'Come on, we can talk more about the existential relationship stuff over some dinner.'
'Pizza,' I say.
'We can't,' she says, pouting a bit. 'Meeting Sauvage.'
'Oh.' My spirits go downslightly.
'Come on,' she says brightly. 'The food's always good.'
'Yeah,’ I mutter. ‘He makes sure the food's good because he knows that's where your vulnerabilities lie.'
She laughs. 'No, they don't.'
'Daisy,' I say, 'come on. The chocolate torte. The chocolate mousse. I thought you hated wet desserts.'
'Chocolate mousse isn't wet,' she argues. 'It's airy and delicious.'
She checks the time. ‘We’ll be just in time if we go now.’
I follow her, shaking my head and muttering that she's incorrigible.
'If we keep eating like this,' I mutter, 'we're gonna have to start working out the way Mav does. Otherwise, we’re going to be so unhealthy.'
'Speak for yourself,' she says. 'I run five miles a day.'
‘I’ll let the guys know where we’ll be,’ I say with a sigh.
But I’m smiling as I get back in the elevator with her. I have to resist the urge to pick her up and hold her close because, now that her mind is on food, she’ll just wriggle around and bat me away.
On the way downstairs, I get a message from Lu Garrett, reminding me that I told her she could be there when Marcus and Rob got their comeuppance for what they did to Daisy on Halloween. Although Pete was there too, he has had his nose broken by Blake twice and he’s kept his head down since November. He doesn’t even hang out with either of them anymore, and, after reviewing the tape from that night, the other two were the only ones who actually touched Daisy. Pete was just on the periphery, looking like a deer trapped in the headlights, so we’ve decided that whatever we do to him won’t be as bad as what Marcus and Rob get.
I frown at my reflection in the elevator door.With Marcus the head of the Bandervilles now, revenge on him is going to be difficult. Plus, he deserves more. A lot more. He deserves what his brother got. Whether we can pull that off is another thing entirely. With the cops looking our way, it’s probably best that we try very hard not to kill anyone. Rob will be easy, though. We’ll start with him, and we’ll do it soon.
But as the elevator begins to rise, I wonder why it has to besoon. Why wait? A plan comes to me quickly and I message Pete. He already knows something is coming and he’s not dumb enough to try to run from it.
Get Rob to Warehouse 15 in an hour. B with him.
The elevator doors open just as I get a reply from Pete.
How? We ain’t friends no more.
Idgaf. Do it.
I message Lu Garrett back, giving her the address and the time. All I get back is a thumbs up.
‘Hey,’ I say to Daisy. ‘I actually need to go take care of something. Are you okay to have dinner with Sauvage by yourself?’
‘Of course,’ she says with a shrug. ‘But what do you need to do?’
‘I just need to fulfil a promise I made that I kinda forgot about. It’s not anything dangerous.’ I grin at her, giving her a lingering kiss. ‘I’ll be back by ten, sweetheart.’
‘Promises are important,’ she nods and gives me a quick hug. ‘See you later.’
I leave the hotel through the tunnels, glad I parked myJag near to the graveyard instead of in the parking lot under the hotel in case the cops are keeping tabs on me.
I drive to the club and let myself in. It’s eerily quiet as all the construction guys have left for the day. I look around and can’t help my small smile. It’s pretty much ready and the bomb was almost worth all the changes we’ve been able to make like upgrading the sound system and the lighting. Even the dance floor lights up now.
The whole ground floor has been reinforced with steel and thick concrete. We did a test the other day and the basement might as well be a mile away. No sound makes it down there unless the door is open. And we’ve made sure that the whole sublevel is basically a bomb shelter. Daisy will be safe as a bug in a rug down there whether she’s in the lab, or asleep in our bed.
