“We think they were trying to get another link in by approaching you and Andrea. Anyway, it took a few days to go through what was compromised. But Xavier’s calendar and our itinerary definitely were. We assumed corporate espionage. Especially when the day before yesterday, while you were sailing to Corsica, I had Xavier’s assistant at the office in Sofia Antipolis reach out to the older Monsieur Pascale and tell him not to invite another person to meetings with his son before clearing it with us first. That’s when he said he hadn’t known Morosto was coming, that the reservation had been changed to add Morosto at the last minute. He thought Xavier had done it. So Morosto had known where we were going and when. It was a hunch that Morosto had been using Michello to get to Xavier. Michello would be a natural choice given the massive chip on his shoulder. And I knew where to look for him. We think access to where Dauphine might be was his part of the bargain. That he might use her to extort money from Xavier was always a probability.”

“God. Where is Michello now?” I asked, wondering about the details of how Dauphine had been found and whether Michello had put up a fight. She could have been hurt.

“In jail, arrested on kidnapping and extortion charges,” Evan said.

“Mais, what do you possess, Xavier, that would make this evil man Morosto risk certain jail time for a chance at it?” Madame asked. “And put my granddaughter in danger?”

Xavier shook his head. “It’s nothing.”

“It’s everything,” Evan said, rolling his eyes at Xavier. “Madame, your son has invented something that almost every government and every company will need in order to secure their place in a dystopian future. Which is looking more likely every day, but that’s a different story. Let’s put it this way. Even Bill Gates will want to use it.” He chuckled. “Especially Bill Gates.”

Xavier glared. “Tais-toi,” he muttered to Evan.

“To be honest,” Evan blithely went on, “that plebian, Morosto wouldn’t know what to do with the information even if he’d found it.”

Madame nodded approvingly. “Xavier. You know I’m always so proud of you.”

“Merci,” he said uncomfortably and shot an annoyed glance at Evan before rolling his eyes.

“Mais maintenant,” Madame went on with a short and decisive clap. “It is very late. Tomorrow everything will be clearer.”

I wasn’t sure I was ready to deal with everything between Xavier and me, not after such a frightening day. Of course, I’d be ready for his apology any time, the sooner the better, but he and I needed to talk about a whole lot more than that. And I was shattered.

Madame stood, and I followed suit.