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11
Antoine
Several hours later I sat behind my desk on the phone with my accountant.
"I don't know how..." Larry stammered. "All your funds just became unfrozen without a rhyme or reason. No one seems to know why they were frozen in the first place. They are chalking it up to a system glitch."
"I see," I hummed into the phone. "And the properties?"
The shuffling of papers and clacking of keys on a keyboard filled the end of the phone. "Well, you see..." Larry continued, tripping over his words even more than before. "At the current moment all purchases have been put in a standstill. We aren't able to purchase them but they aren't moving forward with the others either. Almost like they are waiting for something."
Not surprising there. Of course I did not relay my thoughts to Larry], he wouldn't understand what was going on. The council had seen fit to give us our money back which was a blessing itself. The hold on my company purchases was another matter. What were they waiting for? Piper to fail? For us to give them some reason to punish us further?
Tuma had me under the impression that they would not want to destroy our family if they did not have to. I would make damn sure that we did not give them a reason to do more harm.
"I will continue to monitor the situation for you, Mr. Durand. And of course I am at your beck and call. Any time of day. Day or night. I'll be here."
I sighed, already tired of the conversation. "Very well, Larry. I will follow up with you at a later date. Let me know if any new occurrences arise." I hung the phone up as Larry continued to blather on. Before I could turn back to the other issues before me a stutter of anxiety in my chest had me glancing up at the closed office door. I could feel Darren standing there. His anxiety and indecision rampaging.
"You might as well come in. Neither of us will get to sleep otherwise," I called out to him loud enough his enhanced hearing could receive it.
The office door opened. Darren stepped inside and promptly closed it behind him. His suit jacket was missing and his necktie was untied, the first few buttons if his shirt undone. He'd also taken his gloves off and his usually perfectly slicked back hair was a mess as if he'd been running his fingers through it.
"What is it?" I leaned back in my chair and laced my fingers in my lap waiting for him to answer. Though, I had an idea of what he had come to see me about.
Darren walked the short length to my desk and braced his hands on the front of it, all professional appearances gone. "You cannot be serious about letting this happen, can you?"
My lips pursed for a moment. "I'm not sure I know what you mean. I didn't let anything happen. We didn't have much of a choice."
"There's always a choice," Darren snapped. "You're one of the strongest vampires around and you let them do this to her? Violate her memories all for some...some game?" He threw his hands up in the air and turned his back on me, pacing the length of my desk.
"While I admit I did urge her to go along with the council's game in hopes that it would help us in the long run, I can assure you nothing was done without Piper's permission." I leaned forward and placed a hand on my desk, my gaze set on Darren's face. "She agreed to this."
"But what of the repercussions? She's going to wake up and find out she has supernatural abilities and freak out."
I held a hand up. "Taken care of. They suppressed her abilities as well as her bond to me so that there would be no unfairness during the trial."
Darren shook his head and laughed, not a happy one. "You know this is completely nuts, right? The Piper of today is not the same one who came through those doors two years ago. How do you even know you'll get her to fall for you again? We'd be lucky if we could even get Wynn to get her, let alone the six of you." He huffed and crossed his arms. His frustration was written all over his face. "And I'm just supposed to sit back and watch as the woman I love falls in love again and again." He drew a hand over his face. "How can you ask this of me?"
I stood and walked around the desk, stopping before Darren to wrap him in my arms. In general, I was not a comforting person, not in life and certainly not in death but I knew when my loved ones needed more. This was definitely a moment where more was the answer.
Darren leaned into my embrace, his face burying in the crook of my neck. His hot breath sprayed across my skin as he spoke. "I'm not sure I can do this. Of all the things I've done for you, this is the one thing I don't think I can do."
I held him close, a reassuring hand through his hair. "Do not think of it as for me. Do it for Piper. Remember how she was those first few days? She will need you. More than ever before. And when this is all over..."
"If you mean," he added.
I lifted his head with both my hands staring into his eyes. "When this is all over we will be stronger for it. I promise."
Darren stared at me for a long moment, the anxiety in his chest still there but not as aggressive as before.
We stood there together a moment longer before Darren was the one to step away. "What about the hunters? Have you thought of anything to tell them?"
"There is not much we can do about it. We will have to figure out some way to dissuade the hunters from speaking to her until we have finished this trial." I shifted over to the desk and leaned against it, tucking my hands into my pockets. "However, we could just solve the problem with a simple call to Vincent telling him where the council is..."
"But then Piper might be stuck this way."
I nodded. "True. I wish I had all the answers but I am as much in the dark as the rest of you."
