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“Why didn’t you listen to me, Maggie?” Blaise shook his head. “This is why I wanted you to get off the phone. The late phone call, the plying you for information.” He rubbed his face with both hands before looking at me again. “Sometimes you need to listen. You need to trust me,” Blaise grumbled. “The one thing we had going for us right now was that they had no idea where you and your father were staying. Now that’s over. All I can hope for now is that my home is secure enough to keep yousafe.”
I hugged my knees closer to my chest and stared at the comforter on the bed; seeing the condemnation in Blaise’s eye hurt too much. “Maybe they’ll give up now that you called him out. Maybe they’ll be too busy trying to save their collective asses, they won’t have time to mess withus.”
“That’s one option,” he responded blandly. “Although in my experience the bad guys always choose door numbertwo.”
“What’s door number two?” I scrunched up my face while trying to figure itout.
“That’s where the bad guy gets more dangerous. The bigger the risk, the bigger the reward. The greater the threat, the tougher the response.” He sank down hard beside me and pulled me into his arms. “You need to be extra careful now, Maggie. They could be out forblood.”
11
Blaise
“You should’ve told me,”Maggie grumbled at breakfast the nextmorning.
“Isn’t this nice? We’re all eating brunch together out on the patio,” Malcolmcommented.
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah, Dad. It’sgreat.”
“Well, yesterday, I ate my meals in the office while working. This is a lovely change,” hemuttered.
“At home, you eatallyour meals in your office while working. The only difference is I usually bring them to you. Now Fredo has taken my job and I barely know what to do with myself.” She threw her hands in theair.
They were both silent and I took the opportunity to apologize and make things right with her. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Maggie.” I sighed. “I didn’t want you to worry. I thought I had everythingcovered.”
“Everything except telling me.” She pouted. “Now I’ve ruined everything. You said as much last night.” She picked at her food. “And I don’t even know why I’m indanger.”
“You don’t know why?” I shook my head. “What part do you findconfusing?”
“The program. I don’t know why it’s such a big deal. Nobody has ever taken the time to explain it to me.” Maggiescowled.
Malcolm sat up straighter. “I told you all about it. Remember thealgorithms?”
She stared at her father blandly. “Dad, I don’t know what an algorithm is any more than you could translate Italian toEnglish.”
“I know some Italian.” He cleared his throat and I could tell he was getting ready to share his vast knowledge of Italianwords.
“Oh my Lord. For the final time, pasta, pizza, and gelato don’t count.” She shook her head and slammed her fork down on thetable.
“I’d be able to order them in Italy, so I say it counts.” He crossed his arms over hischest.
“We’re never going to Italy, Dad. We can’t get the house out of foreclosure. How the fuck can we afford to travel?” She rubbed her face with her hands, covering her eyes for an extra couple of seconds, and I sensed not only her frustration, but how hard she was working to keep fromcrying.
Her father obviously tried her patience daily. I thought their banter was cute, but since she lived it, she had apparently lost her humor over it. “I’ll take you to Italy,” I announced, my excitement growing as the idea flourished in my head. “Once this is all over. We should get married there, in the Draco familycastle.”
“You’re getting married?” Malcolm frowned. “I didn’t even know you weredating.”
“You have a castle?” Maggie perked up. Then she sank in her seat. “Of course, you have acastle.”
"It's not a big castle, if that makes you feel any better. I mean, it's only a little over twenty-three thousand square feet. It's more like a big house...with a moat." Ishrugged.
"There's a moat?" She shook her head. "Fuckme."
"I wanted to make love to you," I teased. "You completely rejectedme."
"I barely know you!" She exclaimed. "And thank you. My father is right there." She gestured to the man sitting to my right at the square table. Fredo had intentionally placed us at opposite ends, as if we were already dragon and mate. Other than the distance between us, I rather likedit.
"Maggie, you can't resist me forever," Iwarned.
