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I frowned, mid-sip of coffee. "Jack?"
"Yes," Gretchen nodded, grabbing an oven mitt from the counter. "Master Antoine was beside himself when he came down earlier, muttering things about no good rotten lawyers. And something not quite so pleasant I wouldn’t repeat to you." She smiled, and I grinned back.
"Did Antoine happen to mention why he hadn't sent Jack away?" I finally sipped from my coffee cup and waited for what I hoped was a rational response.
Before Gretchen could answer, the timer on the stovetop went off. She set about opening the oven and pulling out the apple pie. Gretchen sat it on the cooling rack set up next to the stove and turned back to me. "He didn't say. However, I suspect it has something to do with the fact that the properties he'd had his eyes on recently were all snatched up from under his nose."
My brows drew together. "What does that have to do with anything? It's not like he doesn't have other properties and businesses to worry about."
Gretchen inclined her head. "Of course, but that was until he found out that the companies he was planning on taking apart and selling off to the highest bidder were suddenly bankrupt."
My eyes widened, and my mouth gaped open. I placed my coffee cup down on the counter before I dropped it and stared at her. "How is this possible? Companies don't go bankrupt overnight?"
Lifting a shoulder and dropping it, Gretchen went about getting plates down from the cabinet. "Don't ask me. I have no mind for business. And all this is secondhand information."
Curiosity filled me, and a thought came. "Who exactly gave you this knowledge? I know Darren isn't that much of a busy body. And Antoine certainly wouldn't offer up the information on his own." I took a step toward her, a mischievous grin playing on my lips. "Who did you get to spill their guts, and how?"
Gretchen gave me a sideways look, and a tiny secretive grin played on her lips. "You didn't think after being with this family for so long that I didn't figure out ways to get information, did you?"
I laughed and bumped her on the shoulder. "Come on, tell me. Who is the sucker? And what did you feed them?"
Placing a hand on her hip, Gretchen stared at me incredulously. "What makes you think I fed them anything? Couldn't it have been my womanly charms that made them talk?"
I arched a brow.
"Fine." She huffed. "It was Drake. And about four of these pies." She pointed at the apple pie on the cooling rack. "That boy is a sucker for a good fruit pie. I swear you'd think it was blood the way he sucked them down."
Chuckling to myself at the image, I put that knowledge away for later. My laughter died as I realized the predicament we were all in. How much of a coincidence was it that Allister is suspected of murder and they were having business issues? Too big of one to ignore.
"Save me a slice of pie," I told Gretchen, touching her on the shoulder as I passed by. I had to get to the bottom of this. Someone was fucking with us, and I wanted to know who and why.
"No promises," Gretchen called after me.
I stepped into the dining room and considered my options. Antoine was upstairs with Jack handling whatever was going on with the businesses, no doubt. It was pure luck that Jack was here when we needed a lawyer. Especially one with his rate of cases won. Jack Biggs might be full of himself, but he had good reason to be. Jack had won enough cases against big corporate companies trying to screw the little man to be able to handle Antoine’s accounts.. So, that left the rest of us to help Allister.
Turning to the door in the dining room that leads to the basement, I stopped before it. My hand hesitated over the doorknob. The basement had been one secret the Durands had kept from me even after they had let me into their hearts and put myself into servitude for them. It was the one thing keeping me from being completely one of them. Darren had been down there. In fact, he was the one who cleaned it when I had been the one cleaning the house. And he wasn't even sleeping with any of them. Or well, I guess Antoine, but I still outnumbered him on the number of Durands I had in my bed. I had every right to be down there.
Yeah. I did. No reason to be nervous. It wasn't like they slept in coffins. Even Darren told me that was dumb. No. It was just where they slept—no big deal.
My fingers curled around the doorknob and turned. It clicked open. My breath flew out of me in a rush. I didn't know why I thought they would lock the door to me now. In fact, I hadn't tried to go in there since before we went into hiding. I stepped into the doorway at the top of the stairs and frowned. Actually, they should have locked it with a stranger in our home. Jack could have easily come in here and walked in on them doing God knows what they did down there. Vampire blood orgy?
"Are you going to stand there all day or come down?" Rayne called, poking his head around the corner at the bottom of the stairs.
Pursing my lips, I made my way down the stairs until I landed in front of him. "You know, you should really lock that door with Jack in the house," I told him with a frown.
Rayne smirked at me. "What do you think he's going to find, a vampire blood orgy?"
I scoffed and bumped him with my elbow. "Stay out of my head, doofus."
"I'll stay out of your head when you stop projecting so hard." Rayne slid his arm around my waist and leaned in to press his lips against the bend of my neck. "Your dreams were quite interesting to read as well."
I rolled my eyes and pushed him away from me. "Of course they were. I had vampire blood for dinner."
"Interesting dreams?" Wynn mused from one of the twin beds lined along each side of the wall. A couch sat in front of a big-screen television where the twins sat arguing over a football game.
My nose crinkled up, and my eyes squinted. "It's just so...ordinary."
"What were you expecting?" Drake called over his shoulder, sucking down some dark red liquid in a glass with a straw. "Coffins and Dracula brides?"
I snorted. "If anyone has brides, it's me." Rayne covered up a laugh beside me with a cough. "So, what are we doing about Allister's dead blood whores?"
Wynn arched a brow, laying his legs out in front of him on the bed. "Someone is still a bit jealous."
Frowning at him, I crossed my arms over my chest and glowered at him. "I am not."
Rayne kissed me on the cheek. "Are too."
I swatted at him and stalked through the room. "My jealousy is beside the point. I need answers. Please tell me you've done something other than fuck around in here all day?"
