Page 52 of Unleash Hades
I had no fucking idea.
I had seen his clothes, his ascot, his pompadour hair, but his eyes? I drew a blank.
“It’s not your fault,” he finally said, casting his eyes up to me. They were blue. A crystalline blue, like the dash of light that runs under the ice of a frozen lake. “It’s the ensemble, you see. The outfits. In fact, if I were to show up in a suit as boring as Richard’s, you’d never know I was there.” He placed his hands on his knees and pushed himself to a stand. “It’s just razzle-dazzle.”
He moved to the door, his wrist bent, his fingers grazing the silk at his throat.
“You see, it’s just showmanship,” he giggled.
I heard steps outside. I recognized them like the rhythm of an executioner’s drum. They halted at my door, and it opened, creaking to announce the arrival of the Devil.
“Darling,” Richard greeted with that fake, predatory smile. The kind that never reached his eyes. His brow lifted when he saw that I had company. “Bellamy.”
Bellamy’s demeanor completely changed. His shoulders sloped, his pelvis curved to one side in a more feminine stance, and he grew two inches shorter. His shoulders seemed to slim as his hand flopped, his wrist limp, onto his ascot, stroking it like a fond pet.
“Richard, oh my! Where have you been?” His voice was breathy, and musical again, full of all his usual exuberant affectations. “Calissandra and I were just celebrating a new cooperation. Have you heard of the Underground Circuit? Oh, of course you have! You were with us last night! Silly me, for even asking. There’s a third - can you believe it? - athirdfemale fighter! Well, it seems that there’s practically an epidemic of these women warriors in MMA, and we’re going to do some investigating. Doesn’t that sound like such fun?”
Bellamy walked over to Richard, and traced his fingers over my husband’s jaw in a flirtatious move.
“Just think, with me working with your wife, I’ll be seeing so much more of you! How delightful, yes?” Bellamy leaned forward and sniffed loudly. “Oh, dear, Chanel isnotyour scent.”
Then Bellamy let out a laugh, walked out of the room, his cheerful “cheerio!” floating back towards us until it faded into something as soft as the flutter of a bird’s wings.
What… the… fuck?
Chapter 16
Hugo
“We’ll make second contactwith the asset in Edinburgh,” Philippa said, scraping her tines against the plate as she pushed around her food. “Are you sure you gave her the tracker?”
I did not speak, but instead grunted an affirmation.
I had answered this question so many times before, the words had lost all meaning. So I would no longer be putting it to words.
“She knew what it was?” Philippa’s voice was irritated, and irritating in equal measure. It was a wonder how her husband managed to cope with her.
I shrugged.
“For fuck’s sake,” Philippa pinched the bridge of her nose. “Is this the quality of Caledonia Security?”
“Watch it,” Alastair reprimanded, his lips tilted up in a smile.
Philippa was a force, and a great professional among spies. But she was prone to childish condescension - a habit she got from her cover. Though, I wasn’t thoroughly convinced that I knew where her cover ended, and the real woman began.
“You said you had an agent at the fight,” Rose said, leaning forward. She had not touched her food at all. I did not blame her. It was some strange meatloaf concoction, with a tangy, overly sweet sauce that made my taste buds sore. “We didn’t see him.”
“He saw you, though,” Philippa said before she looked back at me. “He said you fought well, but that the She-Bear had you on the backfoot the whole time. And there was a complication we had to handle.” Philippa sighed. “The matter of the journalist–”
My head popped up. “What journalist?”
Philippa made a circle with her fork, as if she was using it to stimulate her thoughts. “You know the one… Chloe’s pompous sister.”
She was doing this to annoy me. She knew about Cali. They all did. We, as a loose assortment that we called “family” might be able to keep secrets from the outside world, but from one another? We were a fucking mess.
“I thought you were Chloe’s pompous sister,” Alastair said with a smirk.
His wife kicked him under the table and glared at him.
