“Five,” Mom says. “Electra’sfatherwanted to be present as well.”
Oh, Mom…My chest warms at her possessiveness.
“Dad was still an hour away when I spoke to him last,” Dorian says.
A chill seizes my chest as I realize who it must be—Ines.
She just couldn’t help herself from…
Mom draws the door wide. My caller isn’t platinum-haired and brown-skinned; he’s bespectacled and as white as can be.
Chapter 16
Cillian
Where I’m expecting the redhead—aka Malika Serran—I’m not expecting the two other men standing in Electra’s kitchen.
Sweat dampens the brim of my ball cap. Electra must have figured out that Lara’s drink spill last night wasn’t an accident and called her family together to trap me. Is their goal instant execution or torturous interrogation?
Quinn’s face develops on my lids. What will happen to her when I don’t show up at the deli in three hours? Perspiration fogs my lenses and makes my glasses slip. I press them back into place as I tighten my grip around the box of brown butter scones Jeneva let me bake in the flower shop’s test kitchen.
Not without something in return, of course.
Oh no, Jeneva had terms.
Malika raises her nose and sniffs the air. “Hmm, something smells delicious. Elle, did you Doordash breakfast?”
“Doordash?” I hear Electra say. “How do you even know what that is?”
“Because I’ve stayed with you before, and you have a passion for takeout.”
“No, I have a passion fornotcooking. There’s a difference.”
Malika roots around her denim trouser pockets and pulls out a folded twenty. “Here.”
“Mom!” Electra finally steps into my line of sight.
“What?” Malika glances at her raven-haired daughter.
“That’s not a delivery boy.”
“It’s not?” I think Malika frowns, though it’s hard to tell behind her thick bangs.
“First off, delivery people can’t come up here, and secondly?—”
“He’s the boyfriend,” Dorian supplies, his pitch edging downward in disapproval as he also steps closer.
The guy is ultra-protective of his sister, so his distaste for me is neither alarming nor surprising.
“My daughter has a boyfriend?” The Texan drawl hits my skin with the power of a blast chiller.
Dorian grumbles something in Atlantean while Malika glances over her shoulder and impales the speaker with a look more serrated than the blade Trenton used to destroy Quinn’s face.
Electra, on the other hand, keeps her eyes on me.
“Pardon my surprise, but Elle mentioned we were meeting tomorrow.” Malika tucks the twenty back into her pocket before finally smiling and sticking out her hand. “I’m Malika Serran, the mother.”
Oh, I know who you are. You’re the guardian of the mine I intend to destroy.
