"Okay, did you check your suite for devices like I asked?"
She nods. "I didn't find any, but it's harder than it sounds to look for devices without looking like you're looking for them in case they're there. I could've missed some."
Now it's my turn to shake my head. "No, I doubt there were any in there. There's no reason for him to suspect you are anyone but who you say you are. He's smart, but I assume he would reserve a modicum of respect for his supposed daughter."
"And the testing?" she asks now. "Did your contact reach out to you?"
See? This is easier. Cordial. Businesslike. This is completely fine. Preferable, even.
My throat bobs. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, he has the samples and will send Ambrose the positive result in the morning."
She tenses. "Will he actually run it?"
"The test? He can't, or it's too hard to pull the false negative from the system."
She nods like this makes sense, but I see her leg start to bounce under the table.
Sev notices too. "It'll work, Ro. Don't worry about it. They didn't call him 'know-a-guy-Atty' in the service for nothing. His contacts always pull through."
Her restless leg settles, and her throat bobs. "I know it'll work. I guess I just don't know what happens when it does."
"None of us do, which is why we need to be ready for anything."
Eli gives me a look. "Well, what would you do if you found a long-lost member of your family?"
It's not hard to imagine. Even if my own mother left me by choice when I was still in fucking diapers, I spent a lot of my childhood wondering what it'd be like to have her come back. I can tell Eli's already thought this all the way through, so I don't answer, knowing he'll fill in the blank for me.
"He'll want to get to know her," Eli says. "Spend time with her. Right? I mean, we have to assume that. And if the media catches wind of it, they'll be all over her. It won't be safe for the long-lost daughter of a billionaire casino mogul to continue to attend university. Can you imagine the press?"
"Would he actually let this get out, though?" Sev asks.
I shake my head. "I don't think so. He's a private person. I don't see him letting it leak."
"We'd better hope so, or else meetings like this will become almost impossible."
Then he's really not going to like the new intel I found out while they were twiddling their thumbs waiting for Aurora to get here.
"About that, it's already going to be more difficult and we're going to have to proceed with a little more caution."
"Why?" Sev demands. "What do you know?"
"A black sedan rolled up down the street from Aurora's apartment shortly after she left to head over here. I cross-checked every vehicle I know of that's been parked there since we moved her in and this one hasn't ever been there before."
Aurora looks surprised, but she shouldn't be. This is the kind of man we're dealing with.
"No one exited the vehicle," I continue, and spin around a second to check if there's been movement since I looked last. "They're still there. Sitting in the car."
I zoom in on the street view camera to show them.
"Did you run the plates?" Sev asks.
"Am I an amateur? Of course I ran the plates. They're clean. Which means this is not some retired cop hired to watch over her apartment. It could be one of Ambrose's men. Likely ex-military."
Sev bites his lower lip, focusing hard on the blurry image of the man sitting behind the wheel. "He sure moved fast."
"He must really think she's it or else he wouldn't have done this before even getting the test results back."
Aurora's throat bobs.
