Page 28 of Evil Villain (The Royal Court)

She looked back at me and stabbed a finger out in my direction. “Listen. Acts of service are my love language, okay. Just let me take care of you. I like it.”

I sighed, but nodded. “Fine. Yes please to the toast.”

She gave me a victory nod, then turned around and made her way to the toaster. She popped a couple of pieces of bread in the toaster and then grabbed a bowl and spoon. “What to drink?”

“Orange juice, please,” I replied.

She set the bowl and spoon down for a moment and then grabbed a glass from the cabinet and set it down as well. She opened the fridge and grabbed the milk and orange juice, then filled the glass with orange juice, and carried the bowl, spoon, glass of orange juice, and jug of milk over to the table, balancing them all with precision.

She set them down in front of the table and then I started pouring myself a bowl of cereal from the box on the table. “Thank you.”

“Of course. I’ve got good news by the way,” she said. “No more sitting around for either of us today.”

I looked up at her as she twirled back to the counter to retrieve my toast. “Yeah?”

“Yep. Garrett set up a meeting with one of his guys, Nico. Originally, I was going to go, but I have to go meet with a client, so…” She pulled my toast out, slid pads of butter onto each slice, and carried the plate over to me. “I’m going to let you go, and you’re not going to tell your father that I did that.”

I snickered. “As long as you don’t tell him, I won’t.”

Felicity let out a little squeak. “It sounds good coming out of me, doesn’t it? The whole mom secret, don’t tell your dad, thing?”

“It really does.” I gave her a smile. “You’re a good mom.”

“Maybe if we can get Garrett out, we can look into getting you a little brother or sister,” she said. “Which would you prefer?”

For a moment, I thought about having a younger sibling. A little girl or boy to spoil and snuggle, and it made the pit of my stomach burn with anticipation. “Either. I’d love that.”

What I’d learned in the time since I’d come to stay with Felicity was that she really did want to have a family with Venom. After she realized that I had committed myself to callinghimmy dad, as opposed to the man who was supposed to be my dad, she was happy to play along as the loving step-mom and I was fine to let her. She really would make a wonderful mother, just like Venom was a wonderful dad. I wanted more than anything to absolve Venom and Felicity of the fate Connor had set out for him so that maybe one day they could have a kid of their own.

“Oh my god, I just imagined trying to convince a little boy that being a brooding, super tough guy isn’t all it’s cracked up to be,” she said, rolling her eyes. “But Deon does it,” she said in a nasally voice. “I’ve got my work cut out for me.”

“I’m not brooding,” I growled.

“No… I was talking about a different Deon,” she responded and then quickly returned to her chair. “Anyway, you’re going to keep it a secret, and I’m going to send you with one of my cars to see him. So long as you mention Garrett as soon as you get there, you should be okay.”

I was overcome with relief. Not only was I finally going to get to leave the house and make an active effort to find and stop Connor, but I was going to see people other than Felicity and drive around like a normal person. Part of me wanted to stop at a fast food place or something to mark the occasion. It didn’t even occur to me how much my current life had in common with when I was locked up. Yes, I had access to much better food, and a roommate like Felicity was significantly better than some of the guys I was behind bars with, but the restrictiveness and not being able to go anywhere I wanted was the same.

Connor Loche had made my entire life a prison.

Felicity furrowed her brow when I hadn’t said anything in a while. “Is that okay? I’m sorry. I guess I just assumed—”

“I’m thrilled,” I replied. “I know that I don’t have the best ‘thrilled’ face, but I’m excited. I actually get to do something and not just be a sitting duck, plus I will actually get to see the outside world. What is this guy going to be able to do to help?”

“Like I said, his name is Nico, and he’s kind of that guy who can dig up just about anyone on the East Coast. His resources stretch far and wide, and though he’s not a ‘boots on the ground’ kind of guy, he’s good at finding people. The biggest issue is that he doesn’t typically accept payment in the form of money. He just doesn’t need it, so Garrett had to negotiate a different payment with him. What that was, I don’t know, I don’t ask. You shouldn’t either,” Felicity explained.

“Trust me, I learned not to ask questions when I was locked up,” I said.

She nodded. “Right. Nico’s good people, and he has a lot of respect for Garrett. Just tell him what you know about Connor and the last time you saw him. Any helpful information you can think of, share it with him, and hopefully he’ll be able to track him down. I’ve seen him work before, he’s good.”

Felicity and I finished our breakfast, then for the first time ever, she led me into the garage. It was a long, four-car garage, and three of the four spots had cars in them. One spot had a big, army green Hummer in it that appeared to have collected a good amount of dust, and I assumed that was probably Venom’s car. The other two were smaller and sleeker, one sports car, and another more typical family car, though it was clearly the brand new model. Felicity grabbed two sets of keys off the wall and handed one to me, surprisingly, the one with the luxury car key on the ring. After dropping it in my hand, she opened the door to the luxe car and programmed an address into the GPS, then she leaned back out and poked a finger into my chest.

“Okay, Nico’s address has been programmed in, just follow it, and then if you activate the GPS when you get back in, there’s a shortcut for home. Deon, I swear to god if you crash my baby, you won’t have to worry about Connor, becauseI’llkill you,” Felicity said.

I snickered. “I thought you were sticking me in the soccer mom car for sure.”

“I figured you could use some fun,” she replied with a wink. “This key is for the house if you get home before me.” She pointed out one of the plain silver keys and then she walked over to the other car and started to get in.

I climbed into the luxury car and a few seconds later, the garage door started to open, likely from a button pressed by Felicity from inside her car. It did feel nice to be inside such a beautiful car and left to my own devices. Felicity backed out first, then I followed suit and the garage door started to close. Even though it was a hot day and the AC might have been better, I opted to roll the windows down and enjoy the fresh air. The address I was driving to was about thirty minutes outside of town, an old storage container turned house near the coast. To protect Felicity’s car, I parked a couple blocks away and walked to the house. I felt a little too vulnerable walking up with no weapon to protect myself, but Felicity was confident Nico wouldn’t hurt me, so I had to take the risk.

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