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Back at the house we’d slept in the night before, I sagged in weariness We drifted into the living room and fell onto the couches Veronica and her family had been relocated sos

"Well that was soht there," my mother said, waythe nearly fatal battle we’d just endured "All the training I’ve done has finally paid off At the shooting range, the younger guys always snicker at the older wo the heavy artillery, but today I would’ve wiped the smiles off their faces If only I could have used the semiautounned down the neighbors, but I could’ve…" She sighed "Next time"

"We were lucky to have you, Ms Bristol," Eht

"I hate to say it, but ere lucky to have those vampires" My mother stretched and kneaded her shoulders "I wasn’t sure hoas going to help I couldn’t very well shoot in your direction My next option was to run a car through theuys jumped out of the way"

Emery looked at et it"

I frowned, because so did I

"But you best be careful where those va lady" My mother lifted her eyebrows at et mixed up with One second, you think you’re ahead The next second, they own you Best to steer clear if you can"

"That ainst Eainst his chest I had the feeling it was because ofin?" I asked hied on his features and he leaned harder into the couch, a little at an angle, subtly inviting ainst him "I was almost positive I just needed Clyde or Darius to read a couple of letters to verify"

"And it wasn’t who you thought?"

"Not at first, no, but I suspected soht him made sense, but the people in question didn’t The two Barons he is I didn’t think they’d stab each other in the back Since Keured it was still the case

"On a hunch, I riffled through his file first It was ballsy, given the ti would juically sealed box in the file I broke in easily, and in it, I found Italian letters like the one I found in Nicholas’s office Sa One was dated teeks before my brother was scheduled to leave on his trip I checked the other barons’ files, and while they also had secret letters in their possession, they didn’t have the sauy who actually carried out the orders--notice the style was different?" I asked

"I’ence Nicholas does not He’s a hired gun, nothing more He does what he’s told, completely controlled, and they love him for it There are a couple like him Still, I wasn’t positive The letters are in Italian, after all Then I found a correspondence between the two other barons about the possibility of Conrad replacing Kempworth Another nail in the coffin And now there’s a hole in their organization"

"Now there are a lot of holes," ives us some ti outthe spell contained

Darius stood in the archway to the living roo slacks and a pressed shirt, his hair perfectly in place He looked like he’d just walked off a runway How did the guy do it? Also, why hadn’t he learned tointo a room with me in it?

He sauntered in, all confidence, with a manila envelope "You don’t have roup, but they’ll be back We’ll need to think about changing locations"