Chapter Ninety-Seven
Carey stood looking at Andrea as Milana excused herself. The door closed and Andrea walked deeper into the office. Carey crossed her arms over her chest as Andrea looked everywhere except at her so she decided to wait it out.
“I’m not here to make any trouble, Carey.”
“Why are you here, Andrea?”
She fidgeted with her hands and finally sat down in a chair across from Carey. “I wanted to meet Grace and explain things to Mason.”
“So explain it to me too, Andrea, because the way I see it is that a woman who abandoned her baby is now back to claim a daughter she had no hand in raising.”
“A lot of bad things happened back then. I left Grace with her father because I wasn’t in a position to look after her. I don’t know how much you know of what they’re all busy with, the playhouses and the forced marriages …”
“What playhouses?”
“I think you should talk to Mason … or Kelley.” Andrea's discomfort was evident and Carey didn't want to push something that was obviously so painful. She felt sorry for Andrea but her first concern was Grace.
“Where are you staying, Andrea?”
Andrea looked down and Carey knew the answer before she even said it. “With Mason.”
“Mason’s a grown man and I raised him right. I’m not about to tell him how to live his life or even who to live it with. The only thing I’m going to say is if you hurt my son again there will be no place on earth that you can hide and that goes for Grace too.”
“I don’t want Mason to hide things from you and I know Grace loves you and that you love her and I don’t want to get in the way of that, I promise you. Grace deserves a family that loves her, something that I couldn’t give her but that doesn’t mean I can’t be a part of that family.”
Carey didn’t say anything else just watched Andrea as she walked out of her office and close the door behind her. Carey took a deep breath and then went in search of Milana. At least she could do some good at work but she didn’t know if she trusted Andrea’s return yet.
⁂⁂⁂⁂⁂
In their private meeting room Lee stood on one side and Connor on the other with Kelley and Mason in the middle. The air was thick with tension, bloodlust and anger. Connor looked relaxed as he leaned against the bar and Lee looked ready to rip him apart.
“He needs to start talking!” Lee was pointing a finger in Connor’s direction.
“You’re losing your head because she touched my arm? What the hell, Lee? Are you even listening to yourself?”
“Connor, I swear … I’ll hurt you if you touch her!”
“Both of you stop it!” Kelley had just about had enough of the testosterone match. “Lee, you broke up with Marella and Connor, you don’t shit where you eat.”
“I’m not doing anything with Marella.”
Mason chuckled and grabbed the bottle of scotch as the other three men watched him. “What’s so funny, asshole?”
“Lee, have you actually thought about this? It’s clear Marella’s trying to make you jealous, doing it with Connor was stupid … but I’m betting that’s exactly what she’s up to.”
“I’m a pawn?” Connor looked offended and Kelley looked at Mason, realizing that he was right.
“Shit … she’s playing both of you.”
Lee looked around before raking a hand through his hair. “She’s going to kill me. I can’t take this shit.”
“She nearly got me killed! Lee, she’s pregnant, come on man, like I’d do that to you?”
“Just man up and throw her over your shoulder, Lee, take her home and show her you’re all in.” Mason was satisfied with his own advice and sat down on the sofa with a tumbler in his hand.
“Like I’m taking advice from the guy who couldn’t even tell his Mom that his ex was back in town and grinding in his lap for everyone to see.”
“I thought I was dry humping her?”
Kelley sighed and looked at his brothers. “You’re all idiots.”
“Yeah … Kelley nearly got his ego stroked this morning, sorry about that one.”
Connor laughed, the sound loud in the meeting room. “I’m never sharing my sex life with you guys.”
“Do you even like women? I only ever see you glued to Kelley’s ass.”
Mason choked on his scotch and Kelley on the oxygen he’d just inhaled. Lee’s humour was dark and dry, sometimes way off and at other times spot on. Connor stood there and shook his head. “I’m not telling you who I screw, I’d never hear the end of it and neither would she.”
“As long as it’s not Marella, I don’t care.”
“You’re really not going to tell us? You know we can always have Blaire stalk you.”
Connor laughed then and poured himself a cup of coffee from the machine. “Oh trust me, Blaire can stalk me all he wants, I’m smarter than that.”
“Can we get back to why we’re in here in the first place?” Kelley shot them all a look and Lee walked over to the desk where he’d placed his briefcase.
“Someone’s screwing with us and we need to find out who and eliminate the threat from our circle.”
“Well shit, Kelley, you’ve got an enemy list longer than the President.” Mason grinned at his analogy but the seriousness of Kelley’s eyes sobered him up.
“I want to close ranks. Nobody outside of this room knows what we discuss, what we plan or what our personal schedules look like.”
“Exclude the women?” Lee frowned at that even though he didn’t have a woman to confide in any more.
“We don’t know where this is coming from. Milana’s room has a balcony but Connor did a sweep this morning, there are no bugs or wires in there so my best guess is that someone’s gaining access to the balcony.”
