“Mr. Gubber is pissed. That company falls under the umbrella of an organized crime ring and they’ve been laundering money that way. The employees aren’t actually real and you just blew their cover. Mr. Gubber gave the account to Caleb because he thought a newbie might not notice the discrepancies.”
“Oh fuck.” I take a step back and give her an assessing look. “You knew all this? And you didn’t report them yourself?”
Josie squares her shoulders and schools her features, and suddenly she looks like a whole other person. “Audrey, I’m an undercover agent with the organized crime team. We’ve had Mr. Gubber under surveillance for a while, but he’s just a small cog in the crime ring we’re trying to get to. I’m playing the role of dutiful assistant to learn all I can before we take them all down.”
“Badass. That’s really cool.”
Josie preens for only a second before she grabs my shoulder and implores me to hear her out. “You’re in danger, Audrey. You need to get out of here as soon as possible before they try to findyou and make an example out of you. Do you have somewhere you can go to lie low for a while? Maybe with your cousin in Starry Hill? They probably won’t dare to look over there with all the protections the island has in place.”
My blood turns cold as her words sink in, not because I’m scared of whatever Mr. Gubber is involved in, but at how much she knows about my private life. “How do you know about Tilly? And Starry Hill?”
Josie’s smile is indulgent, very unlike the person I thought she was. “I know everything about everyone who works here. If you don’t want to go to the island, I can help arrange somewhere safe for you. It won’t be forever. Once we have the big boss in custody and the ring dismantled, it will be safe to come back.”
I take a second to process all this information, little moments over the past year slotting together like bizarre puzzle pieces, and I come to the conclusion that Josie really isn’t bullshitting me. “This is serious, isn’t it?”
“Very.”
My mind is already racing through a list of to-dos, thinking through my next steps before I announce, “I’ll go to Starry Hill. Rather a quaint cottage with people I know than you sticking me on some farm in the middle of nowhere.”
“How did you know that was my plan?” Josie asks with a quick wink, a little bit of her familiar persona sifting through.
I roll my eyes. “Har har. Very funny. Can I grab some stuff from my desk?”
Josie’s grin is apologetic. “No time. There’s an agent waiting downstairs who’ll keep a discreet eye on you until your transport arrives. We want you safe, but not be too obvious that you’re protected.”
“Fuck,” I breathe out. “You guys are organized. Consider me properly scared now.” And I am. I’ve thought about hypotheticals before and how cool it would be to catch bad guysby simply being meticulously good at my job, but actually being told to evacuate to a magic-protected island—or risk my life—is not the way the story played out in my head.
Josie helps me leave the building in the most nonchalant way I’ve ever nonchalanted before heading back upstairs and pretending none of this ever happened.
Once in the car, I apply a fresh coat of ruby-red lipstick, slip on my sunglasses, and dial The Bandaged Heart.
I miss the days when I could simply text Tilly. Since Starry Hill doesn’t really have good signal, phones are basically useless in most areas away from the shops. So whenever I need to get in contact with someone over there, I’m treated to the privilege of making excruciating small talk before I get to the main purpose of the conversation.
Thankfully, today seems to be fairly busy at the clinic, or maybe Tilly can pick up on my subtle vibes, because she goes straight for the jugular after a perfunctory greeting.
“What’s wrong?” Tilly practically growls.
Those mama bear feelings must be riding her hard, because her instincts are spot-on. I am, however, going to try to keep this conversation as light as possible. No need to raise her blood pressure and risk the health of my little nieces, or nephews, or niece and nephew, that she’s currently baking.
“How do you feel about me moving to Starry Hill for a little while?” I ask casually, pulling out of the parking lot and steering my car toward my apartment.
“What happened?”
“Nothing you need to be concerned about.” I glance in my rearview mirror and spot a fairly inconspicuous car following a few lengths behind me. I fucking hope it’s that agent Josie was talking about.
“Audrey.” My name holds enough bite that I give her a very condensed, very sugar-coated version of what transpired this morning.
Tilly shifts into practical mode and I hear her muffled voice as she calls for Katie, the fairy receptionist, to fly and get Bodin.
“You know that big hubby of yours is going to freak out when Katie shows up,” I say, imagining the big orc storming across the island to get to his very pregnant wife.
Tilly huffs, and I can almost detect a smile behind it. “If there’s a freak-out, it’ll only last about five minutes before he’s here to check with his own eyes that I’m okay. I swear, the further I get in this pregnancy, the closer he sticks to me. He’s practically hovering at my side lately. Won’t surprise me if he carries me everywhere in the final month.”
“Don’t pretend you won’t like that,” I quip as I turn down another street, hoping to keep the conversation light despite the nerves climbing up my throat.
Tilly is quite prone to injuring herself, and Bodin has somehow made it one of his life goals to keep her as safe from herself as he can. Usually this would send off all kinds of red flags for me, but in their case, it’s weirdly endearing.
I remember their wedding and how Bodin literally carried Tilly off while the party was still in full swing. Though, that was purely to get her somewhere private so they could start their fuck fest.
