I grin. “Food critics are scrutinizing but notthatscrutinizing.”
“Exactly. And his friends know they can count on him.” Blue raises his glass. “Loyalty’s the most important ingredient.”
The sun’s setting as we finish eating, golden light hitting the water and the sea lions below. A few slip into the waves as we watch.
“Beautiful, aren’t they?” Blue says, following my gaze. “Perfectly adapted. We should all be so efficient.”
“How many people in your circle of friends have these kinds of... alternative career backgrounds?”
Blue considers this for a moment. “Most of them. Grimlock tends to attract people who’ve made their living in professions that don’t have much in the way of retirement benefits or alumni networks.”
“Do you trust all of them?”
Blue’s expression grows more serious. “I trust exactly two people in this world now that Peter’s gone. Hans and Wren.
“Hans has been with me for seven years. Found him in Prague, half-dead in an alley after a job went sideways. Someone had tortured him for information he didn’t have.” Blue’s voice softens slightly. “He could have walked away once he healed up. Instead, he asked to stay. Said he’d never had anyone patch him up without expecting something in return.
“And Wren raised me. Not officially—she was the housekeeperfor the family that took me in after my parents died. But she’s the one who made sure I ate, did my homework, didn’t get myself killed being stupid.” Blue glances at me. “When I bought Maison Rouge, the first call I made was to her.”
“She said yes.”
“She said it was about time I stopped being an idiot and settled down somewhere proper.” There’s genuine affection present. “Hans would take a bullet for me without thinking twice. Wren would take a bullet for me and then lecture me about why I put myself in that position in the first place.”
I can hear the deep love and loyalty when he talks about them. “They’re like family to you.”
This is the first time Blue has truly opened up to me. Not just hinting at his past or giving me cryptic half-truths, but actually letting me see who he is underneath all that careful control. The man who found a broken stranger in Prague and gave him a home. The man who called his surrogate mother and asked her to come take care of him again. There’s something vulnerable in the way he talks about Hans and Wren, something that makes my chest tighten.
“The only family I have left.”
“There’s so much about you that I don’t know,” I say quietly, studying his face in the candlelight. The admission slips out before I can stop it, but I don’t regret it. Not when he’s been this open with me.
Blue’s dark eyes meet mine, and something morphs in his face. “What would you like to know?”
He’s offering something here—a crack in that careful armor he always wears. Since he’s being so open, maybe it’s time I ask about something that’s been nagging at me.
“The portraits in your house,” I begin, then pause, a teasing smile tugging at my lips. “Should I be jealous that there are other women hanging in your hallway?”
Blue’s entire body goes still. The warmth that had been in his eyes when talking about Hans and Wren disappears, replaced by something guarded and unreadable. His jaw tightens.
I can tell he doesn’t want to answer, that I’ve stumbled on tosomething he’d rather avoid talking about. But after a long moment, he speaks.
“They are reminders of the good I’ve done.” His voice is carefully controlled. “There is so much darkness in my mind, my soul... that in order to focus on changing that man that I was, I need a daily reminder of the good. Those women represent lives I saved, people I helped when they needed it most.”
The raw honesty in his confession catches me off guard. This isn’t what I expected—not wives or conquests, but some kind of penance.
“So not your wives?” I ask, unable to keep the relief out of my voice.
Blue actually laughs then, a genuine sound that breaks the tension. “No, not my wives. I’ve never been married.”
He signals to the waitress, effectively ending the conversation about the portraits. But something has shifted between us—another wall down, another piece of the puzzle that is Blue revealed in the candlelight of the Cavern.
“Dessert?” he asks me.
“God, no. I’m so full I can barely breathe.” I lean back in my chair. “There’s no way I could eat another bite.”
Blue’s mouth curves into that smile that usually means he’s got something planned. “Good. Because the lesson isn’t over yet. There’s one more place I want to show you.”
Chapter Thirty-One
