Baran’s presence here crossed that line.
Unless Caius had done something worth punishment.
Gus let that settle.
Maybe it wasn’t that he didn’t want to go back but rather that he couldn’t.He could have committed some crime or mistake that made returning impossible.In which case, Gus was screwed since it was his testimony she was counting on to keep her ass out of the fire.
“Of course,” Caius said in response to her earlier question.He eyed her askance as if suddenly suspicious.“The better question would be—doyourecognize him?”
Gus’s eyebrows furrowed in a frown.“What makes you ask that?”
Caius gave a careful shrug.“Just a feeling.”
“Well, it’s wrong.I’ve never met that man.”
She’d just studied his dossier, and others the forty-three had assembled.It’d been a tedious process, but she’d memorized not just Baran’s information and image but countless others.Anyone who might one day threaten the forty-three.
“If you say so.”
“I do,” Gus snapped.
Caius nodded sagely.“You don’t know him.Got it.”
Gus scowled, hating that it sounded like he was humoring her.This was a game to him, she realized.Well, she wasn’t playing anymore.
She turned away to find Kyle watching them with a bemused expression.
“What?”Gus barked.
“It’s just—I’ve never seen psychos flirt before.I don’t think I like it.It’s strange”
“You need your eyes checked.That wasn’t flirting,” Gus said.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,jani,” Caius purred.
Again, with the nickname.
Gus fixed him with a glare, repeating, “That wasn’t flirting.”
Caius held up his hands in surrender, his chuckle husky.
Reaching for patience, Gus ignored the Tuann to focus on Kyle.“What else?”
“What else what?
You cannot poison your accountant, Gussy, Gus ordered herself sternly.You need him.Titan cannot run without the funds he allocates.
“What else did you find?”Gus bit out through gritted teeth.
“Nothing.”
Gus stared.“What do you mean nothing?”
“Exactly as it sounds.I found nada.Zip.Zilch.Nothing.”
“I understand what nothing means,” Gus ground out.
“Really?Because you seemed confused.”
