I nodded. “Before you do, did you learn anything new from Camille Story?”

  He grimaced, his mouth twisting. “Yeah, actually. She said Quinn has someone else in her camp.”

  That wasn’t good, and how the fuck had I missed that?

  “Quinn is digging for information on us, right? Did you get that from her?”

  He frowned. “Yeah. Sorry. I should’ve said that first. Camille admitted she was tapped by Quinn to get as much info from her as possible. Then they started a weird friendship, but Camille was asked to try and dig up more info on you and Bailey—Bailey specifically.”

  “Bailey? Not you?”

  He shook his head. “No, and I pressed. She said she was only saying what she was saying because she was happy it wasn’t me anymore. I don’t think she meant to let that slip, but she shut up right after for a long while. She got a funny look on her face, like she realized she was saying too much. She tried to turn the tables and push me for information. Think that’s the only reason she came, because Hoda said I was drunk. I was acting it up. She thinks I forgot to pay my bill, that we dined and ditched. I’m sure she’s going to give Quinn that tidbit on me, but she said Hoda’s a tapped well. Which makes sense; it’s why she’s letting Hoda move out without a fuss.”

  “Quinn wanted to scare Chrissy away from Peter. That was what started the whole thing.”

  Matt was nodding. “And it didn’t work. It brought Chrissy closer.”

  “So Quinn wanted Bailey dead, thought that would push Chrissy away. That Chrissy would blame Peter.”

  “Which she might’ve, but it didn’t happen.”

  “Evidence is solid on her. She was released on bail, but her trial is starting and she’s got one person that we know looking into Bailey and myself. You’re saying according to that same asset, Quinn’s got a second in her pocket. Why? For her trial?”

  Matt shook his head. “I don’t know, but…” He was frowning, his forehead scrunched up. “Didn’t it come out that the Arcane team did that, hoping it would get them in Calhoun’s good graces? But Quinn said they were stupid, that he’d never have approved that move?”

  “Yeah.”

  It didn’t feel right. None of it felt right.

  Quinn and my grandfather were together in my head, but maybe they weren’t really together. They weren’t. I knew they weren’t. So why did I keep putting them together? Were they working as an alliance? Against whom? Me? Was it something else? A different target? A different person?

  “Okay.” Matt clamped a hand on my shoulder, moving past me. “I’m exhausted. I had a whole night of faking the doughnut, and then I went and didn’t fake the doughnut, but I need sleep.”

  “Do I want to ask who you didn’t fake the doughnut with?”

  Matt grinned. “No one special, but she’s also no one married.”

  “That’s something.” I added, “You need a shower.”

  “That, too. Maybe later.” He headed toward his section of the house, his hand in the air. “Let’s save the world after I get a good twelve hours of sleep, yeah? Try not to slay too many dragons until I’m back awake. You and me, dude. We’re Team Katt.”

  I snorted. “I don’t want a team name for us. That’s your thing with Bailey.”

  “You’re right. You’d never be a part of Team Batt.”

  He headed off, and I looked up, seeing Marie stepping out from the kitchen hallway. She had a knowing look on her face, along with a steaming mug in her hand.

  I started for her. “Is that for me?”

  She held it up. “Three shots of espresso.”

  Thank fuck.

  FOURTEEN

  Kash

  I was in Peter’s study, working on some items.

  Peter was working at his desk while I was on one of his leather couches in the corner. The door opened.

  Peter looked up from his computer and instantly a loving smile lit up his face. “Come in, honey.”

  Seraphina darted inside, dressed in her robe and pajamas, her hair long and hanging free. I grinned at the slippers she was wearing, the flamingo pair that Bailey had given her. And it was one of those moments where I was thankful to be staying at the Chesapeake for the time being. If we weren’t here, I wouldn’t see that Seraphina wore Bailey’s gift this evening, and that they were a permanent fixture on her feet every night when she dressed for bed.

  “What’s going on?”

  Peter scooted his chair and Seraphina went around his desk, draping herself half on his arm. Her head lowered to his shoulder. She hadn’t noticed I was in the room. I was thankful for that, too. Seraphina tensed around me, I’d noticed. I knew there’d been a moment when she had a crush on me, but I thought that was gone. I can’t say I was a fan of her stiffening whenever I was around, either.

