Total pages in book: 81
Estimated words: 78850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 394(@200wpm)___ 315(@250wpm)___ 263(@300wpm)
“Yes.”
Hugo connected the meeting, and that was when I saw Jeremiah, my lead analyst in Botswana. “Mr. Beaufort, how are you?”
I hated small talk, so I didn’t answer. “Give me an update.”
“Of course, sir.” Jeremiah seemed unaffected by my callousness. He was used to it by now. “The new mines have been fruitful, yielding some of the largest stones we’ve secured. Transport will begin soon.”
“Good.”
“But we do have an issue.”
“Always do.” I drank from the glass sitting in front of me.
“The competition has found our location. They’ve begun their dig from the opposite end of the mountain. It is my belief that they’re trying to reach our mine as covertly as possible.”
“Dunglar?”
“Not sure, but most likely.”
“You’d think he’d learned his lesson.”
“In my experience, you cut off the head of the snake, it grows two more.”
I gave a slight smirk. “Well said, Jeremiah.” We finished our meeting, and then I was returned to the screen where Hugo waited for me.
“Hope all is well.”
“It wouldn’t be well if I didn’t have to kill someone.” I took a bite of the smoked salmon with the brie then grabbed a few berries. “What did you want to discuss?”
“I hate to trouble you while you’re on vacation—”
“I’m always on vacation, Hugo.”
“On the contrary, you’re the hardest working person I know, sir.”
I ignored what he said. “What is it, Hugo?”
“A woman has visited the residence more than once looking for you.”
That wasn’t that unusual. “Name?”
“Camille.”
“I don’t know a woman by that name.”
“I assumed so. I’ve tried to dissuade her, but she says it’s urgent that she speak with you.”
“About what?” I asked, growing impatient. “She’s just desperate for my attention, like all the others.”
“I thought so too, until she mentioned Grave.”
I was about to reach for my drink, but the name shattered my thoughts. My arms returned to my knees, and I stared at Hugo, eyes narrowed, my temper primed. “What about him?”
“She wouldn’t say more. The only reason she confessed that much is because she was being escorted from the property.”
“She made it on to the property?”
“She’s determined, sir.”
I stared at the screen, feeling my annoyance in my clenched jaw.
“How would you like me to handle this?”
I rubbed my palms together, frustrated that the past was knocking on my front door. “If you see her again, threaten to kill her. If that doesn’t dissuade her, then shoot her in the fucking head.”
FOUR
CAMILLE
The property was surrounded by French limestone, and the golden gates were far too high and precarious for me to climb. The grooves in the stone were deep enough for my fingers, so I climbed to the top and dropped to the other side of the property. Lush landscape gave it complete privacy. A fountain was in the center of the roundabout, large lily pads and fallen flowers floating on the surface.
I’d never seen Cauldron in the flesh, and as far as I could tell, he never came and went from his property.
It made me wonder if his butler was telling the truth—that he really wasn’t home.
I walked to the front doors, rang the doorbell several times to announce my presence, and waited for the butler to answer.
He opened the door, his expression far more irritated than it’d ever been before. “Mademoiselle—”
“Just let me talk to him. I’ll take a phone call at this point, alright?”
With one hand on the door, he stared me down. “Your entitlement is very obnoxious, to say the least. Mr. Beaufort’s time is extremely valuable, and it’s not for you to claim just because you say so. Consider this your final warning. Trespass on Mr. Beaufort’s property again, and you’ll be shot.”
“Shot?” I asked incredulously. “Come on, you’re really going to shoot me even though I clearly pose no threat to you?”
“Your disturbance is enough reason,” he said. “And it wouldn’t be the first time.”
Wow, okay. “Your threat would be a lot more terrifying if I weren’t running from threats far worse than yours. Could you tell him that I wish to speak to him about Grave? Just pass on the message.”
“I have,” he said in a bored voice. “I wish I could convey how little he cares, but that’s just not possible.”
The disappointment hit me like another punch to the face. “If I could just talk to him—”
“Everyone wishes they could talk to him. But peasants don’t make the rules, royalty does.”
“Wow, I’m a peasant now?”
“Lower than that.” He started to shut the door.
I shoved my foot inside. “I’m not going to stop until he speaks to me. My life depends on it.”
He tried to shut the door. Shut it hard. Even slammed it.
I didn’t move my foot out of principle, even when my eyes watered.
“Mademoiselle, if you don’t leave this property, I will call the police.”
“Good. I’ll tell them you threatened to shoot me when they arrive.”
“They would be unsurprised.” This time, he lifted my foot by the pantleg and dropped it on the other side of the door. “I sincerely hope we never see each other again. Not just for your sake, but for my own sanity.”