Page 90 of Bind Me

“Keep talking,” Kaden demands. “What does she want with Sasha and the otter? Where can I find her?”

The man chokes for breath as Kaden releases his grip slightly.

“Someone hired her to retrieve the otter, and Lilia said to deliver you a message… that Sasha is being watched, and she wants her out of town, or she’ll get rid of her. And you won’t like how she does it.”

I’m trembling, trying to piece together what this means, but I’m left just as perplexed.

“Where do I find her?” Kaden commands.

“Man, I don’t know that. She found me at a bar and hired me. That’s all I know, honest to God.”

Kaden drags the guy farther from my sight, and I hear the dull thuds and groans as he interrogates him further, I assume. When he returns alone, he appears grim, shoulders bunched up, shadows dancing across his face.

“Did you get anything else from him?” I ask, my voice trembling.

He shakes his head, darkness clouding his features.

“I think I know who’s after Chowder, but I have no idea who Lilia is. Maybe a local mercenary Zane hired?”

“I know who she is.” Kaden’s lips pinch tight. “She’s my grandfather’s business partner. The woman you met on the wharf and who’s been in my visions.”

Chapter 24

Kaden

I’m back at the mansion, pacing the basement like a fucking caged animal. Sasha’s taking a shower, and Chowder’s in the kitchen, eating his weight in food. She was all worked up after the attack, and I didn’t want to discuss the situation until we got back, not when we were so exposed in the parking area. I needed to get us home, to know she and Chowder were safe, before I started dealing with this shit.

The basement is cool and dark, the air thick with the scent of salt and the distant roar of the fjord just outside. It calms me, the water and the stone. I stroll around the enormous room, past the table Sasha jokingly calls the sacrificial stand. It makes me grin every time, the way she teases me about it. But right now, my thoughts are a tangled mess of questions with no answers.

Lilia.

She’s involved with Sasha somehow and has put out a threat on her to leave town. What the fuck for? What threat does Sasha pose to her? What am I damn missing?

I think back to the vision in the car, the one that was different from the previous ones. My grandfather was alone down here in this same basement, and then suddenly, he was heading down a set of dark steps into a hidden area. Inside was a room filled with books he’d written in, line after line of names that made no sense. He was mumbling about a pendant, furious, throwing things about, books strewn everywhere. Frantic and scared. I’d never seen him that way before.

I feel like I’m close to something, something that involves Lilia and somehow Sasha, too, which is the part that boggles my mind. Why her? What connection does she have to this whole mess? And is it connected to my grandfather ending up in Tartarus?

I’m in the back of the basement, the stone walls cool and solid under my hands. The entire place is polished stone—floor, walls, ceiling. Paintings grace some of the walls, ships at sea, mermaids in the water, krakens drowning sailors.

I go around the walls, patting them, pushing, trying to find the hidden door I saw in the vision. It has to be here, right? Frustration gnaws at me.

I don’t remember Grandfather ever telling me about a secret room in the mansion. He told me about the place being grand, about the entrance to the fjord for an easy escape, but not about this room. There must be something he didn’t want anyone to find.

I search every inch of the walls, looking for a trigger or a hidden latch, anything to reveal the room. But by the end, I tense, not finding anything.

I’m not giving up. I’ll find this damn room. There are still rooms upstairs I haven’t touched, some with my grandfather’s items, and maybe there’s something up there that’ll give me a clue.

Upstairs, back in the main part of the mansion, I enter the living room, only to catch a quick glimpse of aquamarine hair and a bare leg disappearing down the hallway from the bathroom. I grin, unable to help myself, and go after my beauty.

I find her in the bedroom, her back to me as she pulls a pair of jeans up over that beautiful curved ass. She grabs a lace bra, fastening it before she turns and startles at the sight of me.

“Fuck, warn someone before sneaking around like a damn stalker,” she scolds, her eyes narrowing playfully.

“I didn’t want to ruin the perfect moment,” I reply, my gaze locked on the way those lace cups hold her breasts in place.

“Hey, eyes up here,” she says, lifting an eyebrow.

“Oh, I know,” I reply, grinning. I can’t stop studying her bra, knowing it’s slightly transparent, trying to make out her nipples.

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