He’d spent the better part of fifteen minutes pacing his suite and trying to push Persephone to a less prominent place in his mind. Not likely as she was sleeping even closer to him than she was before. With her adjoining room a warzone, he’d arranged for her things to be moved to the second bedroom in his suite.
He wanted her as much as he wanted to rage at her. He decided on a more constructive way to spend his time and settled down in the living area of the suite.
He’d left Michaela’s book lying on the low couch there and opened it to where he’d left off reading. He was coming up on forty five minutes of reading time, when calm and curiosity eased in to overwhelm his agitation over the night’s events.
“I’ll be damned…can’t be...son of a bitch...is it?” He re-read the passage that had elevated his interest and then he was reaching for his phone. He was scrolling for Jasper Stone’s number when the mobile vibrated in his hand.
“Hey Rug.”
“It’s done.”
Hill’s attention shifted to his brother’s words. “Which part?”
“All of it. Eva- the island. All her properties,” Caiphus explained. “After your call about Son working with her, we mobilized to hit it all simultaneously. Her place in Wyoming was staffed. We think she was there but it’ll take weeks to sift through the damage.”
“And the island?”
“Leveled.”
“The kids?”
“Nile’s call did the trick. The island staff hopped right to-getting the kids ready for transport. Wind Rage arrived just as Fernando requested and was pulling out to sea with the kids when the first explosions hit. The Fat Cats should be in uproar by morning. You doin’ alright?”
Hill rubbed at his eyes. “I’ve been better.”
“Wanna talk?”
“Later, I um...I got a call to make. I think I found what we’ve been looking for, Rug. I’ll know soon.”
“And then what?” Caiphus asked.
Hill turned the book over in his hand. “Then
I think I’ll be taking a trip to Seattle.”
CHAPTER
TWENTY-NINE
“Hill?”
“Sorry Goddess, we gotta make a move,” Hill brushed his thumb across Persephone’s wrist where he’d added pressure to wake her before dawn.
“Everything okay?” She pushed up in bed, blinked against the golden lamplight streaming the room. She stilled. “The girls?”
“No...shh...they’re fine,” he put a hard kiss to her temple. “I suspect they’re about to wake up to another day of intense spoiling.”
Persephone smiled, but went still again in a matter of seconds. “Did your cousin talk?”
Hill shook his head. “They expect him to be out of it for most of the day anyway. The anesthetic they gave him before setting his arm was a sleep enhancer. Gary likes her...patients to be wide awake during their appointments.”
Persephone nodded slowly. “So what’s up?”
“Think I found something, Sef. Hell, if it wasn’t in the unlikeliest place…” His explanation trailed as he took note of their positions on the bed then. Persephone had slept on top of the covers and the blanket she’d used had slipped to reveal legs and thighs bared by the shorts she wore.
“I should let you get dressed,” he started to stand.
“Hill,” she caught his arm, forced him to stay put. “You’re still angry with me.”
He bowed his head, attempting to hide the jaw muscle twitching frantically. “What part of ‘stay in my sight’ did you not get?”
“The note-” She silenced at the look he daggered her way.
“I try hard not to contradict myself. A note telling you to meet me in your room would’ve sort of negated the whole ‘stay in my sight’ part, don’t you think?”
“But not staying in your sight is only part of it, right?”
He left the bed then, muttering an oath as he moved.
Persephone sat back against the cushioned headframe. “Are you angry because I didn’t come to you? Because I’d handled things-”
He was back in her face before she could blink, trapping her against the headboard.
“Angry Sef? That’s not even the half of it. You made a mess of things- hiding the girls, shooting Fern, last night with my prick cousin. Do you realize he could’ve killed you?”
She took the lashing, absorbing the sting of each word. “I was about to say, I’d handled things stupidly,” she continued when he moved away from the bed again. “I seem to compound my stupid acts with new ones daily. I don’t care how forgiving everyone else is, how much they say they understand, I don’t think I’ll ever get past the mess I made...She put a knife to my stomach, Hill.”
He stopped his brooding pace around the room when he heard her.
“That day...that...last day. You were getting ready for your trip and I had the appointment at the clinic.” Persephone sat stock-still against the headframe staring off blankly as the scene replayed in horrifying vividness.
“They were waiting for me there in the parking lot-Eva and Mae. I honestly never thought I’d see them again. We’d been together all that time and...then there they were. Do you know how it feels to go from elated to terrified in the space of a second? I felt like I was outside of myself watching it all happen. When she put the knife there I knew she meant it. I believed it-believed it all the way and I-I would’ve done anything. She told me to walk away from you-told me what she’d do if I didn’t and all the time...all the time she stood there waving that knife and all I could think was what if she did it just because she could?
