Page 32 of Queen of Spades

Grace inhaled sharply next to me, and my blood ran cold, sensing a looming threat in his words. “Interested how?” I asked.

“I cannot say for certain as I was not permitted entry in their main building. But from the documents I saw and the information I got from Dr. Montgomery after severalglasses of scotch, they are running some illegal experiments on powered individuals. I believe they may even have some locked away in that building,” he explained, and bile rose in my throat.

“You knew they might have people locked away somewhere, and you did nothing?” Anders bit out. Gregori nodded calmly, and the rage in my chest rose like a tidal wave, threatening to explode out of me. Grace reached over and took my hand, and I felt a gentle calm wash over me. I gave her a tender smile, running my thumb across her knuckles.

“As much as I would have loved to play savior, I had myself and my child to worry about. I’ve kept a close eye on Mundi Evolutionis over the years, but maintain a careful and necessary distance. I do not believe the powered individuals participating in their studies are there willingly, and they have powerful backers that overshadow a family of our standing. If Doug is working with them, he is playing a reckless and suicidal game.”

“So, should we be concerned that Grace is on their radar now?” I asked, worry filtering up through my chest despite Grace’s soothing charms.

“Absolutely. Their eyes anywhere near Grace or any of us is dangerous,” Gregori replied, and Grace gripped my hand tighter as Anders cursed under his breath.

“We have to kill Doug,” I announced coldly. “Before we have a powerful group of insane scientists breaking down our door.” Gregori and Anders nodded, while Grace looked more than a little green. I gave her hand a gentle squeeze. “I won’t let him, or anyone else, hurt you,” I murmured, ignoring Gregori’s heated gaze. She would not be taken away from me again.

“The house is too fortified, we can’t attack him there,” Anders replied, apparently on board with the whole ‘murdering Douglas’ idea.

“He’s right, Doug’s gotten more paranoid,” Grace announced in a small voice. “The whole place is swarming with security. And he’s got cameras on every inch of the property. There’s no getting in or out.” I grimaced and glanced up at Anders.

“Take him out at Dante’s, then? There’s the risk of public casualties, but if we could get it cleared out somehow, fill it with our men, maybe Sparrow’s?” I ran a hand through my hair, hating this plan more and more by the second. Risking a massacre in public was not an option for me, and it would draw way too much attention, exactly what we needed to avoid.

“It would be better to take him out on route, run him off the road,” Anders muttered. “Preferable to another shootout. We’ll need to monitor his movements for a few days. I’ll ask Levy what he can do for that.” I nodded, the logistics of a plan slowly beginning to form in my head. It wasn’t a good plan, it wasn’t even a smart plan, but with a little luck, it might just work out.

After another hour of tentative deliberations, we had a starting point at least. Gregori, thankfully, had hospital affairs to deal with, so we were dismissed fromthe office with a promise of more discussions to come. I, for one, was just happy to be out of that tense and overbearing room, and I pulled Grace tightly into my arms as soon as the door was shut behind us. “I’m sorry, Angel,” I murmured into her hair as her arms wrapped around my waist.

“You’re really going to kill him, aren’t you?” she murmured against my chest, and I sighed heavily.

“We have to. He’s putting you in danger. All of us, really.” I grimaced, and she tilted her head up to look at me.

“He deserves it,” she whispered, and my grip on her tightened. He deserved an agonizingly slow death for what he did to her. I met Anders’ eyes behind her, his face a mirror-image of my rage. He was refusing to wear his sling anymore, his arm held stiffly at his side instead. Being back in this house was taking its toll on him, I could tell. The dark circles under his eyes were more pronounced than ever.

“We should find the others,” he muttered, and Grace pulled away from me, making my scowl deepen. She glanced up at him, but he just brushed past her, storming off down the hall.

“He’ll come around,” I told her softly, watching her shoulders fall. “Being back here makes him a little… on edge. Just give him time.” I took her hand and squeezed it gently, tugging her down the hall after him.

We congregated in Levy’s room once more since it was the furthest away from Gregori’s office and it was the biggest of the guest rooms. Jesse had already set up camp in there, cozying up to our Ghost while they convalesced together. Although, how much convalescing was happening was up for debate. When we walked in, Anders was watching with his arms crossed a shirtless Jesse and Levy, a fancy-looking decanter of whiskey on the end table as the two participatedin some sort of drinking game. I didn’t know what the rules were, but I thought they were both losing, judging from the amount left in the decanter.

“What’s going on?” Grace giggled. Levy reclined on the loveseat, his hands above his head and a self-satisfied smirk on his face as Jesse rolled his eyes and signed a curse word, reaching for his glass.

“We’re playing charades,” Levy explained with a lazy grin that shocked me. When was the last time he’d been so… chill? Grace laughed and walked over to him. Quick as a whip, he caught her wrist and tugged her down onto his lap, making her yelp with laughter.

“I think you need more people to play charades,” Anders muttered, and Levy rolled his eyes.

“Want to play baby? It’s fun.” Levy smirked, and she kissed him on the tip of his nose.

“Okay, deal me in.” Grace smiled, signing to Jesse. I signed that I’d play too, sitting down next to Levy on the couch.

A sudden image of Grace, naked and writhing between Jesse and Levy flashed in my mind, and I let out a strangled sound. Grace’s jaw dropped open, a blush creeping over her cheeks.

“Eiffel Tower!” Levy announced, signing, and Jesse swore, taking a drink as Levy laughed.

“This is definitely not charades,” I concluded as Levy passed me his glass of whiskey.

“First person to guess the name wins; if you guess wrong, Jesse wins.” Levy shrugged. “Losers drink.” I rolled my eyes and took a swig of whiskey before passing it back to Grace. Her eyes narrowed at Jesse as she took her sip.

“You know I’m a married woman now,” she announced, and I glanced quickly at Anders, who bristled. “You shouldn’t be sending everyone salacious visions of me,” she signed, waggling her finger at Jesse. Jesse grinned, the stitches pulling on one side to give him an adorable, lopsided smirk.

Another image flashed through our heads of Grace and I naked, her legs wrapped around my hips as I sat on the couch. Her body was bent at the waist, spilling off the couch with her hair cascading toward the floor. I could feel myself getting hard.

“Waterfall,” Anders announced coolly, and we all turned to stare at him in shock as he signed his answer.

---