Maybe it was time I turned the tables on him.
6
Knight
I opened my door when I heard the first crash on the hardwood floor outside my room. It sounded like glass.
“Mother?” I rushed toward her. She was hunched over, gripping a wine bottle in one hand while trying to stack shards of glass with the other. “Here. Move. You’re going to cut yourself.”
I tried to extract her from the broken portrait at her feet.
“Who put that there?” she snarled at the family photo. It was at least twenty years old.
“I think it’s been on the wall a long time,” I explained.
She staggered backward while I tried to make the path to her room walkable. I noticed she wasn’t wearing any shoes or slippers.
“You don’t think I know where things belong in this house?”
I shook my head. She was drunk. Again.
“Can I take you to your room?” I reached for the bottle in her fist. Had she stopped using glasses?
She recoiled. “No.”
“I need to call someone to clean up this mess. You can still cut the bottoms of your feet. Just don’t move.” I pressed my hand forward to keep her still.
“They should have already been here,” she spat. “Lazy. Everyone here is lazy.” I heard the bottle thump on the ground as she sat on her heels. The silk robe she wore gathered in a layers at her feet.
It occurred to me these incidents had been going on before my father’s death. I never believed she was struggling as a grieving widow. I leaned over the balcony. One of the house staff was already marching up the stairs with a broom and dustpan as if she knew what to expect when she heard the glass break.
I frowned. The wheels had been coming off my family’s axis for a long time. Since the day Seraphina’s contract was signed. It only continued to spin farther out of control in my absence. Did my father know what he had done? Did he realize what he put in motion by stealing his children’s lives from them?
I was sent away. Seraphina wanted to leave Brandon. My father died. My mother was a drunk. The family fortune had been drained. How the fuck was I supposed to make a dynasty out of this train wreck?
