“What’s happened?” I ask, on alert.
“I don’t know. We’ve been summoned to IVI headquarters.”
“Summoned?”
“I just got off the phone with Hildebrand’s secretary. They’re calling in Sovereign Sons. Meeting starts in half an hour.”
“That’s unusual. Any idea what it is?”
He shakes his head. “The compound is on lockdown. That’s all I know.”
“Lockdown?” The last time that happened was during an execution over two years ago.
“We should go.”
I nod. “I’ll get Dex out here to manage this.” I tell the men I’m leaving and get my phone out to text Dex on my way. I want to tell Isabelle where I’m going but hear her from just beyond the library door. She’s having her lesson and I take a moment to appreciate the music, but decide not to interrupt. I’ll see her when I’m back.
Zeke drives us to the compound. We arrive with a string of other vehicles and hand the car off to the waiting valets. Men exchange greetings with one another and it’s obvious no one knows what this is about. Judge and Santiago approach as we’re ushered to the main building.
“Any idea what’s going on?” I ask after we shake hands.
“Not sure,” Judge says. “All I know is something happened at the Cat House last night.”
The Cat House is essentially a high-end whore house. The most beautiful of courtesans are kept by The Society for use by Sovereign Sons. I realize how fucked up it sounds, but they’re supposedly paid well and work of their own free will. I guess it’s some of what our fees buy. Another perk.
“I don’t think it’s a simple reprimand if they’ve called us all in,” Santiago says because there have been one or two instances where things got out of hand, and someone needed to be reprimanded.
“No,” Judge agrees, expression serious. I wonder if he knows more than he’s letting on, but our conversation comes to an end when we enter one of the more somber rooms within the compound where large meetings are conducted. It’s one of the few, outside of the ballrooms, that can hold us all.
Zeke and I take our seats alongside each other at the ancient oak table. Santiago and Judge are across from us. There’s a buzz of noise as people speculate what is going on. Why the urgency. They only quiet once the last of the men enters, the door is closed and the gong sounds.
I look around the table. Every seat is taken and a few men stand along the walls. No refreshments apart from water is offered, which is rare for any meeting at the compound.
This is serious. And I know when I glance to my brother that he and I are just realizing the same thing. Carlton Bishop is absent.
The door opens then and the silence becomes absolute as Councilor Hildebrand enters wearing his official robe. One of the guards guides him to his seat at the head of the table and sets the folder in front of the councilor. We all watch and wait as, once he’s settled, he glances to the other guard and nods.
The door he just came through is opened once more and to my shock, in comes Julia Bishop holding her son’s hand. The little boy is about four years old with a mop of curly blond hair and big, frightened blue eyes. He’s wearing a dark suit and has his thumb in his mouth. She walks swiftly but his steps are slow as he takes in this room full of strangers. I see her tug at his hand to hurry him along.
This is no place for a child. The boy is clearly frightened. Why would she bring him here? And what the hell is she doing here?
I realize then she’s dressed more somberly than usual. Almost more modestly. Almost. She’s wearing a long-sleeved black dress with a high neck that hangs just beneath her knees, paired with five-inch black patent leather heels. Her hair is contained in a simple but elegant bun at the nape of her neck, and she’s pinned a black lace bobble into it. Her eyes are lined with dark liner and her lips are painted clown-red.
She comes to stand at Hildebrand’s right hand and must realize her son is sucking his thumb because she pulls his hand away from his mouth. He looks up at her and sets his little hand at his side, but I see the effort it takes him to keep it there. It’s when she lifts her downcast gaze to the men gathered around the table and they land on me, that I get a sinking feeling I know what is coming.
“Gentlemen,” Hildebrand begins.
“It’s Bishop,” Zeke whispers.
I nod but don’t reply as Hildebrand continues. “As you know the compound is on lockdown. This is something the other Councilors and I take very seriously. Given the circumstances and the delicacy of the situation, we deemed it appropriate.”
“What’s going on, Hildebrand?” Someone calls out. “Let’s not stand on ceremony.”
Hildebrand seems irritated by the interruption but gathers himself. “I invited you here today with both sad and happy news. First, the sad. I would like to advise you about an incident that took place in The Cat House early this morning. At approximately four o’clock, a few of our guests were indulging in…” he pauses and I’m sure it’s a practiced pause, “a group activity,” he says. He glances at the little boy with a look that makes it clear he has no idea how to behave around a small child. “It was during this event that our own Carlton Bishop met with tragedy. He succumbed to a heart attack and passed away on the premises.”
There’s an immediate and collective noise as the men gathered start to murmur their surprise and shock. The questions begin, but the Councilor raises his hand to quiet the table. It takes me a full minute to process this news.
My gaze shifts from Hildebrand to Julia Bishop. Because what the fuck is she doing here? Women are never or very rarely allowed to attend such a gathering even if Carlton Bishop is her cousin.
“And while we investigate the details of this unfortunate event, I have learned of happy news,” he says, again glancing at the boy.
He forces his mouth into a smile and extends a hand to the boy who recoils. I get it. His mother, though, takes his hand, the one that wasn’t in his mouth, and sets it in Hildebrand’s ancient one. Hildebrand tugs the boy forward and the child begins to suck vigorously on his free thumb again.
My heartbeat is somehow controlled. My face a mask. I am calm as I watch what’s going on. I feel the eyes of the men around the table slowly fall on me as we all begin to understand the only thing this can be about. Why a woman and her four-year-old boy are in this room at all.
“It turns out that our dear Carlton Bishop, whose wives failed to produce a single heir, was a father after all.”
Hildebrand’s eyes land on me. I meet them, then shift them to Julia standing behind him. Her gaze locks on mine the moment I meet hers. She’s barely able to keep one corner of her mouth from curving upward.
“Mathew Bishop is the product of a love affair between Carlton and his cousin, Julia Bishop.”
Someone makes a gagging noise. They are first cousins. Is that even legal? At least it wipes that satisfied smirk off Julia’s face. As she shifts her gaze to the man who made the sound, I can see her mind working. Cataloging the name.
“As times are modern, of course, such a pairing would not be approved by The Society and thus the two had kept their love a secret.” What love is he talking about? The man died at a whore house. Probably balls deep in one of the courtesans. “But now that Mr. Bishop has passed, well, the important thing is we welcome his descendent into the fold with all the respect due him.” Hildebrand stands and turns to the child looking up at the old man towering over him. Matty immediately begins to sob.