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“Swallow?” he said when he answered.
“Still in the field then,” she said because if he was at the manor, he’d have used her real name. “Can you do me a favor? Patch into CI and override security on Grant’s office door.”
“Want me to add someone?”
“No,” she said. “Allow general admission, don’t lock it. Make sure my print stays on the CI system, too, even if they think they’ve deleted it.”
“Oh, kay,” he said, confused by her request, but she smiled, feeling mischievous.
“And put a few of your little bugs in there, will you? I want the IT guys scratching their heads for a few days.”
“You got it.”
“Thanks,” she said and hung up.
It might seem petty, but her request wasn’t part of any vendetta against Mischa because she was Brodie’s ex. If Mischa didn’t know the setup, she might not add security access prints to the door. But if she did, Zara didn’t want to be locked out of there just yet. She still had to go through this box and Grant’s computer. There might still be something of use at CI, and she didn’t want her credentials off the system before they had a chance to figure out what else they might need.
The elevator got to the parking garage floor, but she lingered for a moment before exiting. This could be the last time she was in this building. After coming here almost every day for five years, saying goodbye to CI was a big change. But sacrificing the past when the Kindred were her future was an easy decision to live with.
If Brodie had handed her apartment keys to Mischa there was no point in Zara going there. It made more sense to her now why Brodie had stayed behind in the apartment that morning. Except that meant he’d known what he planned to do and hadn’t clued Zara in.
He’d have his reasons for letting Mischa stay there, but she couldn’t figure out why he wouldn’t tell her about it when it was obvious that she was going to find out. Zara would let him explain his reasons to her after she had given him the riot act about keeping secrets from her, especially as they related to his ex-girlfriend.
Zara put the box in her car and sped out of the parking garage. A weight lifted from her shoulders the further from CI she got. It had been a huge part of her life, and she’d learned a lot from her job and from Grant, but in so many ways, she felt that she’d learned all she could from that place.
Parking the car in its usual secret location, she carried the box to her jeep inside the grounds and took it into the house. She dumped it on the kitchen island and went to search for her love. He wasn’t in any of the recreation rooms, the kitchen, or their bedroom, so she headed to the basement where the Kindred rooms were.
The full gym had more machines than she knew how to work, but when she went inside and spotted him, he wasn’t using the cardio ones with all the buttons. He was lying on the bench press and had the radio playing in the background. Without acknowledging her, he lifted the bar up to the rack, which to her signaled that he was done enough that she could talk to him.
Grabbing the towel from the machine nearest her, she dumped her purse and went over to toss the towel to his chest. “You didn’t tell me she was the most beautiful woman in the world,” Zara said.
“Who?” he asked, sitting up to wipe the sweat from his face and shoulders.
The question was ridiculous because he had to know who she meant, given that Mischa was the only new woman in their life. For a brief second, she considered that he could have taken the opportunity to make some flirtatious comment about their relationship, but Brodie wasn’t of the romantic persuasion and Zara was in no mood for playing.
Folding her arms, she tried her best to ignore the glean of sweat on his chest. “Who do you think? Cuckoo!”
A faint glimmer of a smile came and went from his expression. “You like that name. Art did too.”
She’d spent two minutes in the woman’s company and already Zara knew it was accurate. “He was a smart man,” she said. “When did you tell her who you were?”
“I didn’t,” he said, bending to pick up his sports bottle from the floor to squeeze some water into his mouth. “Never while we were together.”
Which implied to her they’d seen each other since they split up or something had changed since then. Irked at herself for not delving deeper into Brodie’s romantic history with the woman who was now a part of their world, Zara was frustrated. Except a million questions would lead to a million more and it wasn’t like she didn’t have a past of her own, so she couldn’t go passing judgement or snooping into ancient history.
“Is it your plan to go back to Rigor’s?”
“Yeah, tonight. Figured I’d wait around for you and take care of a few things while I was in the neighborhood. ‘Cept now you’re here—”
“Take care of things? What things? Setting up your ex in my apartment?” Zara didn’t want to dredge up the past, but she didn’t mind addressing the present. “Why would you put her in our private space?”
Displaying no indication of shame or apology, Brodie’s arrogance came so easy to him, it was like it was engrained in his DNA. “We’ve already got eyes on that place,” he said in his usual blank tone. “The cameras are setup. We’re comfortable with the layout. There are a bunch of reasons it makes sense. If you’ve got a problem with it…”
She had any number of problems with the idea of a viper taking up residence in her nest. But Zara had learned to pick her battles and didn’t have the emotional fuel to waste on this one. The truth was, Cuckoo’s charming personality and irritating declarations would have to get in line because there was actual business to deal with. Game Time and Future’s Hope were more important than Zara being intimidated by the Italian’s glowing complexion and presumptive behavior.
This wasn’t the time to get bogged down by relationship politics. Telling Brodie about her meeting with Kahlil would have to come before anything else. Mischa was gorgeous and might make many women feel lacking in comparison. But Brodie didn’t want to be with his ex and that was the pertinent fact. She was secure in their love and would needle him about his reticence later.
That being the case, if she was given the opportunity to ruffle Mischa’s feathers again, she would take advantage. Keeping that woman in her place was fun, though Zara hadn’t realized just how much fun it was until the adrenaline of their initial encounter had worn off.
