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“What is it you’re looking for?”
“I wouldn’t want to betray his confidence. Is it something you can help me with?” Using the techniques Brodie had nurtured during her seduction of Leatt, she blinked and maneuvered her arms to enhance her cleavage. Julian noticed, more in passing than anything else, but it was enough.
Julian’s attraction to her became an advantage to the Kindred. This was the last piece of the puzzle and quite possibly their last chance to stem future work on Game Time. When in relation to death and destruction, Zara was happy to manipulate whoever needed to be manipulated.
“His accountant has been involved in executing the will,” Julian said. “I’ve been in a few of those meetings, I should be able to get those accounts for you without answering too many questions.”
“Thank you,” she said.
It was hard to believe that just a few days ago she was doubting her ability and her right to be part of the Kindred. Today proved that when she maintained her focus, she could achieve many things.
“I’ll email you with what I find out,” he said and left the table. “Enjoy your meeting and keep in touch.”
It was sweet that he would miss her. Life at CI was so frenetic that she was sure she’d be forgotten in a few days, not because she didn’t have an impact there, but because life moved on quickly in business. There was little time to mourn. With Grant gone and her distanced from the company, she was allowed a new perspective on what her life had been pre-Brodie.
There was no permanent monument to her work at CI, she would fade away just like every other employee who moved on. During her time there, she’d believed she was making a difference in the world, now she could see that was an illusion.
She’d been with the Kindred for less than a year. But if she left their ranks tomorrow, she wouldn’t be so quickly forgotten. For one thing, she was sleeping with the chief. He couldn’t ignore her loss and he’d proved that by coming back for her then chasing her to her father’s doorstep. She had rapport with Tuck, more so since their clash that morning. Thad was a bright beacon who wouldn’t let her fade away. Zave was just Zave. Even she was becoming accustomed to what that meant.
Choosing Brodie and the Kindred over Grant and CI had been a drastic decision for her. But as she sat sipping her coffee while waiting for Kahlil, she knew she’d made the right choice.
“Oh, I love you, beau,” she murmured, tucking her head down to hide her smiling lips and silently wishing that he was in her ear to support and torment her.
Purdy’s had been a stable, recurring location in her life since she started at CI almost six years ago. It had been a place for her to reflect and be grateful for the freedom from the oppression of her father’s house and his ideas about what her future would hold.
She had become the strong, independent woman that she had striven to be, and with Brodie and the Kindred, she was fulfilling her childhood dreams of adventure and doing something worthwhile. No matter what Cuckoo said or tried to insinuate, Zara wouldn’t give up her man, or the life they had together, without a fight.
Her coffee was almost finished by the time Kahlil came into Purdy’s. It didn’t take him long to pick her out in the quiet space with its smattering of customers. He came straight over without ordering at the bar and sat down opposite her.
She waited. This meeting was happening at his request; it was his responsibility to explain why he’d called it. Aloof and brooding worked for Brodie, so she tried to mimic his success by waiting for Kahlil to speak first.
“I have had a busy morning and I don’t have time for games,” Kahlil said, but he seemed more impatient than stressed, suggesting his meeting this morning didn’t upset him too much.
But his mussed hair and the bruise on his chin spoke to the pressure he was under. “What happened to your face?” she asked, indicating the bruise. She might have seen the blow that caused it through Maverick’s sight, but she wouldn’t reveal that to him. Asking outright put him on the spot, and she waited to see what lie he would come up with.
“A disagreement with an old colleague.”
His choice not to lie was a surprising one. The explanation was enough to allow her to move on without rousing suspicion. “Are you ready to tell me who you’re working for?”
Brodie and Tuck might already have that piece of information if they’d witnessed the morning meeting. But Kahlil had been honest with her once, so she took the chance that he might do it again.
“Keeping my employer’s identity secret is imperative to the success of our mission.”
“What is your mission?” Any details she had about Kahlil were related to his previous employer and even those were vague.
“I plan to protect all the puppies and kittens of the world and open my own unicorn sanctuary,” he said, not in a show of dry wit, but in continuance of his impatience.
She wasn’t impressed. “You’re only going to get what you want if I sign off on it,” she said, pushing her cup aside.
Kahlil might like to think he was in charge here, and it was obvious that he didn’t like dealing with her, maybe because she was subordinate to him in the grand scheme of things, maybe because she was a woman, or maybe just because he didn’t like her personality, which she could identify with. Kahlil was hardly a treat himself. It was something about the men in this game, they were so caught up in their own importance that civility and charm were often the first personality traits sacrificed.
“Does that mean you’re open to a deal?” he asked.
Coming in not as an adversary, but as a client, would have been a better strategy for Kahlil. Her own curiosity grew, and she became eager to get to Brodie to find out what Kahlil had endured that morning. “Yes. We’ll deal. Give us the story first, money on delivery of Game Time.”
“Raven comes to the drop,” Kahlil said. “I want him there with you when we make the exchange.”
Most people wouldn’t want their seller to have superior numbers in this situation. “Why would you want him there?”
