Page 65 of Provoke You

“Yeah, do that. She’s on her own because of us.”

After Kitt went back to our makeshift operations center, Ela stepped toward me and hugged me. “The mission isn’t over until it’s over, huh?”

“Something like that. How’s this for a normal day?”

“I think I have a few options for you if you want to explore other normal situations.” She pulled my hair at the nape of my neck and made me look at her. “You can’t save everyone, Marine.”

“I know that.”

“Let me take you to dinner.” She rubbed my cheek.

When her dad wasn’t bogging her down with his bullshit, her light was impossible to resist. It was what her followers needed from her too. “Okay. I’m in for dinner.”

Our normal day continued for the rest of the morning. Ela set up an office in the dining room and made several phone calls. First to arrange our dinner for tonight and then to make the necessary repairs in the Baroness kitchen. Judging by her conversation with the vendors she called, the kitchen would need a full-on renovation.

She didn’t think that was a big deal, which left me wondering why her dad thought she wasn’t ready to take over the reins of LB. She couldn’t or wouldn’t see it, but her dad wasn’t the guy she thought. Or the guy I thought he was. He was shady as fuck, and he had no qualms about manipulating Ela into doing what he wanted. Why else would she step down and let him control everything?

I retired to my ops room too and made arrangements with Ben to meet the following day so Ela could sign the papers he prepared. He also asked me to stay close to her until Andre received the proper notification. Like me, Ben didn’t trust Ela’s dad and he truly believed she was in danger. She was taking a huge risk to get her hotel back. I just hoped it wasn’t too late.

“You can’t wear that to dinner. You need a jacket.” Ela walked into our ops room, her eyes big as she surveyed every corner of it. “I had no idea you had all this going on.”

I wrapped my fingers around her elbow and ushered her back to the kitchen. “Please pretend you didn’t see that.”

“Done.” She ran her index finger and thumb over her lips as if she were sealing them. “I won’t tell a soul. You can trust me.”

“I do trust you. Let me go change. Where are we going anyway?”

“Chase has all the intel. You can relax.”

“Intel?”

“That’s what he called it. Go change.” She waved in the general direction of the stairs.

Upstairs, I donned my usual dark suit and sat on the edge of the bed. This new normal was too good, too good to be true. Ela made me happy, and that scared the shit out of me. But she was right. I had to relax and enjoy our time together. Not everyone was Mom.

“Much better.” Ela’s cheeks turned red as she waited for me at the bottom of the stairs. Did she know how much she drove me crazy when she did that? She’d also changed into one of her usual insanely hot outfits of a sequined short skirt and silky top.

“This is us being normal?”

“Who’s to say what normal really is. For sure, this is us trying.”

“Okay.” I liked that because right now all we could do was try. When we stepped outside, Chase waited in front of the steering wheel. “You got Chase into this?”

“He lost the coin toss.” She climbed in the back seat of the car. “I hope you’re hungry and not afraid of ghosts.”

I laughed and relaxed against my seat. “I don’t know a single person who isn’t afraid of ghosts.”

The restaurant was all of five minutes away. We could have walked, but I was sure that made Chase uneasy. We still didn’t know who wanted Ela dead. She took my hand and pulled me inside a building on Iberville St. The place was ornate and had a French feel to it, with sixteen glass chandeliers hanging high above our heads.

“We’re eating upstairs in the haunted part of the restaurant. No one likes to dine up there.”

“I can’t imagine why.”

“Do you mind if we stop by the bar and say hi to my friend? No drinks.”

“Not at all. This is your night.” I followed Ela past the main dining room to a bar tucked away between salons reserved for private events.

She sat at the barstool facing the white-subway-tiled wall lined with four shelves of booze. “He’s usually here. We’ll come back later.” She hopped off the seat and led me upstairs.

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