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“Hendrick.” Damon again.
Hendrick’s gaze flicks to the left where Jac’s standing on his toes, like he’s about to leap at me. “I see him.” He sighs. “Back the fuck down, Jac, or I’ll take you and your man out and pin it on the Kincaid’s.”
“I’d like to see you try,” Jac bites. “And don’t fucking blame me that I make her combust.”
“Can you two just get a room and fuck like normal repressed assholes?” Harry asks.
I turn from Hendrick and look about. “Where’s his iPad?”
Damon glances past me, then hands it over. “It’s not locked. But there’s no secret manifesto on it.”
Hendrick gets a drink and downs it, and from the corner of my eye, I take in the tension running through him.
“I’ve never fucking heard of someone being able to take over the Quinate,” Jac says.
“They can’t.” Hendrick shrugs. “But we’re also a delicate balance. There are things in place and for someone to think they can take over means they think they can buy in.”
“Or there’s some old rumor tied to the Quinate,” I say.
“It’s not that old for that. So someone’s been listening to the wrong people,” Hendrick says gruffly.
I go through the iPad. “Or it’s like you said, so in the shadows you don’t know about it. Maybe it’s part of how it started?”
“The Quinate’s here to keep the power balance.” Jac shakes his head. “It’s fucked. We should take out Kincaid.”
“That’s a different kind of war.” Hendrick meets Damon’s gaze over my shoulder and gives a small nod. “Freeze him out, don’t buy from him or let him have a foothold, but he’s still a player in other arenas, other places. His connections alone mean he could, if he was smart enough, bring more firepower.”
Jac chuckles. “You scared of him?”
“Go fuck yourself, Jac.” He rubs a hand over his face, then drops it to his side. “No. I’m smart and pragmatic, and I fucking think things through. Whoever it is thinks they can manipulate through the use of Magdalena. So these jewels mean something. We need to find out what. And who. And why.”
“What are you thinking, Hendrick?” I ask.
A muscle works in his jaw. “I’m fucking thinking that the power grab shit’s just that. Shit. A way to manipulate you to get an absolute fortune in jewels for free.”
“It’s a lot to do that,” says Harry, crossing her arms. “Kidnap, guns, drugs.”
“Make it look good and throw threats around. They won’t touch me or Jac, but they might think they can get to you,” Hendrick explains.
“We need to put her in a safe house,” Jac says.
“Fuck that. Dang girl,” she mutters when she looks at me, “the testosterone in here’s thick enough that we all might start growing beards.” Then she glares at Jac. Then at Hendrick. “That’s me saying not on your fucking life.”
Jac huffs in annoyance. “A bodyguard then.”
“Only if she’s hot.” Harry winks. “So what’s the first jewel?”
“Guess we’re not going anywhere, Lena?”
Jac, Hendrick, and their entourage have gone, and we’re still at the hotel. Just the two of us.
Orders are to stay here in the room until further notice, and I’m betting if either of us tried to leave, we’d be stopped.
I don’t know where they went. Then again, I’m not in any position to question them.
More than I have.
After all, when it comes down to it. Harry and I pulled a fast move on them.
