Page 59 of The Devil's Torment

A smile tugs at the corners of my mouth. “Fine, I’ll go first. This time.”

“You’re giving in? Are you sick?” She places her palm on my forehead.

I wrap my fingers around her wrist and tug her hand away, pausing to kiss her palm. “A few weeks ago, before Elizabeth…”

I leave the thought hanging, not because I find it hard to say “died.” I don’t, but I know Victoria’s pain at losing her sister is still raw and will be for some time to come.

“Xan found a key hidden in a snow globe in my mother’s old office, and we’ve been trying to find out what it might fit. Christian tracked down an old friend of Mum’s from years back and he thought she might have some insight. I got dragged along for the ride. He promised we’d be back by three, and we would have been, too. Except Jean—that’s her name—she wouldn’t stop talking. I tried to message you to let you know I’d be late, but I couldn’t get a signal. By the time we escaped, it was past four. I thought it’d be better if I explained in person where I went.”

“Did she know what the key fit?”

I shake my head. “No, something we discovered in the first minute, but it seemed unkind to just walk out. From the way she acted, I wouldn’t be surprised if we were the first people she’d spoken to in weeks.”

“That’s so sad.”

“Yeah. I was thinking maybe… oh I don’t know, I could set up a care package for her. Someone to call in once a week to check she has what she needs and stop for a cup of tea or something.”

Victoria beams. “I think that’s a lovely idea. I bet your mum would approve.”

“Yeah.” My voice husks, and from the empathetic look on her face, she thinks it’s grief, but I stopped grieving for my mother and sister a long time ago. The scars left by Mum’s decision to end her life rather than stay and raise her kids still run deep, but the grief has long since faded. I open my mouth to tell her that her pain will fade, too, but I stop myself. Everyone deals with grief differently. Presuming how she’ll feel a year, two years, a decade from now is a dumb move. Elizabeth’s death could be something she struggles with forever.

“Your turn. Where were you?”

Her whole face lights up as she sits up straight. I ache to pull her close to me again. She’s turning into something of an obsession of mine, and I’m not mad about it.

“A few months ago, I set up a company: Montague Interiors. I’ve spent most of my time getting the website how I want it rather than seeking out clients before it was ready. A few days before Beth died”—she winces, then gathers herself—“Eloise’s dad gave me a contact; a man called Anthony Davidson. Then… well, everything happened, and I didn’t get chance to follow up.”

This is the first I’ve heard of it, but I keep my thoughts to myself and let her continue. I do lock away the name Anthony Davidson, though. I’ll research him at the first opportunity.

“After you failed to show, I decided to call him and set up a meeting. I expected it to be sometime next week at the earliest, but he said he had a thirty-minute slot today. That’s when I asked Andrew to drive me.”

“Andrew should have fucking called me and told me where you were going.”

“Oh, stop. Andrew is my bodyguard, not your spy. In fact, if you’ve added spying to his list of duties, I’m firing him and hiring my own bodyguard.”

“You’ll do no such thing,” I growl. “Don’t make me implant a tracker in you like Xan did to Imogen.”

Her jaw drops. “He didwhat?”

I’m surprised Imogen hasn’t told her what he did. I hitch up my right shoulder. “De Vils are possessive bastards. It’s in our DNA. He wanted to keep her safe and to know where she was at all times. So, he had his doctor inject her with a tracker.”

“That’s… fucked up.”

“No. It’s love. His version of it, anyway.”

“If you eventhinkabout putting a tracker in me, I’ll use your toothbrush to clean the toilet and start leaving Lego pieces on your side of the bed. And that’s just for starters.”

I throw back my head and laugh. Pulling her onto my lap, I steal a quick kiss. “Tell me about the meeting. I want to know everything.”

Her eyes sparkle, the light in them dazzling. “Oh, Nicholas, it was amazing. He’s recently bought an old house not that far from here, and he wants me to renovate it. Not me, personally. I mean, he wants me to design the interior and manage the project.” She grips my upper arms and squeezes. “Do you know what this means? If I pull this off, he’ll recommend me to his friends and business partners. For a new company like mine, where I don’t have testimonials yet, this could be huge.”

Until today, I had no idea Victoria had aspirations to work, let alone run her own company. Although my reasoning for taking her on honeymoon was to allow us to get to know one another, all I really discovered was she’s partial to pistachio ice cream and doesn’t like mushrooms. We were too busy fucking to talk.

“I have contacts I can introduce you to.”

She shakes her head so violently, it’s at risk of separating from her neck. “No. Absolutely not. I appreciate the offer, but I want to do this on my own.”

“You’ll accept help from your friend’s dad but not from me. Your husband.”

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