Page 61 of Unleash Hades
My eyes widened. “What are you doing here?”
He appeared like something from a fairy tale. Dark, brooding, with sun-kissed skin and a stubble that gave him a rakish appearance. He could have been a biker and a criminal - and maybe he was in a previous life. That’s why men ran off to the Legion, didn’t they?
Bellamy was right. I had never questioned. I had never searched for him. I had never looked to see if he was a decent man. For once, I had gone with how I felt: He was my dark knight.
The man who loved a married woman with no remorse, and promised to rescue me when I called his name. The god of the underworld.
“I’m working.” Was all he said, as he turned around, and stepped down the path, towards the boathouse.
“Working? Here?”
“Yes.”
“Who let you on the property?”
“The owner,” he said. “And her husband, my colleague.”
The boathouse was just an empty shack, really. Made of cedar wood and tile, that hung over the water. True to its word, it always had one boat, ready to be launched into the lake for a little joy ride. Just a simple rowboat.
“You’ve been protecting Chloe.”
“I said I would.” Hugo was a man of few words. I had forgotten how frugal he was with them.
He opened the door to the boathouse, and inside were… computers. Computers in black cases, flipped open on a shelving unit that hadn’t been there before. At the desk was a man with short black hair, his biceps bulging from beneath a brown t-shirt. He looked back at Hugo and didn’t appear surprised at all.
“The hostile is on his way in, but he’s booked at a hotel with his mistress in Edinburgh.” I recognized him. He was Leo Bonifacio.The man who had been dressed in a carnival Victorian suit, tights and all, during Pippa’s wedding. My new… brother-in-law? “Hi, Cali.” Then back to Hugo, “The shift is yours. I’m going out with my family. If you need anything from the house, just text.”
“I’ll log the shift change.” Hugo nodded.
“See you inside,” Leo said, looking at me with a nod, then walked past me. “Or not. Whatever.”
He closed the boathouse door behind him, enclosing me with Hugo.
“What’s going on?” I asked, looking around. “How do you know where Richard is?”
“We have Dick’s luggage bugged.”
“Why?”
“Why not?” He sat at the computer and pulled up his screens. It was a series of many squares, all with different timestamps, and at different times of day. Some were in color, some were in black and white. Small squares followed faces that crossed his screens. Still, other rooms were completely empty.
I squinted, as one of the images caught my eye. A familiar spread, in a four-poster bed. Then, a very familiar table. Then a living room with a view of New York’s Central Park.
“You’ve been watching me?” I gasped, looking at the cameras that he so blatantly placed up on his screens. “Why?”
I recognized every single room. My NYC penthouse, the LA house, and the London townhouse on Nottinghill were all in the cameras, the images flickering from one room to another.
“Because I told you I’d keep you safe.”
A man who had made a promise and kept it. I did not know those kinds of men existed anymore.
“You’ve been watching me… in my bedroom?” I looked at him, sitting in the chair like the devil I always imagined, my cheeks flushing with a realization that… that he’d seen…everything.
“Yes.” He stared at me with a tranquil expression, as if he hadn’t just admitted to being a fucking pervert. A peeping Tom!
“Aren’t you going to apologize?” I demanded, resisting the urge to stamp my foot.
“Why?” He genuinely looked puzzled, and tilted his head like he was a confused dog. “You were calling my name.”
