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At the moment, he was standing in a huddle with Cassiel, Rafe, and Gabriel. She loved the powerful way he stood and the keen way he listened, and she was utterly convinced that he was the sexiest man in the universe as he engaged in what she could see was an intense conversation with the men of her family. They were obviously discussing something about Bianca’s kidnapping two days before and they didn’t want to do it in front of her. She was curious to hear more details about how Elias had found her, but in private.
She knew that what he had done to recover her had put him in danger, and that he was trying to hide that from her. He didn’t want to frighten her or add to her anxiety surrounding the traumatic experience, but she knew there were going to be repercussions for him. Either from the people in Singapore who were going to be short one American operative in Ben Goh, or from the FBI who were most likely incensed that he’d quit. For now, she was content to let him tell her about all of those extenuating complications when he was ready.
“He’s fitting right in,” Abbe said, joining her by the cornucopia on the cocktail table. “They all love him now.”
“I guess all he had to do was kill for me,” Bianca joked, but it stung a little too hard and both of them cringed. “Too soon,” Bianca said, and Abbe nodded in agreement.
“I mean, it’s kinda true,” Abbe added, qualifying her cringe. “But yeah. Maybe too soon.”
They poured themselves some more wine and watched the party for a moment.
“I like his parents,” Abbe said.
“And strangely, so does my mom,” Bianca added, watching her usually flinty mother laugh heartily at something Elias’ father, Anthony Copeland, was saying to her. “Do you think she’s just looking for a place to stick her knife?”
“I don’t know,” Abbe replied, thoughtfully. “Your mom is a piece of work, but she seemed to be pleased with Li. Which is just mind-blowing,” she said, speaking of Elias’ mother. “How are you getting along with them?”
“His mom is so cool. She’s really arty and I hope I turn into her when I’m older,” Bianca replied wistfully, taking in Li’s uber-cool outfit. “Look at those deco earrings.”
“Right?” Abbe added. “She looks like one of those women you’d see at the Met Gala or something.”
“Totally,” Bianca said. “I only met them yesterday, and Elias and I are both still a little shell-shocked, but they were really understanding about us being a couple of stiffs during lunch.” Bianca shrugged. “We’ll see if they like me once I’ve thawed out enough to start cracking jokes.”
Abbe chuckled, taking a sip of her wine. “They’re going to love you. You know why? Because Elias does.”
“Holy shit, he loves me,” Bianca said, like she was just getting it now. It kept hitting her in delightful ways.
Abbe nodded, a blushing smile on her face as she looked at Rafe. “I know. It’s pretty crazy, isn’t it?”
Elias looked over at her. The warmth of his gaze washed down the middle of her. He gestured faintly with his chin for her to join him. She decided to play coy and took a turn about the room instead. She saw him laughing silently at her game with him. It served to stoke the fire between them, and he seemed to be willing to play along.
Bianca went around to the long table, already set for the upcoming Thanksgiving feast. Her Uncle Gabriel was alone, wandering around that area of the huge, open-plan room, sipping on his drink, and Bianca went to keep him company.
“So, I met someone who knows you,” she said, finally deciding to bring up something that had been on her mind for the past few days.
“Yeah? And who would that be?” Gabriel asked, readying himself for what he thought was going to be one of Bianca’s off-color jokes.
“An FBI agent who is pretty close with Elias. Her name is Diana Mansfield.”
Bianca didn’t know what kind of response she’d been expecting, but utter shock and dismay was not it.
“How—when? I mean, I knew she was still at the bureau,” he said, positively stammering. “How does she know Elias?”
“She’s kind of his mentor?” Bianca said, her eyes wide with shock. “She helped recover me. She told me that someone at the Bureau had it in for our family.”
Gabriel narrowed his eyes as he thought for a moment. “What else?” he asked, his tone flat and not at all playful.
Bianca shrugged, feeling uncomfortable. She had been told that her uncle had a ruthless side, but it had never been aimed in her direction before.
“She said she owed us, and then she corrected herself and said she owedyou. Which is why she was willing to lie about who shot the guy who—where are you going?”
Her uncle walked past her and went right to Elias, pulling him aside for a private conversation. He basically exchanged places with Cassiel who joined Bianca as her uncle left.
“What was that about?” Cassiel asked her as he gestured to their fired-up uncle. “Does it have anything to do with Cat Murphy?”
Bianca’s eyes widened. “No, but why are you bringing her up?” she asked suspiciously. “What happened?”
“You didn’t hear about it?” he asked.