  Peter glanced at me over her head and I shook mine, just slightly.

  He blinked, the slightest nod to me, and he leaned back, lifting his arm. He rolled his seat and shifted his daughter so her back was to me. “What’s going on?” he repeated his question.

  It was warm in the study. A fire was lit in the fireplace. Peter’s walls were floor-to-ceiling bookshelves, except for a loft set up in the top corner of the room. Another couch up there pulled out into a bed. He had a bar set in a corner of the room, and patio doors that led outside.

  Seraphina was leaning heavily on one of his legs. Her mouth was close to his shirt, but I caught enough to hear “Bailey will be okay?”

  His hand flexed before smoothing up and down over her back. “Are you worried about Bailey?”

  Her head moved up and down into his shirt and shoulder.

  “She’s going to be just fine.”

  Her head lifted up. She looked at him. I could see her biting down on her lip from the side. “But what’s wrong with her? She was doing better, and now she’s not again. She’s got the vacant look in her eyes.”

  I sucked in my breath, my hand jerking as I laid down the paper I’d been holding.

  Of course they would notice. If Seraphina was coming to Peter, I knew she and Cyclone had talked about it.

  I hadn’t let myself really think about them in the midst of everything, but hearing the words come out of Seraphina’s mouth hit me hard.

  I had neglected them. Her and Cyclone both.

  I kept a good relationship with them, until Bailey had come to the estate this summer. Then it had become all about Bailey, about Calhoun, and minimal policing of Matt’s activities.

  Was this why she froze around me?

  “Emotions can be up and down. You can get happy, then you’ll get sad, and it is a bit more dramatic with Bailey because she’s experiencing such intense emotions right now. It’s her grief, sweetheart. She’ll be okay. She’s already getting better,” Peter said gently.

  His hand kept rubbing up and down her back. He was smiling softly at her.

  She laid her head against his shoulder, heaving a deep sigh before mumbling, “Yeah. Okay. If you say so.”

  “I know so.” He jostled her playfully. “You doing okay otherwise?”

  There was a pause before she replied.

  “Yeah. I’m okay.”

  He frowned down at her, his eyebrows pulling in together. “What’s that about?”

  “Nothing.”

  “Hey.” He tapped her softly under the chin. “What’s going on? Let your dad in, let him know what you’re thinking.” He grinned at her. “I’m feeling cold out here. Let me in so I’m nice and warm.”

  She snorted. “God, Dad. You’re such a dork.”

  His grin only deepened.

  “Give your pops a bone. What’s going on behind that beautiful face of yours?”

  Another snort, but she was smiling. She jerked up a shoulder. “I’m just worried about Bailey, and…” The pause was pregnant.

  A sniffle.

  Peter’s eyes lifted to mine.

  I sat up straighter.

  “What’s going on with Mom? I mean…” She ducked her head again. “CanweseehersometimeyouthinkCyclonemissesher.” She finished in a rush, and damn.

  Panic flared over Peter’s face.

  Peter looked cautious before he moved farther back, leaning down so he could look Seraphina in the face. “Heya, cupcake.”

  Seraphina’s response: “Heya back, pound cake.”

  “You’re missing your mom?”

  She didn’t reply at first, then her head bobbed up and down. I heard a sniffle. “Yeah.”

  “You and Cy talk about your mom?”

  Another pause. “Yeah.” A third sniffle.

  “Well, she’s in a criminal trial. You know what that’s all about?”

  Seraphina didn’t reply, not right away.

  “That’s ’cause of what she tried to do to Bailey, right?”

  “Yeah.” Peter was speaking so quietly now. He visibly swallowed. “Your mom wasn’t thinking right, and she decided to do something to hurt your sister—”

  “But that’s why Bailey came to us, right? Because of what Mom tried to do.”

  “Yeah.” His voice grew rough. Hoarse. “And because she tried to hurt Bailey again.”

  Seraphina pressed even closer to Peter, whispering, “But she wouldn’t hurt us, would she?”

