“Nice to meet you,” the man answers. “I’m Marcus, and I’m working with your father to investigate what is going on.”

His accent is British, Yorkshire or Lancashire, I think. It’s hard to tell which exactly. Northern, though, for sure.

“So what information do you have?” he asks Samuel.

“You share anything you find out with me from now on.” Samuel is pissed; it’s evident in the set of his jaw.

“I answer to Andrius and K, not you.”

“Fucking call them then because I can’t protect her if I don’t know everything.”

Marcus scrubs his palm over his face.

“Now.” Samuel sets his jaw.

Marcus stalks out of the room, and I hear his low voice but not the words as he talks. A few minutes later, he re-enters. “Silvanov says he’d mentioned Carolina’s father had some thoughts on this and was going to call you today to discuss as things became clearer. From now on, I share everything with you, and vice versa.”

Samuel gives him a viciously feral smile. “Thank you, fuck face.”

“Do you mind giving us a few minutes?” Marcus addresses me.

I nod and walk to the door, but Samuel’s voice stops me. Low and firm.

“She stays.”

13. Samuel

Chapter 13

Samuel

I’ll fucking give Andrius and K it with both barrels for pulling this. I don’t give a shit if Lord Up-his-own-arse demanded Marcus’ involvement be kept quiet, or that K was going to get around to telling me at a snail’s pace; I’m most definitely a need-to-know part of this equation.

“What is this new threat?” Marcus asks, as he sips at the tea Carolina made for him.

She offered drinks and niceties and tried her best to clear some of the tension from the air. It hasn’t worked.

“Ladies first,” I reply as I gesture for him to speak.

“Don’t take it out on me, Reaperman. I was simply following orders. The client asked for my involvement to be kept on the downlow.”

“Stupid to keep shit from the person protecting the Lord’s daughter.” I shake my head.

“Yes and no. It wasn’t a long-term plan, for fuck’s sake. They were going to call you today. Stop getting your panties in a twist. They simply wanted me to have a few days to look into this as it is highly sensitive.”

“So? Spill.” I fold my arms and wait.

“It seems the people threatening Lord Henningborne and by extension, Carolina, are not from the crime syndicate we believed them to be.”

“I thought it was a few influential people who had become too involved with local street level gangs and were upset that they might be identifiable from the, somewhat similar, descriptions of the fictional characters?” Carolina sums the whole thing up succinctly.

“Yes. That’s what your father thought. Then something odd happened.”

“What?” I lean forward.