Disappointment was so bitter I could taste it as I crossed to the window, noting the droplets of water on the sill. Whoever had rescued Stanley had come in that way and was probably long gone already.
A pile of tinsel mocked me from the place where his pot had sat, and a scrap of notepaper rested on the carpet with three words scrawled across it.
Nice try, asshole.
6
Relief washed over me as I glanced down at the photo sent to my phone. Stanley was safe and secure at Carlos’s vacation house in the Bahamas. I couldn’t risk taking him back to my home in Iceland, not now that Kai had found him once. I also didn’t ask about the bow. It seemed festive.
“Thank you,” I murmured to the big man sitting opposite me in the tea shop. “I appreciate you prioritizing this request, I know you’re busy.”
He flashed me a toothy smile, then sipped his tea. The delicate bone china cup looked ridiculous in his huge hand, but he made it work. “How could I resist such a curious task?” He placed his cup down and linked his thick fingers together in front of him, his gaze sharp. “Why did you hire me for this, Danny DeLuna? You could have done it yourself. Easily.”
I gritted my teeth, holding back a grimace. While he was right that I had the skill to make a simple theft—even with the challenges of Kai’s island security—I knew I couldn’t have done it. No way could I step foot back on that island so soon, not if I ever wanted to leave it again.
Nope. I was too weak to face Kai in person just yet, because I’d totally lost myself while playing that meek character. I’d lost myself and left a solid chunk of my heart behind. Which was fine, I could live without it.
“Are you complaining about an easy job, Hermes?” I covered my dark thoughts with a teasing smile. “I figured it would be a welcome break for you. Especially after that Wittenberg diamond theft last year.”
His expression didn’t shift, not even slightly. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. However, I did appreciate the simple task of recovering your plant. So much so, I picked you up a present while I was there.”
My brows lifted. “Oh?” Maybe he killed Kai for me and eliminated that worry from my mind. Dammit, why did that idea make me feel murderous?
Hermes inclined his head slightly, reaching into his breast pocket and pulling out a necklace. He held it out, and I opened my palm to receive it. “I thought you might want that back. Those are exceptionally valuable and only going to waste locked in Ares’s dresser drawer.”
I traced my thumb over the intricate key strung on the gold chain as a pendant, inspecting the engraved pattern.
“How’d you know this was mine?” I asked in a cool tone. Hermes was notorious for returning lost items to their owners—usually at an exorbitant fee—but every now and then he did it just because he needed to.
This necklace, however, wasn’t mine.
He finished his cup of tea, then dabbed his full lips with a napkin. “I may not be Guild, Danny DeLuna, but I know a Guild symbol when I see one. That’s an old one but doesn’t make it any less Guild.” He cocked his head to the side. For such a huge man, he was strangely graceful. “Did I make a mistake?”
I closed my fingers around the necklace. “Not at all. Just surprised, though I shouldn’t be with you.”
Another bright smile. It sent a chill down my spine. Hermes—his code name, not his real one—unnerved me like no one else I’d ever met. Even Leon when he showed his crazy didn’t make me as nervous as Hermes smiling.
“Good,” he murmured. “If that concludes our business, I have a big project to plan for.”
“Good luck,” I told him as he stood from his seat. “I have my money on you for the win. Again.” Every four years, there was a very unofficial but very infamous game within the criminal circles of the world. More often than not, the final round of the game was a seemingly impossible theft. Hermes had won every game since he’d appeared in the competitor list as a skinny twelve-year-old.
“I still have no idea what you’re talking about, Danny DeLuna. Stay safe.” With a short nod, he slipped out of the tea house like he was a mouse, not a six-foot-seven mountain of a man. His ability to crowd blend despite his size was beyond impressive.
Letting out a long sigh, I opened my hand once more to inspect the necklace. If Hermes said it was an old Guild symbol, I believed him. But it sure as hell wasn’t one I’d ever seen before. So it begged the question, what the fuck had it been doing in Kai’s bedroom?
Frowning, I tucked the necklace into the pocket of my jeans and paid the bill for our tea and scones. Now that Stanley was safe—and Kai’s plan to lure me into a trap thwarted—I needed to work out my next steps. Starting with a new safe location since my home was compromised.
I tugged my phone from my bag and dialed Carlos. As much as it stung to rely on him so heavily, he was just my best bet right now. He held no Guild loyalty and never would, but he had access to plenty of Guild-similar organizations. If anyone could help me work out why my own employer wanted me dead, it was Carlos.
He didn’t answer his primary mobile, which irritated me but didn’t shock me. Carlos had his own life and wasn’t sitting around waiting for me to call. So I tried his office line instead.
To my disappointment, his assistant Tito answered the call.
“Hey, Tito, it’s Danny,” I replied, rubbing at the bridge of my nose. Tito was not a fan of mine, so I generally avoided him. Easy enough to do, these days.
“What do you want?” he responded in a sour voice.
I stifled a sigh. “I’m trying to get hold of Carlos. Is he there?”
There was a short pause, then Tito gave a cold laugh. “If he’s not taking your calls, Danny”—the heavily accented way he said my name always smacked of sarcasm and disgust, like it was a placeholder for something he’d rather call me—“then I would assume he doesn’t wanna talk to you. About damn time, too. Bye now.”
The digital beep of the call ending was no great shock, but it made me picture slamming Tito’s smug face through a window pane. Prick. I’d just have to try Carlos again later on his primary contact number. Failing that… well, Stanley would be fine for a while before he needed love. Hermes had given him some water before he left.
I’d chosen my “safe house” for the night at random, because that was the easiest way to evade anyone tracking me. Jude had tried calling me a few times while I was dealing with the whole Stanley abduction mess, so I called her back from the taxi to let her know I was fine. We chatted for a few minutes, and it helped me to relax slightly.
We said our goodbyes as the taxi pulled up outside the five-star hotel my random pick had selected for the night, and I paid my driver in cash. The hotel was considerably more luxurious than I usually stayed in, so I had to hope no one tried to blow this one up.
Dammit. That just reminded me of Leon showing up on my doorstep—out of concern, it seemed—and now I was thinking about him all over again.
As if he could read my mind, my phone pinged with a message.
6279: Where are you?
My insides fluttered against my better judgment. Somehow, waking up with him moments away from slitting my throat had increased his appeal tenfold. He’d gone from hot hacker who I had a fuzzy crush on to scorching hot executioner with psychopathic tendencies. The fact that he also had a pierced dick and seemed to get off on me getting off? Like a wet dream come to life.