After the vault, I made it as far as the foyer before chaos descended on me in the form of one very pissed-off Alisa Ortega. โWhat have you done?โ
โWelcome back,โ Oren told her dryly. โWhat I had to do,โ I answered.
Alisa took what was probably supposed to be a calming breath. โYou didnโt wait for me to get here because youย knewย Iโd tell you that calling the police was a bad idea.โ
โYou would have told me that calling the police onย Blakeย was a bad idea,โ I countered. โSo I didnโt call them on Blake.โ
โWe have local PD at the gate,โ Oren informed me. โGiven the circumstances, my men canโt refuse them entrance. I suspect the DPS Special Agents arenโt long behind.โ
Alisa kneaded her temples. โI can fix this.โ โItโs not yours to fix,โ I told her.
โYou have no idea what youโre doing.โ
โNo,โ I replied, staring her down. โYouย have no idea what Iโm doing. Thereโs a difference.โ I didnโt have the time or inclination to explain everything to her. Landon had promised me a two-hour head start, but that was it. Any delay past that and we might lose our opportunity to control the narrative.
If I waited too long, Vincent Blake would have too much time to regroup.
โIโm glad youโre okay,โ I told Alisa. โYouโve done a lot for me since the will was read. I know that. But the truth is
that Tobias Hawthorneโs fortune will be in my hands very soon.โ I didnโt like playing it this way, but I didnโt have a choice. โThe only question you have to ask yourself is whether you still want to have a job when that happens.โ
Even I wasnโt sure if I was bluffing. There was no way I could do this on my own, and even though Iโd doubted her, I trusted Alisa more than I would trust anyone else I could hire next. On the other hand, she was in the habit of treating me like a kidโthe same wide-eyed, overwhelmed, never-had-two-nickels-to-rub-together kid Iโd been when Iโd gotten here.
To take on Vincent Blake, I had to grow up.
โYouโd drown without me,โ Alisa told me. โAnd take an empire down with you.โ
โSo donโt make me do this without you,โ I responded.
Fixing her gaze on me with almost frightening precision, Alisa gave a slight nod of her head. Oren cleared his throat.
I turned to face him. โIs this the part where you start talking about duct tape?โ
He cocked an eyebrow at me. โIs this the part where you threaten my job?โ
On the day that Tobias Hawthorneโs will had been read, Iโd tried to tell Oren I didnโt need security. Heโd calmly replied that I would need security for the rest of my life. It had never been a question ofย whetherย he would protect me. โThis isnโt just a job to you,โ I told Oren, because I felt
like I owed him that much. โIt never has been.โ
Heโd told me months ago that he owed Tobias Hawthorne his life. The old man had given Oren a purpose, dragged him out of a very dark place. His last request to my head of security had been that Oren protect me.
โI thought heโd done something noble,โ Oren said quietly, โasking me to take care of you.โ
Oren was my constant shadow. Heโd heard Tobias Hawthorneโs message. He knew what my purpose wasโ and that had to have shed new light on his.
โYour boss asked you to run my security. Taking care of meโฆโ My voice hitched. โThat was all you.โ
Oren gave me the briefest of smiles, then he allowed himself to fall back into bodyguard mode. โWhatโs the plan, boss?โ
I retrieved the Blake family seal from my pocket. โThis.โ I let it fall into my palm and closed my fingers around it. โWeโre going to Blakeโs ranch. Iโm going to use this to get past the gates. And Iโm going in alone.โ
โI have a professional obligation to tell you that I donโt like this plan.โ
I gave Oren a sympathetic look. โWould you like it more if I told you that Iโll be doing a press conference right outside his gates so that the whole world knows Iโm inside?โ
Vincent Blake couldnโt touch me with the paparazzi watching.
โYou going to put a stop to this, Oren?โ Nash ambled toward us, clearly having overheard our exchange. โBecause if you donโt, I will.โ
As if drawn by the chaos, Xander chose that moment to pop in, too.
โThis doesnโt concern you,โ I told Nash.
โNice try, kid.โ Nashโs tone never advertised the fact that he was pulling rank, but no matter how casual the delivery, it was always one hundred percent clear when that was what he was doing. โThis ainโt happening.โ
Nash didnโt care that I was eighteen, that I owned the House, that I wasnโt actually his sister, or that I would put up one hell of a fight if he tried to stop me.
โYou canโt protect the four of us forever,โ I told him.
โI can damn well try. You donโt want to test me on this one, darlinโ.โ
I glanced at Jameson, who was well-acquainted with the pitfalls ofย testingย Nash. Jameson met my gaze, then glanced at Xander.
โFlying leopard?โ Jameson murmured.
โHidden mongoose!โ Xander replied, and an instant later, they were crashing into Nash in a truly impressive synchronized flying tackle.
In a one-on-one fight, Nash could take either one of them. But it was hard to get the upper hand when you had one brother on your torso and another pinning your legs and feet.
โWe should go,โ I told Oren. Nash was cursing up a storm behind us. Xander began serenading him with a brotherly limerick.
โOren!โ Nash hollered.
My head of security didnโt so much as hint at any amusement he might have felt. โSorry, Nash. I know better than to get in the middle of a Hawthorne brawl.โ
โAlisaโโ Nash started to say, but I interjected.
โI want you with me,โ I told my lawyer. โYouโll wait with Oren, right outside.โ
Nash must have smelled defeat because he stopped trying to dislodge Xander from his feet. โKid?โ he called. โYou sure as hell better play dirty.โ