“I said no, so either you stop what you’re doing or I will treat you like the mindless animal you’re pretending to be right now.” My hand closed over my gun, but I didn’t pull it out just yet.

Brent’s face turned expressionless and he took a step back, lifting his hands up. “Fine. Do it your way, but when you come crawling back to me, I might not be here for you.”

“Is that all you had to say to me?” I asked.

“Yes.”

I started for the door, and when I opened it and came out, I nearly ran into James. Goose bumps rose on my skin as his arm brushed mine, and I took a step back.

“I was looking for you,” he said, his eyes focused on me. “I...” His brows drew together. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah.” At least I supposed I was. I didn’t like one little bit what had just happened with Brent, who simply came out of the room, glared at James and me as he passed us by, then strode away down the hallway.

“Meg got her hands on one more message the Desaltis and an unknown party exchanged,” he said. “But the words are coded differently this time, and I’d need to find the keyword.”

“Find it how? And where?” I cocked my head at him.

“My father kept the keywords in a special compartment in our house. Meg told me you didn’t have any of those keywords or you would’ve already decoded everything without my help,” he said. “If I could get those...”

“Whoa, wait, slow down.” I raised my hand. “My men went through everything that was in your father’s houses, including the one where you used to live.” I eyed him carefully. Brent’s warnings came back to my mind, and I wondered if he was maybe right about James. What if James was trying to trick me into doing something that could benefit him or help him escape?

But he could’ve grabbed my gun already on the terrace if he’d wanted to, and he couldn’t know I wouldn’t just send some of my men to fetch the keywords from the safe or wherever they were stored. Or maybe this was about something else. “Are you implying someone stole the keywords?”

“I’m not implying anything. I don’t know what you found or didn’t find, but I know those keywords are kept in a secret compartment and I know where it is. Your men might not have found it because it’s well-hidden.”

“So what are you suggesting?”

“If I could come with you to that house, I could get them.” It looked like he was trying to find a way to get out of this place.

“You know that there’d be a whole lot of guards with us, and if you tried to get away, your mother and sisters...”