“Hmm,” Adria replied.
“El, the woman you sold them to. X told you who she is, get her number, call, visit, do something,” Eric said.
Adria shook her head.
When Elena had come to the auction, she had introduced herself as Kate. She had bid on the boys as Kate. If Adria were to call her or show up at her doorstep, Elena would know that she had checked up on her.
“I don’t understand it. Her and Bryson are supposedly friends, so why haven’t they just called you?” Eric said. It was probably the hundredth time he had mentioned it.
Adria pushed her spoon around her bowl saying, “They are probably busy.”
It didn’t feel right to say, but what else was there?
They changed their minds.
She shook off the thought. So what if they did? Bryson had been forced by family politics and his own father into slavery. Her slavery.
And she had carried the whip, literally.
It wasn’t that far-fetched to think that after they had some distance, they saw how dysfunctional the whole thing was.
Red flag after red flag. That’s what she was.
She had gotten the job done, sure. But what was the cost? Adria knew she had manipulated them and even crossed lines she herself had vowed never to cross.
Now they were free—well, sort of.
They had ten months left at Elena’s and then they would be free, but ifKatewas a true friend, the three of them would be sitting poolside right now. Drinking bourbon and smoking cigars.
“Any news from X?” Eric asked.
“He’s working with his contact, Vega. He might have a job for me. Something that could still help us with the property we lost to Callen,” she said.
Eric raised an eyebrow. “A job?”
Adria dabbed her face with a napkin.
“Yea, apparently my talents did not go unnoticed at the auction, and Vega thinks I might be able to help him with his own unruly spawn.”
Eric’s drink splashed as he coughed into it. Recovering, he hit her with a huge white grin. “Adria Federov, prince trainer,” he said, holding back laughter.
Adria scowled. “That is exactly why I’m reluctant to take it. But it’s a job, and with Callen in the Triune now, we could use all the leverage we can get.”
She stabbed at a seasoned shrimp with unnecessary force. Callen being a part of the Triune was another issue—one that made her stomach twist into knots. It was dangerous with no upside, but Adria was all full up on what-ifs. All she could do now was keep moving forward, even as every step felt like walking on broken glass.
X’s land deal with Vega dangled before her like a lifeline she both craved and dreaded. Ethics and feasibility aside, she didn’t know if she was in any shape to train anyone right now.
“There is something I wanted to show you,” Eric said, getting up from the table.
Adria watched him move into the kitchen and bring out her mother’s worn purple cookbook.
Eric paged through until he found whatever he was looking for before putting it in front of her.
The page was blank.
Adria tilted her head.
Eric leaned in and traced his finger along the paper. “It’s raised. Look closer, in the light.”
