Page 93 of Carbon

“Bloody hell,” Nye said. “We’ve gone from having no leads to all the leads in the space of a day. Wonder what made him join the legion?”

“He had some family problems when he was eighteen,” I said. “An argument with his mother and one with mine.”

“Did he say what about?”

My breath hitched as I spoke. “My mother told him I didn’t want to be with him anymore. She lied.”

“Cold. How about his own mother?”

Cold? Yes, that pretty much summed my darling mother up. “Ben said his mother lied to him too, but he didn’t elaborate on what she lied about.”

“What was her name?” Sofia asked.

“Uh... Lynn. Lynn Durham.”

Sofia nodded but didn’t say anything more.

Beside Nye, Logan flicked his eyes to the corkboard. “Ben Durham, Beau Davies, BD. He likes those initials, doesn’t he? He’s used them three times. What’s the betting he’ll go for a fourth?”

“Three times?” I asked.

An odd look crossed his face, almost like...panic? “I meant twice.”

“No, you said three times. What aren’t you telling me?”

“You’ll have to ask Black about that one.”

Right. He only said that because he knew I wouldn’t dare. What was it with these people? I’d told them everything, and still they kept secrets from me. And now I didn’t have any bargaining chips left.

As everybody around me got busy, I shrunk back on my chair in the corner to think. Okay, to worry.Ben, what did you get yourself into?

It wasn’t long before Emmy slipped back into the room, brow creased into a frown.

“Well?” Sofia asked.

“I’ve got good news and bad news.”

“What’s the good news?”

“Help’s on its way, with a top-level security clearance and macarons from Pierre Hermé.”

“And the bad news?”

“That’s also the bad news.”

Silence descended, and Sofia’s eyes widened as she obviously realised what that meant. “Gideon?”

“I only wanted to ask him a few questions. I didn’t realise he’d drop everything and jump on the bloody Eurostar.”

Xav roared with laughter, surprising because I’d never even seen him smile before.

“I could have told you he’d do that.”

“Why? I told him he didn’t have to.”

“Because Gideon still wants to fuck you, my dear.”

“Who’s Gideon?” I asked, not expecting anybody to answer.

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