"And planned for," Atticus adds, rechecking the cameras both at Aurora's apartment and outside here. We can see Céline leaving the apartment with Ellie in tow for another walk. And the one who followed her here seems to be gone, at least for the moment. "At least we know they don't plan to idle outside the laundromat while you do your washing. That saves us some headache."
"You sleep okay, Ro?" Sev asks in a low tone as Atticus checks a few more things.
My angel fights a smirk as she nods. "Yeah. I slept great, actually."
Sev looks pleased with himself, and once again, I feel like I'm missing something, but it's not that hard to connect the dots. Sev went out last night. I figured he was blowing off some steam in the way he used to and might come home with a handful of new teeth for his walls, but now I think…
Sev notices my jealous look and gives me a shrug as if to say,No one was stopping you, but I shake my head anyway. I won't blow his cover to Atty, but he needs to be more careful. We all do. Especially now that Ambrose is both watching and listening.
"Okay," Atticus says, spinning from the monitors. "Could you tell us about the call?"
Aurora squirms a little in her chair, and Sev hooks his fingers beneath the seat and drags her over to him, draping an arm around her shoulders.
"Yeah," he says, almost playfully. "Tell us what that fucker said."
I drop into the seat facing them, steeling myself for the replay.
"He said it was a ninety-nine point nine percent match," Aurora begins. "He seemed legitimately surprised—definitely a bit choked up about it."
I can't help the slight sound of disgust that rumbles in the back of my throat.
She swallows and continues. "He said he would need to speak to his lawyers about it, but that he wanted to meet with me first to figure out how we want to move forward, basically. Oh, and he said not to tell anyone. That the media would have a field day, blah, blah, blah."
"That's good," I say, relief ratcheting down my spine. "We thought he would want to keep it quiet and that definitely works better for us."
This is really going to work, isn't it?
She nods solemnly, then perks up. "Oh! And he was at the airport. I could hear the pilot over the speaker in the background. He said he had some business overseas, which is why he couldn't meet until next weekend. And I heard the pilot say they'd be inNicebefore dinnertime."
The smallest grin pulls at one edge of Atticus's mouth, and I know we all feel like we've struck gold.
Of course, the intel could be useless, but it's straight from the horse's fucking mouth. Business in Nice, France.
Atticus drops his head to hide his grin, but we can see his shoulders shake with a deep, but quiet laugh of anticipation. When he lifts his head, he rubs his hands down his beard, eyes practically glimmering as he looks at Aurora.
"Damn," he says. "Day one as Ambrose's daughter, and you've already got intel?"
"We should cross-reference with any intel we already have involving Nice," I say.
"And check if there are any exhibits or major players who will be in that area this week," Sev offers.
Atticus swivels back around in his chair, hands flying over the keyboard. "On it."
My angel preens quietly at her success, and I know she's relieved to have been useful already.
"So, what do I do now?" she asks as Sev hands her a Chinese takeout box and a pair of chopsticks. "
"Act natural," I tell her. "Go about your regular daily routine. Hang out with your friend, what's her name?"
"Maisie."
"Right, Maisie. Spend time with her, do normal college girl stuff. What about that other guy? The one who came to your door with a binder a while back?"
She lifts a brow at me. "Bailey?"
"Yeah, you hanging out with him, too?"
Aurora's lips quirk up a bit on one side. "Why, Elijah? You jealous?"