  Peter froze.

  He blinked at her. “Well. The thing with your mom is that I don’t know. Something’s wrong for her to try and do what she did to your sister twice. You can go and see her, but I have to go, or another chaperone has to be with you. The court won’t allow her to be alone with you and Cyclone, not now anyways.”

  “What about Aunt Payton? Is she going to come back, too?”

  Peter frowned again, his head inching back to take in his daughter’s face more clearly. “Would you like Aunt Payton to come back?”

  She nodded.

  “You miss Aunt Payton?”

  “She’s nice.” Her head went down again. She started scratching idly at Peter’s armrest of his chair. “She draws with me, and she talks to Cyclone about his robots. I know he misses her.”

  A look flashed over Peter’s face, his features hardening a second before he blinked and it cleared.

  I frowned, seeing it.

  “Okay.” He coughed, clearing his throat. “I’ll—um—I’ll have a word with Marie and then give Payton a call. I’m sure she would love to come and spend more time with her favorite niece and nephew.”

  Seraphina giggled. “Dad. You’re silly.”

  He chuckled, softening. “Only for you, cupcake.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” She wrapped her arms tight around him, squeezing. “Thanks, pound cake.”

  Another chuckle as he watched her leave the office. She never looked toward my corner, and I was glad. She had an easier bounce to her step, and if she saw me, I knew that lightness would evaporate. I would need to dedicate quality time to Seraphina to find out the reason why I made her uneasy, and she was the most reserved of the Francis children. Handling Sera- phina was like moving a delicate diamond found in nature. You saw the gem there, the beauty of it, but you needed to be gentle in washing away the dirt that it grew from.

  Once the door closed, Peter let out an audible breath, leaning back in his chair. “Fuck.”

  I picked up my paper, feeling a bit tight in the throat myself. “Yeah.”

  He groaned, sitting up. “I could use a drink. Want one?”

  “No, I’m good.”

  He poured some whiskey in a glass and shook his head, right before taking a drink. “Quinn doesn’t deserve her children’s love, that’s for damned sure.”

  “But she has it.”

  “Yeah,” he bit out. “She does have that, doesn’t she?” His eyes narrowed, focusing on me. “What’s up with you and Seraphina? You didn’t want her to know you were here.”

  “I don’t know.” I spoke the truth. “That’ll take time and a gentle hand to find out what’s going on there, but she gets tense with me. I didn’t want her to do that this time.”

  His eyes never moved from me. “And you’re going to take the time to get to the bottom of that? I don’t like having my little girl feeling a weird way about you.”

  I scowled at him. “Of course, I will. You think I enjoy it?”

  He relaxed, swirling his drink around in its glass. “I know your concentration is pulled in a few other directions, but Seraphina’s always loved you and looked up to you. I wouldn’t want anything to get in there and put a permanent wedge between you two.”

  My scowl faded to a frown. “I can’t help but wonder if it’s something with Quinn?”

  He grunted. “Damn that woman. The trial starts soon, too.” He finished the rest of his glass and poured himself a second, taking it back to his desk and sitting down. “I’m going to have to talk to Marie. She’ll have to learn how to coexist with having Payton here.”

  Wait.

  “Payton’s the reason Marie was sent on a vacation before?”

  He nodded, wincing before setting his whiskey on his desk and turning to his computer screen. “It was Marie. She threw a fit that Payton was here, but I needed Payton here. Ser and Cyclone love their aunt. I figured it was better to have her here when Quinn was just arrested. Marie came back when I sent Payton away, which was for Bailey’s sake. I know she looks so much like her sister, but everyone’s going to have to deal with it all. Payton’s a good woman. Bailey and Marie will both see that.”

  His eyes locked on mine. “Right?” That word came out as an ominous warning.

  I shook my head. “Calm down, old man. You have no arguments about Payton from me. I’ve been around the woman and know she’s nothing like her sister.”

  “You’re right about that.” He grimaced, leaning back in his chair. A haunted expression came over him. “Sometimes I think I did wrong in choosing Quinn. But I can’t think like that, because I got Seraphina—” He cut himself off.

