Bryna sighed. "You guys, he's far too happy about that."
“Emma and I will be there, obviously. But we need to get into the private quarters undetected. The more of us, the merrier."
Lucas clapped his hands, rubbing them together. "What kind of entry do we want? Subtle? Do we want flashy? Do we want full-on spy games? Ooooh, masks. I've always wanted to get those wax masks that peel off your face."
Amelia just clapped her hand on his shoulder. "No, no. Please, God, no."
"I don't know, but we're going to need to think of something. The party is in two days. So we need at least Lucas here and another face he won't know," I said.
Everyone glanced around to Amelia and Telly. Telly clapped her hands. "Oh my God, am I being called in for the heist?"
Amelia laughed. "I can't be called in."
Emma shook her head. "Actually, you are Interpol. You could come to find out about the girl. He would know Nyla because Nyla is with East. She has attended at least one Elite event, but not necessarily you. If you attend with someone who has a reason for being here… Ah, yes, like Alex. The guise would be really convincing."
Amelia frowned. "Who’s Alex?"
Telly rolled her eyes. " One of their new recruits."
Amelia wrinkled her nose. "Jesus Christ, aren’t they like twelve?"
Nyla shook her head. "Twenty-three, actually."
Amelia rolled her eyes. "Oh, who wants to take the cougar to work day?"
I shook my head. "Amelia, you're hardly a cougar."
She was twenty-eight. I knew that for a fact. The whole point was, she could pose as his date, giving us another person inside.
Lucas nodded. "All right. I'll come up with something with Amelia and Alex. When we get into the house, what are we going to look for?"
Emma shrugged. "I don't know. Evidence. Bank statements. Go for a safe. Or try and get some blueprints of the villa. And so that you don't go in blind, I can draw you a map of what I have seen since we've been here. That's the best I can do. I can't tell you if there's a safe
room or not."
Lucas grinned. "Oh, have no fear. I have some friends in Barcelona. I'll get an accurate rendering of the house in no time."
I chuckled under my breath. "Is this a question I don't want answered?"
Lucas grinned. "Probably."
"Fair enough." I wrapped an arm around Emma. "All right, those of us over here will deal with Middleton. The rest of you lot try and figure out what we're dealing with in the shadow Elite situation and find out what they could possibly be hiding."
Telly clapped her hands. "Okay fine, if no one's going to send me to Barcelona, and Carmen is still mad at me, I am at your beck and call. East, you and me, together."
East shot me a pleading look. "Please, let me go to Barcelona. I'll be your tech guy on the ground, you know?"
Telly went over and gave him a big hug. Nyla just laughed at them. "The two of you act like you hate each other, but I happen to know you adore each other greatly."
Telly frowned. "I don't pretend I hate him. He just pretends to hate me. But we all know that's just jealousy."
"Everyone have their assignments?" I muttered.
When we finally got off the phone, Emma's mood was slightly lifted. "It's always good to talk to family. I just… I don't know. I feel lost knowing that Dad came to talk to you."
"I know. Should I have told you earlier?"
She shrugged. "There's a lot going on in my head, so maybe not. But I just want to know what he meant. What the hell was he talking about?"
"The good news is, we don't have to figure that out right now, okay? Right now, it's you and me. You have work tomorrow. I'll stay as close as I can, okay?"
"I hate that you have to do that."
I held her tight, wrapping my arms around her and kissing her forehead. "I don't have to do anything. I'm choosing to. Because father or no father, I agreed to look after you. And I love you, so we're in this together, okay?"
"Yeah, okay."
As I pulled her closer, I just hoped and prayed I was going to find a way to get her out of this. A way for her to feel safe. I hoped that I could give that to her.
Thirty-Nine
Emma
I was tense. There was no other way of putting it. I had to smile and stand there and stare at the man who had threatened me, the man who potentially was a murderer.
You don't have the proof.
No, I didn't. But we were going to get it, which meant we had to do this. And worse, Bridge had to stand there and act as if everything was okay when it clearly wasn't. What he wanted to do was put his hands around Middleton's neck and squeeze. For my sake though, and for the sake of us finding the proof we needed, he wouldn't. But he didn't leave my side, which I was grateful for because I could not have maintained the illusion if he hadn’t been right next to me.
In the middle of the party stood Francis Middleton, looking every bit like the czar he thought he was. He smiled at everyone, acting for all intents and purposes like he wasn't a monster. How? How could he do that?
Do you really want a sociopath to explain himself?
Lucas and Bryna were there, and it turned out Telly had come after all as tech support. We really did need someone on tech, and she could fill that role. We also had an unlikely helper from the Winston Isles crew, Ben's cousin, Roone.
Alex had introduced him at lunch that afternoon to one of the girls who didn't want to attend the party without a date. She didn't exactly say why, but she was desperate to find someone to take her. So that had left an opening. Either way, Roone was there, and as her date, he was in the front room. I didn't even have to wonder why she'd wanted a date. I completely understood why Middleton had a distinct lack of female employees.
How many others had he scared? Stalked? Put in danger? Or possibly killed?
I knew we didn't have any proof, but there was no doubt in my mind that he was the one behind the disappearance of Price's wife.
An arm wrapped around my waist, and I jumped a mile, squeaking slightly. "Oh my God."
Bridge's voice was quiet in my ear. "You're okay. I’ve got you. I'm never far away, remember?"
My stomach was still doing cartwheels and flips. Jesus Christ. How the hell was I going to survive? I must have asked out loud because Bridge kissed my temple. "You don't have to do anything dangerous. All we have to do is be here and engage, okay?"
I nodded.
In the center of the room, I watched Middleton as he walked around talking about how great of a retreat it was. His gaze landed on me, and I could feel the prickle of ice chilling my skin and making goosebumps form. "And I just have to say a special thank you to the extremely talented, and of course stunning, Emma Varma. She's been such a help with the clients. Adding that feminine touch that I didn't even know we needed."
There was an uncomfortable chitter around the room. Fifteen employees, not sure if they should laugh, feel embarrassed for me, or worry. Everybody was always on edge around him.
I'd worn my hair down with a jeweled clip holding one side away with expensive diamond chandelier earrings clipped on my earlobes. On the other ear, beneath my hair, I had an ear comm. And I could hear Lucas's play by play.