Eve smiled but it was sad. “They’re not my possessions anymore. I’ve let everything go. It’s all yours if you want it. All of yours,” she amended. She placed the key in Valerie’s palm and drew away.
Just then, Khiva came back through the door. He shook his head, telling her that none of the others would be joining them. Just as he’d suspected.
“Watch over them, Valerie,” he murmured to the blonde, putting a hand on her shoulder, “just as you have been doing.”
“I don’t do much, Khiva,” she said, her hand still clenched around the key. “I’ll try to hold her off as long as possible. But eventually she will realize you’re gone.”
“Then let her come,” Khiva said. “I do not fear her. We will soon be out of her reach forever.”
Khiva opened the door, looking at Valerie one last time and inclining his head. Eve hugged the blonde close, hoping that one day, she would would make the decision to leave behind that toxic environment, no matter the consequences. She just wasn’t ready yet. She just needed to find that courage, deep inside.
But one day, Eve had no doubt that she would find it.
They left Madame Allegria’s then.
They didn’t look back once.
Chapter Thirty-Two
Later that night, Madame Allegria came.
Khiva even seemed to be expecting her, as if knowing that she would appear. They were in the sitting room in the front of the townhome, sitting together near the fireplace, though Khiva made sure not to lean against his back. They even saw her driverless car pull up to the curb.
Eve saw her bright red hair as she emerged, and felt fury just as red that she would dare to come there, toherhome. Then, she thought of a way to get proof to show her father’s contact at the United Worlds.
Khiva stood from the armchair and asked, “What are you doing, leeldra?” when he saw her go over to the Nu tablet imbedded in the wall. There was also one next to the front door, but they weren’t set to record on default.
“She might say something we can show to Phe’vee’ka. We need anything that might warrant a deeper investigation.”
“She is too intelligent for that,” he told her plainly.
Eve sighed, turning to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. “It’s worth a try.”
A pounding came at the door and it didn’t stop.
It was Eve who went to answer it before Khiva could.
“Stay out of sight for now,” Eve whispered. “Let me see if I can get something out of her.”
Khiva obviously didn’t like the suggestion, but he inclined his head, which meant a lot to her. That he trusted her.
Eve unlocked the door, wanting blood.
Madame Allegria was a beautiful woman, a woman who looked twenty years younger than she really was, but whose age and jadedness showed in the glint of her color-altered eyes.
When she saw Eve, she looked her up and down, no doubt hoping to intimidate her. Her face was devoid of any wrinkles and looked so soft that Eve imagined it melting right off.
“Miss Tesler, I presume,” Madame Allegria said, her voice perfectly polite, but edged like a blade.
That was when Eve knew exactly the type of monster they would be going up against. And she realized that this meeting would just be the first step, that it would take them a very, very long time to seek justice for what she’d done to the Keriv’i.
But Eve straightened her spine. Not long ago, a woman like this would have made her cower and grow silent.
Not anymore.
“Madame Allegria, I presume,” Eve returned, lifting a brow. “I thought client confidentiality was your strong suit. So why do I find you here on my doorstep so late at night? I wonder if you make house calls to all your clients like this. I wonder if their husbands appreciate it.”
Eve realized that the woman was taken aback by her words, by her tone, but only for a brief moment. She shook her head, reaching out a red-tipped clawed hand to push Eve aside, but Eve pushed her back with all her strength and the redhead stumbled in her heels.
