There’s a solution to my aversion to dating the boss.Ifwe start dating andifit is more than a one-night-at-a-museum stand, then screw MINDFUCH! I’ll quit and look for another job. Even if it ends up being a short-lived relationship, which it very likely will, I know I won’t regret it. This man is too much fun.
And I want him too much.
21
MAX
Adistinct sense of déjà-vu comes over me when we disembark the TGV at Lyon’s Part-Dieu station. I take Lucie’s hand and we head straight to the car rental, slaloming through the crowd on the concrete landing. This time around, I’m getting a black Mercedes with tinted windows.
Anders, who traveled incognito on the same train, will follow us around in a rented BMW and keep an eye on any SUVs or other vehicles that might be tailing us. It’s hard to imagine how Kurt Ozzi would find out I’m back in Lyon, given that no one, myself included, knew I was coming here until four hours ago. But it’s also true that the man has eyes and ears everywhere, because you can find a corruptible official or crooked cop everywhere. It would be a grave mistake to underestimate the man’s ability to do harm or his hate for Mount Evor.
“You still want to go straight to Yolanda’s workplace without calling her first?” Lucie asks as I put the carin drive.
I fasten my seat belt. “According to the brief I received, she’s still as much of a flirt as she was a decade ago.”
“Erm… I’m not sure I’m following.”
“She prefers younger men these days,” I say with a wink.
Lucie buckles up. “Please don’t tell me you’re planning to use your charms on her!”
“That’s exactly what I’m planning to do.” I pull out onto the road. “If she still has that key, I’m going to stack all the odds in my favor.”
She stares at me, wide-eyed. “Does that include seducing her? Are early James Bond movies your playbook, Max?”
“Of course not! But when I make her an offer she won’t be able to refuse; my good looks and my charisma will be an asset.”
She blows out a breath noisily, rolling her eyes.
We roll along in silence for a short while, guided by the car’s GPS.
“What if she drives a hard bargain?” Lucie asks. “Will your budget stretch? Do you expect MINDFUCH to approve an overrun?”
I chuckle. “Don’t know, don’t care.”
“Why? Are you so rich that you won’t need MINDFUCH bankrolling you no matter the price?”
“My family is bankrolling MINDFUCH, Lucie.”
She looks me over. “Once again, who are you?”
For a split second, I’m tempted to tell her the truth. I seriously like this woman, and I trust her, which makes lying to her even by omission unpalatable. But I can’t come clean. The stakes are too high, not only for my family but for my entire country, whose prime minister and current monarch have both asked me to keep the Key to the Key in the dark.
And so, the disciplined little prince that I am won’t tell Lucie about Mount Evor, the House of Valois-Montevor, the sunset clause, or the oracle’s revelation. She suspects I may be some hotshot’s illegitimate offspring. I’m going to let her think that.
Not without difficulty, the GPS maps the route to Yolanda’s workplace, a run-down grocery shop in the same dingy suburb where she lives. A woman who’s too young to be her—Yolanda is forty-three according to Carlo’s file—tells us she called in sick this morning.
From there, we drive to her boxy house that’s devoid of charm.
I park about twenty meters down the street.
The door to Yolanda’s place is open. A busty fake blonde who looks like the one in the picture Carlo emailed me fills the doorway. She’s talking to a big, muscle-bound dude. I can’t make out their words, but the overall context is pretty obvious. Arms crossed over his chest, the man is standing much too close to her, invading her personal space. He doesn’t raise his voice or touch her, but his posture is undoubtedly threatening. Yolanda appears subdued.
“A jilted lover?” Lucie whispers.
“Not sure…”
“Neither am I.” She points at the pair. “He’s too unflustered for a man in the throes of jealousy.”
