Total pages in book: 29
Estimated words: 27466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 27466 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 137(@200wpm)___ 110(@250wpm)___ 92(@300wpm)
Colin reaches over my shoulder and taps a photo of Lila grinning at Marina. The two are trying on clothes at the mall. I don’t know if Marina had ever stepped foot in a mall prior to befriending Lila. All of Marina’s clothes were bought off the runway or in boutiques where she made purchases from a selection of outfits her personal shopper had arranged.
“Do you think her dad put her up to this?”
Old man Kovalenko has not signed the contract we had agreed upon. Each time that I call him, he is out of the office. I’m going to have to fly to London to pin him down, but I don’t want to leave Beau and Lila. Lila, especially, seems to be in more danger than Beau. At least Beau listens to me and stays put when I tell him to. Lila doesn’t hear a word I say and pays even less attention to the rules I’ve put in place.
The only things that she has agreed to is the existence of Jessup, her bodyguard, and no men in the house. From what Jessup reports to Captain Park, Lila does appear to be abiding by the no men rule out of the house, too, which is why I’ve been able to tolerate her leaving the house at all. One sight of a man in these photos, and she would be locked up in the house.
I want to do that anyway, but she’d find a way to escape.
“Maybe we should send her away,” Colin suggests.
Dark anger thickens my throat. “Absolutely not.” It takes everything not to bellow at Colin, but he sees the storm in my eyes and backs away, all the way out of my office.
I shouldn’t be angry at him for voicing the thought I’ve entertained a million times since Lila arrived at the house.
When I arrive home, Lila and Beau are watching an anime.
“Drix, come watch with us.” Beau pats a space on the floor next to him.
I oblige, folding my long legs underneath me. “Is this your spy kid show?” He has told me about it before. The orphan kid read people’s minds and was trying to navigate life using this skill. Her success depended on who she was listening to—sort of the garbage in/garbage out theory. If she relied on someone who was dumb as shit, she got into trouble.
“Yeah.” Beau tilts his head. “You’re not a spy, right?”
The kid’s adopted dad was a spymaster. “No, and Lila is not a hit woman.” The mother was a hired assassin.
“We don’t know that.”
“Right. You don’t know that, Mason. I could be hiding that from you like the Thorn Princess hides from Twilight.”
“Drix.”
“Huh?”
“He wants you to call him Drix, like the rest of us,” Beau helpfully chirps.
I brush my hand over his hair. “That’s my boy.”
Beau beams at me. “So you could be Twilight while I’m sleeping or at school. And Lila could be Thorn Princess taking out bad guys.” He points a fake rifle and shoots at imaginary targets. “And I could help you both with my psychic skills.” He drops his fake rifle and presses his fingers against his temple. “Right now you’re thinking…”
God, I hope he can’t read minds because right now I’m watching Lila gaze fondly on Beau and imagining what it would be like if she was pregnant.
“Does Anya, the child mind reader, have a sibling?”
Beau wrinkles his nose. “No. She doesn’t want one either. Neither do I.” Beau’s face grows stony. He folds his small arms over his chest and glares at the television.
Lila laughs, but it’s a tinny, odd sound as if she doesn’t find this funny. “I’m not pregnant, Beau, so there’s no worries there.”
“Not you, Lila,” Beau lets out a loud sigh. “You’re my sister. It’s him.”
Beau points an accusing finger at me.
“Me?” I point to myself. “Why am I in this?”
“Because Mrs. Wilson at school says that there’s no way you aren’t going to get married and have babies soon.” Beau pins me with narrowed eyes. “Is that what you do at the office all day? Get married and have babies?”
I almost choke to death swallowing my laughter. I glance at Lila to share my amusement with her, but she’s not smiling. Instead, she’s looking pissed off. Does she think I’m going to abandon Beau for some random woman? Set up house without him?
“Nah, Beau. I read a lot of papers. Take phone calls. Have meetings. There is no getting married and having babies at my office. You can come sometime when you’re done with school and watch me. I am woman-free there. In fact, the only female I spend any time with is right here.”
Beau swivels toward his sister. “You mean Lila?”
“I do.”
Beau falls silent for a minute and then pipes up. “Okay. You can marry Lila. I’m okay with that. But no babies. I don’t like babies.”