  Then he just sighed. “Life is sometimes just a bitch, isn’t it?”

  I didn’t answer. I didn’t think Peter was talking to me.

  FIFTEEN

  Bailey

  “It’s been three weeks. That’s a reasonable amount of time for me to give you space.”

  I was back at school. Correction: I’d been back at school for the last three weeks, but I was currently in the library. My computer was set up. My textbooks next to me. I had one ethics paper to write on cyber laws, and one cup of coffee to last me through half of it. I’d been on my phone, texting Matt to bring caffeine reinforcements, when Hoda approached my table in a huff.

  Melissa was with me, and both of us looked up at Hoda’s arrival.

  She said her piece, dropped her backpack on the floor, and slumped into the chair across from me.

  We were at our own table, set between the bookshelves to help with some privacy, but it wasn’t lasting. Students walked past each aisle on the regular, though I did pick all the way up on the eighth floor. I was bound and determined to finish this paper before heading home.

  I had plans.

  Like helping Seraphina with her latest school project and prying all the details about her new boy crush. I wanted to help Cyclone. Apparently his computer club was into AI enough where I was getting alarmed. They were talking about robots and the ramifications of how much they actually resembled conversations like the Terminator movies. And then after that, Kash was back from traveling abroad. When I asked where he was flying to, he only said Greece. That made me think of Victoria, and I knew Matt had talked about some party at Naveah this weekend. I had plans to skip it, but I wanted to scope out the lay of the land before Kash got home.

  Meaning that if Victoria was back, because she’d been MIA since the Aspen trip from hell, then I definitely wanted to track her down and do my own sort of interrogation about what had happened in Greece with her grandfather. Kash had given me the CliffsNotes, but I still wanted to hear what Victoria would say.

  I frowned at Hoda now. “What are you talking about?”

  She looked at Melissa. “Do you mind? I’m not trying to be rude, and I’m aware I come off that way, but this is personal for me. I’d rather not have an audience when I make Bailey do something we’ve all taken oaths not to do.”

  Melissa’s mouth was open. She was half gaping. “What…”

  “Hacking. Or unhacking. I need her to unhack something.”

  Oh, crap.

  Melissa’s phone buzzed, and she read the text. A small and slight giggle left her before she bit down on her lip, looking at us. “You know what? This is perfect timing. I, uh, have something.” She grabbed her books, put her laptop in her bag, and was ready to go in a flash. “I’ll see you all later, then?”

  Her bag was swung up on her back.

  We watched as she pulled her other arm through the strap before Hoda turned back to me. She was being all fierce-like. “Our deal. I know you had a setback after you hacked Camille—and by the way, she has no idea. I’m living with Liam, but I talked to her yesterday. She didn’t say a word, and I know her—she would’ve been blowing my phone up if she ever figured it out.” She slid her fists over the table toward me and uncurled them, her thumbs sticking up. “So two thumbs up for that feat. But back to me. You said you’d pull your program from my stuff.” She was all business and no nonsense. “I want to watch you do it.”

  She was right. I’d had a setback, but it hadn’t lasted too long.

  Grief was a cycling tornado. It hit, and it hit hard. It left a trail to recuperate afterward. You recuperated, and then it swung back again for destruction.

  Hoda cleared her throat, staring at me pointedly.

  Right.

  She was here. She said something. Brain, go back, and what did she say?

  “I want to watch you do it.”

  Got it.

  “Now? Are you sure?”

  Her eyebrows arched up. “You can do it now? On your laptop?”

  I nodded. “I have it set up to do it anywhere.”

  She groaned, closing her eyes. She lowered her head, folded her arms, and laid her forehead over her arms. “Why me?” She lifted her head and her eyes opened. “I had it all worked up in my head. You could break into accounts but you had to do it in a certain room, with a certain computer, and there were all these precautions you had to take. You had to at least work for it. Nope.” She snapped her fingers, leaning back in her chair, her shoulders slumping. “You can do it here. Now. Just like that. With your freaking laptop, that you can take anywhere. Of course. Of course!” She looked upward. “Why couldn’t I have been the genius in our program?”