The grannies looked me up and down… assessing me. I hated being prone to the bed and appearing weak, useless. “Here’s your new assignment. After this, you’re done.”
Grandmother pursed her lips for a moment. “Then you can go back to your isolation and loneliness.”
“Back to your hand,” Nana said with a completely straight face.
This couldn’t be happening.
I stared down at the folder between us on the table and then lifted my gaze to them.
“This is a joke, right?” I was in the hospital for goodness' sake. What the fuck could I do with an assignment? Nana picked up the folder and brought it to me. She opened it up to the first page, and I saw it in her eyes.They didn’t want to give me this assignment, but it was the only thing left to do if we were to protect Poppy. She didn’t need to say it.
DONOVAN MADDEN
I mean, it couldn’t have been better. I wanted nothing more than to take him out, but the date and time wouldn’t work for me… In any universe. I would never make it happen. There was no amount of money or coercion that could convince me to take him out on his wedding day to Poppy. Plus, that was a month away. Would I be recovered enough to scale wherever the wedding was and be able to pull the trigger without accidentally killing someone else?
“We understand that isn’t the best thing for such a joyous occasion, but I’m sure you already know that his security isn’t up to par, and it will be even more lax at his wedding.” Nana leaned forward to pat my knee affectionately.
“No, I won’t do it.” I closed the folder and pushed it back to the two of them.
Grandmother pushed the folder back. “Is there a better time?”
“A time when Poppy isn’t present. She’s been through enough. Jane has been through enough. I will not subject them to this.” I shook my head. “Absolutely not.”
They looked at each other with unreadable expressions, then looked back at me. “When would you suggest then?”
“You’ve been watching him for some time, we know. We asked you to gather intel on his security protocol months ago. You know they are pretty much actors standing in place of real guards, so if this is the case, when would you strike?”
I scrubbed my bandaged hands down my face. I didn’t want to do this. I didn’t want to put Poppy through this again. I wasn’t sure if I could even do this. She already hated me enough. If I took out Donovan right in front of her…
Her tear-streaked face flashed through my mind, and I winced. She didn’t love him, but did she want him to die?
“Why?”
They smiled at me in unison, and I decided then and there that there was nothing more frightening. Nana leaned back in the chair Dimitri had occupied earlier while Grandmother tapped her cane on the ground, almost in agitation. My shins almost ached at the memory of getting whacked by the stupid piece of wood. “This is chess, my boy. This is a long game of many players.”
“You just took out the brothers; maybe this is too soon?” I muttered, mostly to myself.
Their smiles only widened. Nana tapped the table with her pointer finger. “This is chess, and there are many players and possible outcomes. We needed you to get close to Poppy, so in turn, you could get close to Donovan and sniff out the holes in his security operation. Little did we, or anyone else, know that it was all a ruse.”
Grandmother tapped her cane on the ground once more. “We never anticipated you to fall in love with her.”
I rolled my lips as Nana continued, “Though she is such a catch, we aren’t entirely surprised. We worked closely—for weeks— with the Fairchild brothers to put the idea of an arranged marriage into their heads. It just happened to workout perfectly that Donovan was going broke and would need a wife with billions coming her way.”
Broke? That didn’t seem to make any sense at all.“How did you know she would come into the billions?” Something wasn’t quite adding up.
Grandmother rolled her eyes as if it were obvious. “Benson is such a wonderful hacker.”
I blinked. “The letters?”
Nana waved her hand, proud of herself. “We thought they were a beautiful extra touch to add some flair and drama to the mix. All it did was show everyone’s true colors.”
“Wait,” I held up my hands. “What about Jane’s letter?”
Grandmother rolled her eyes and hooked a thumb toward Nana. “She just couldn’t help herself. Jane isn’t illegitimate, though we know Mr. Fairchild always wondered. We orchestrated some doubts because Mrs. Fairchildwashaving an affair when she got pregnant with Jane… But isn’t it funny that Poppy is the only illegitimate one?”
“Yes, when we ran some paternity tests, we were certainly shocked to find that out.”
I deadpanned. “You ran paternity tests on each of them?”
