It was a good thing he’d parked his car in the alley and cloaked it. Otherwise getting all the damn trunks out would have been an even bigger pain in his ass.
After a glance at the download progress of his hard drives, Silas opened the last trunk. Unlike the others, it was only half full, and what it did have was mostly personal effects.
An ancient-looking leather-bound journal that smelled of stale smoke, a small, well-buffed briefcase, several velvet boxes containing gold and platinum, more files…
Silas popped open the briefcase and tensed. Within it was a slim red file with Petra’s name on it. He couldn’t say he was surprised, but it was still jarring to open the cover and see a picture of her there, glossy and candid.
He skated his fingertips over the curve of her cheek and made a silent promise to burn it for her as soon as he was able.
Unable to stop himself, he turned it over to see what lay directly beneath the large photograph.
What the fuck?
Silas stared, uncomprehending, at the half-finished marriage license. It was registered to San Francisco and the names, birth dates, and ID numbers had already been filled out.
All it was missing was a couple signatures.
He’d never blacked out in his life, but in that moment, Silas’s mind went completely blank, his senses mute. The declaration on the innocuous piece of paper, theintentionbehind it, was so outrageous and so offensive that he could not assimilate its existence into his reality.
It was one thing to know that Vanderpoel wanted Petra. Of course he did. Silas could understand that better than anyone, though that understanding wouldn’t save the man from his wrath.
What had never occurred to him, however, was that he would want tokeepher. The implications of that desire were far, far more dire than that of a man who simply wanted to have sex with a beautiful, powerful woman like Petra.
Does she know?
A bitter taste coated the back of his tongue. His ears rang. He didn’t even realize what he’d done before the remnants of the shredded document floated back down into the trunk.
Of course she knew.Hadn’t she hedged when she explained why the Protector was so interested in her? He’d assumed she didn’t want to admit that he wanted to fuck her, but now…
She knew that the Protector wanted to marry her. It stood to reason that he also wanted her bond.
Silas recalled the products in the bathroom with curious, deadly calm. The negligee. The turned down sheets.
Little liar,he thought,you really have been playing with fire.
A muscle in his jaw spasmed as he slowly placed the file back into the briefcase. The discovery of Maximilian Dooraker’s file within the briefcase as well only made him that much angrier.
Obviously the Protector had discovered far more about Petra than she realized. Silas hated that. Not just because it put his witch at risk, but because those secrets didn’t belong to Vanderpoel. They, like everything else about her, belonged tohim.
Petra had no clue how much danger she was in. She’d danced with two vipers, both trying to consume her, and thought she could survive.
We’re going to have a very serious conversation tonight, naughty little goddess. A very, very serious conversation.
After he released her from her imprisonment, of course.
One by one, he shoved the trunks out into the alley and then into the back of his car. Downloads complete, he threw his hard drives into his backpack and then tossed that in the car as well.
Now all he had to do was clean up. Then he could rip Vanderpoel’s throat out and retrieve his naughty witch.
Intending to save the body for last, Silas stooped over the surveillance station, inputting the program to wipe every bit of data from the servers and all connected to it, when the shadows in the corner of the room rippled.
A cold stone of dread dropped into the pit of his stomach.
Before Tal could even finish manifesting, Silas lunged for the door.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
She believedshe’d thought through every way the moment would go, but as Petra spooned tiny bites of apricot mousse into her mouth, she was at a complete loss.
