“Grandmother wanted me to give you these,” she said with a smirk before we started, handing me a tote full of books.
I didn’t even have to look inside to figure it out. “Clare still pissed with her for repeatedly calling me too stupid to get it and hopes this will show she’s not evil?”
Jean raised an eyebrow. “You don’t know?”
I raised one right back. “You think I’m not busy enough already that I need to monitor her relationships, much less with someone I feel a monster and she should avoid at all costs?”
“Touche, Bevin. But I’ve done my deed in delivering.”
“Thank you.” I glanced in and then it hit me. “Extra copies she dug out of storage, right? She wouldn’t spend her money on me.”
She paused in heading to the table and glanced over her shoulder at me, giving me an assessing look. “You really are smarter than any of us gave you credit for. Unsocialized in a way that did make you dense, but you’re right that it wasn’t your fault and intentional. I feel stupid for not having seen that, but you—don’t let people insult your intelligence. Ever.”
That was actually thenicestthing Jean had ever said about me.
Yes, I recognized how sad that was, but she even meant it which floored me… And the people around me. But it also meant I was right and Grandmother had just gotten me copies from storage.
Whatever, less books for me to track down now. I’d tell Clare like she wanted. That was all.
This meeting with five more of the Shaw security went about the same as the others. Two were ready to sell Jean out at the drop of a hat, but it was ridiculously more complicated than being greedy or assholes.
I sighed when we were done. Heavily.
“Guilt is all over your aura and I cannot think of a single reason why, Bev,” Tracey said gently.
“Because she knows more than she’s been telling me like we said,” Jean accused.
“No, I’ve done our deal and well,” I snapped, waiting for her to nod and back off. “This iscomplicatedand honestly, I don’t know how to handle it, if it’s welcome, or if you won’t fucking accuse me of trying to pull a fast one.” I held my hands out to the side basically saying, “Like you just did.”
“Okay, well, issues with her security can affect you, so at least tell Taylor so he can decide if it’s something we need to know,” Jean’s new head of security, Ira, suggested.
“It’s not that simple,” I mumbled, shooting him a glance before focusing on Tracey.
“Because he’s part of it and you don’t want this fragile alliance to explode and we have more enemies our security could get hurt by,” Tracey surmised.
“Yes?” I sighed. I moved my hands on the table like something was there. “It’s either a landmine I step on now or a fucking ticking time bomb that I’m really afraid is going to go off and then I didn’t handle and we could get caught in the blast maybe too. Like… Fuck everything.”
“You need more sleep, kid,” Taylor muttered as he studied me.
“Yeah, my first time at actual structured schooling and it’s midterms and all ofthis,” I drawled gesturing around us. “Oh, plus everything else.” I rolled my eyes at him. “Sure, yeah, I totally get a ton of sleep even when I have the time to physically lie in my bed.”
His lips twitched. “Okay, fair, so pass this on to me. I agree with Ira.” He held up a finger to me when I opened my mouth to argue. “They will shut it and listen.” He glanced at their side. “Agree.”
I let out a heavy breath when they did and focused on Taylor. “They might not be against Jean, but they’re all dirty, Taylor. You know the ploy. Charles got them to do something little and then he had them. They’ve done bigger since.”
“Yes, Ira’s boss now because he was the most senior who didn’t like doing anything super dirty or didn’t murder anyone,” he said with a sarcastic tone, ignoring when Ira bristled.
“Yeah, but really not his fault when they had so much on him. That’s an issue that could make Jean’s whole house fall. No one would fuck withCharles, but they don’t see her as the same. A few of these guys have already figured out that the best way to betray her is to tell all of the crimes of her fucking staff.”
“Good point,” Jean muttered, sighing when Taylor waved her to be quiet.
“You got more,” Taylor muttered, already knowing how I worked enough to get that.
And I did. “Butmost of these guys are pissed she just turned over the dirty cops without giving them help for the situation Charles put them all in. The security think she could do the same and that’s why they’re hedging bets and ready to betray her. The two today don’t want any of it and just guard the damn estate, but they’re scared.
“She’s acting like nothing before her happened and that’s not reality. It’s not business as usual and they’rescaredabout the crimes they committed. There needs to be some way to—you can’t undo them but get them some kind of leniency and handle the situation. Or it’s a powder keg that will absolutely go off.”
This time I held a finger up to Taylor.
