“Fine,” I said. “But I want to make something clear. That woman means the world to me. There is nothing I won’t do, nothing any of us won’t do, to protect her. Occasionally, I like you, Margareta.”
“But you love her,” she said, a smile tipping her lips. “That’s as it should be, Adam. Now if you’ll excuse me… I am going to change. Hopefully in a few hours, I will see your sister returned to both of you.”
Fuck.
My stomach bottomed out at the idea. Hot and cold flashed over my skin. The only way the past few weeks had been at all tolerable was because of Lainey and Ezra. Milo and Bodhi had done their part, but not knowing where Andrea was and not being able to protect her had been killing me slowly.
The doors to the guest room opened and revealed Lainey in a black turtleneck tucked into dark colored combat pants.
“She’ll be back in a minute,” I told her.
“Did you get what you needed from her?” Curiosity hovered in her eyes.
“For now,” I said.
If Margareta proved more problematic, well, we could deal with that too. No more enemies.
Clear the board.
Chapter
Thirty-One
LAINEY
By the time we descended the stairs once more, the others appeared ready to depart. I still couldn't quite fathom Margareta Waldemar. She was definitely a puzzle wrapped in an enigma. Yet, she seemed genuine and that bothered me more than I cared to admit.
The boots she'd brought to me were knee high and added to the combat vibe of my appearance. I caught the faint smile on Bodhi's lips when he gave me a once over. The same from Milo. Ezra flicked a look from me to Adam then back again before he seemed to relax.
Oddly, the men now all seemed like they were overdressed or really sexy spies. As focused on Andrea as I was, that thought still made me smile. I hadn’t bothered to bring the dress back down with me. I’d secured my weapons from the clutch in one of the many pockets on the pants.
“Dimitri?” Margareta asked as she reached the last step. Like me, she wore black combat pants, a turtleneck, and boots. The unrelieved black added to her icier appearance.
Maybe it was the way she’d pulled her bob back and secured it at her nape. The pull of her hair gave her a harsher appearance. In that moment, not only could I picture her giving an order to kill someone, I also could see her pulling the trigger herself.
“The men are ready,” Dimitri said. “Do you wish us to go in and secure the location—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off and glancing at Margareta. “We don’t know for sure if she is there. But if she is and she sees a bunch of armed men bursting in… there are just too many ways that can go wrong.”
Head canted to the side, Margareta seemed to consider my words. “How would you prefer to do this?”
With the ball being served back to me, I turned to Bodhi. He and Milo were a lot more familiar with these kinds of operations. So were Adam and Ezra for that matter. I’d seen the plan they all put together with the Vandals to deal with Bradley Sharpe—may he rot in hell forever.
“We need to see the facility,” Bodhi said. “Layout. Ingress. Egress. I would also like to know how many are inside.”
“But it’s late,” Milo said, checking his watch. “Evening. Would the—” He hesitated and gave me a gentle look. “Would the students still be there?”
Students wasn’t the word he’d intended to use. But I didn’t want to look too closely at whatever the correct word would have been. I just—didn’t.
“The academy is also an internátní škola—” Dimitri frowned. “Internat.” I’d already begun that translation when he switched from Czech to German.
“It’s a boarding school,” I told Pretty Boy. “That means they might be living there.”
Andrea could be there.
Right now.
“I am sending plans for the location,” Dimitri said. “I will have my men close off access around the facility. We won’t let anyone leave and do our best to minimize violence.”
Minimize it, but that didn’t mean eliminate it entirely. It had to do. I took a deep breath. It would do.
“Acceptable?” Margareta directed the question to me and I nodded.
“Thank you.”
“Then let us depart.”
Bodhi held out a hand and I narrowed the distance to take it and then we were heading out. They fell in around me, keeping Margareta and Dimitri at a distance. Kellan was waiting for us just outside with the car.
He swept a look over each of us as he opened the back door. “Jas and Rome will follow. Liam and Vaughn are going to meet us there, Doc is holding back with Freddie and Em.”
But he would be available if we needed him.
“Ivy listening?” Milo asked as I climbed into the back.
“So far,” Kellan said with a wry smile. “Let’s see how fast we can wrap this up so she doesn’t decide to go rogue with Freddie.” He didn’t sound terribly concerned. Em wouldn’t make a move without the guys being good with it.
