“Yup, it’s kind of clear. How are you holding up?”
I smirked. It was funny how he knew to ask me that. He knew me, and it was times like this when I valued the relationship we had.
“I don’t know how to answer that. I’m not okay, if that’s what you mean. There’s a fucking rat in the house, and things could have gone south today. They got on the premises without being seen.”
“It wasn’t that they got on the premises without being seen. They just knew when to come,” Claudius pointed out, pulling up a chair and sitting down in front of me.
“Fuck, who the fuck is it? It must be the phones or something.”
Claudius shook his head. “No, we had the associate from the CIA look into it earlier. Luc, there’s no trace of anything like that. He said there’s always something normally undetectable to the standard equipment the police and the feds use but not the CIA. They found nothing. So…”
“It was actually someone who was here.” My heart sank at the thought. “I need you to question the house staff.”
“Already ahead of you, brother.” He straightened and focused more keenly on me. “The butler and the housekeeper.”
God, I didn’t want to venture down that path, and that was why I was leaving Claudius here. He had the balls it took to take you down if needed. No questions, no in-between, no gray area. It was what it was. A traitor was a traitor.
“The butler and the housekeeper.” I repeated.
“If its them, they’re dead.”
I didn’t know the butler all that well, but Millicent was… she’d been part of the family forever. She’d told me yesterday that she’d looked after Amelia since birth. She was the next best thing to my father in the chain of command. Kept Amelia secret, too, from all of us. The same way Dad had. All those long years of serving Raphael, and neither had let on to anyone that Amelia even existed.
It couldn’t be Millicent. I really didn’t think it was.
“Yes, I get it.”
“Do you? Because you look like you don’t.” Claudius narrowed his eyes.
“I get it,” I said with more emphasis.
“Whoever it is started this war, Lucian. We lost a lot of men because of greed and selfishness. Whoever it is, is dead to me. No chances, no excuses. I just wish I were joining you on the battlefield.”
“I need you here because I can’t be here. I need to be actively doing something. Looking for Victor, looking for Tag. There’s no one else I trust more than you.”
“Means a lot.” He tipped his head in reverence and his long hair swayed about his shoulders. “What about the diamonds? I’m not sure if you should abandon the plan to get them. You didn’t mention it, so I’m assuming they’re at the bottom of the list.”
“I think we need to up the game and take down Tag and Victor. Take away the elements, which are the things they want, and hit them hard.” It was a good plan because if we were successful, it would eliminate the threat. Simple. “It got dangerous when they were able to just come here, walk onto the grounds like they were walking in the park. It’s fucked up. We need to focus.”
“Alright, watch your back, Lucian.” He cocked his head to the side and drew in a deep breath.
Watch my back? Sure, I wished it was just my back I had to worry about. My mouth felt dry and my throat constricted. It was time to get serious.
Time to go. I wanted a head start.
I sighed and moved toward the door.
“Lucian, you need to rest.” His words stopped me.
I turned back to face him. “I can’t. I can’t rest.”
“You need to. You need to go rest and be with your woman for tonight. I’ll go out and patrol the old district and be back in the morning, then you can take over.”
“Claudius, I—”
“No,” he cut me off and rose to stand. “No. You’re boss, but I’m your older brother.”
I chuckled. “You know if I wanted to go, you couldn’t stop me?”
