CLAIRE'S POV
I found Celeste in the study the following morning. She was standing behind her desk, still in yesterday's clothes, reading through a report Dax had left for her. There were two untouched cups of coffee beside her, and a stack of papers spread across the desk in a way that suggested she'd been working for most of the night.
She looked up when I entered. "How is Alec?"
"Sleeping, I think. He was awake when I left."
"Has he spoken to anyone?"
"Not much."
She put down the report. "And the injury?"
"A cut along his neck. Nothing serious."
Celeste nodded, though her attention had already returned to the papers. I closed the door behind me. "You've been here all night."
"There's work to be done."
"Of course there is."
I walked around the desk, glancing at the reports. Most concerned the security breach, the guard rotations and the information Mark had passed to Dario. "How many guards have you added?"
"Six. Four in the north wing, two at the eastern entrance. Dax is reviewing the remaining rotations."
"Six?"
"Someone got into Alec's bedroom."
"I was there. I remember."
"Then you understand why this needs to be dealt with."
I picked up one of the reports and put it back down. "Is that why you're so concerned?"
Her eyes lifted. "What do you mean?"
"Alec. You're acting as though losing him would set the entire operation back."
"It would."
The answer came without hesitation. I pulled out a chair and sat down. "Because of his father?"
"Because of what his father may have left behind."
She reached for a folder and opened it. "Before Alec came here, we knew very little about his father's business. We knew he had handled financial accounts for people connected to Dario's organization, but we didn't know the extent of his involvement. We still don't."
"And you think Alec knows?"
"I think he may know more than he realises. He grew up around that business. He understands how his father worked, the people he dealt with and the way he kept his records. There may be things he remembers that would mean nothing to anyone else."
"Things that could lead us to Dario."
"Or to the people financing him. The accounts, the companies, the transfers. We have spent months trying to establish how the operation is funded. His father may have been involved in building part of that structure."
I looked down at the folder. "So, if Alec dies..."
"We lose our best lead into that part of the organisation." She said it plainly, but there was something beneath her words. Not grief. Not the kind of attachment I might have expected if I'd known them longer. It was the frustration of having finally found a possible route into something she had been trying to uncover for years, only to have it threatened from inside her own house.
"And Dario knows that," I said.
"Possibly. He knows who Alec's father was. He knows we took Alec. Whether he understands exactly what Alec might be able to give us is another matter."
"Then the attack could have been intended to stop us finding out."
"Or to make certain we understood that Alec was still within his reach."
She closed the folder. "Either way, someone knew where he was sleeping. They knew enough about our security to get past it. That is what concerns me."
I glanced at the reports again. "And Mark?"
"Mark had been answering Dario's calls for eight months. We know he sold Petrov's location. We are still determining what else he gave them."
"Then find out who else was involved. But don't turn the entire house into a prison because one man betrayed us."
Her expression hardened. "You think I'm being unreasonable?"
"I think you're doing what you always do. Something goes wrong, and you start looking for every possible thing you can control."
"That is generally how one prevents things from going wrong."
"Not everything can be prevented."
"That doesn't mean we stop trying."
"No. But you can't guarantee that nobody will ever get through our security again."
She looked away. I thought of Alec's bedroom. The overturned chair, the blood on his sheets, the knife against his throat. I hadn't known him long enough to claim I was afraid of losing him. But I had walked into that room expecting to find a man who could answer questions about his father, and for a moment I had thought I was looking at a dead body instead.
"I thought he was dead," I said quietly. Celeste looked back at me. "When I walked in, I saw the knife against his throat. For a second, I genuinely thought I was too late." My voice caught. I cleared my throat. "Whatever we need from him, we can't get it if he's dead."
"No," she said. "We can't."
"And if Dario gets to him first, we may never find out what his father left behind."
"Which is why this cannot happen again." She walked towards the window. Outside, the guards were already moving through their new positions. Two stood near the eastern path, another outside the north wing. I watched her for a moment. "There's something else."
She didn't turn around. "What?"
"You've been hiding something from me."
That got her attention. She looked over her shoulder. "Have I?"
"Don't do that. You've been keeping things from me for weeks. Every time I ask about the investigation, you give me just enough information to satisfy me and then change the subject. You know something is wrong, Celeste. Something beyond Alec's father and Dario's money." She was quiet.
"What is it?" I ask.
"Claire."
"No. You don't get to keep telling me we're in this together and then decide which parts I'm allowed to know." She turned fully towards me. For a moment, I thought she might refuse. It wouldn't have been the first time. Then she returned to her desk and opened a different folder.
"Some of the men connected to Dario's organisation have appeared in places they shouldn't have. I found a connection to the warehouse district. The same district where Kane was killed."
I stared at her. "What?"
"I don't have confirmation that the men responsible for Kane's death are working directly for Dario. But the connection is there. I've been trying to establish how far it goes."
"And you didn't think to tell me?"
"I didn't know enough to tell you anything certain."
"You could have told me you were looking."
"I didn't want to give you something that might turn out to be nothing."
"That's not your decision to make for me."
Her expression tightened. "I know."
I looked at the folder in front of her, then back at her. "Is that why you've been so determined to get into that warehouse?"
"Partly."
"And Jace?" I asked.
She hesitated. "He has seen some of the people connected to that world. He may be able to recognise someone who can help us establish the link."
"So he isn't just helping you identify men connected to the operation."
"No."
I sat back. "How long have you known?"
"Long enough to know that I need more before I act on it."
I understood then why she'd been so careful with her answers. Celeste had spent years learning to live with what happened to Kane. She had never stopped looking for the people responsible, but she had also never allowed herself to speak about it as though she expected to find them. "You should have told me," I said.
"I know."
I wanted to be angry with her. Part of me was. But I also knew what it had cost her to say even that much. I let the silence settle before looking towards the reports again. "You know, there is a difference between protecting an asset and making certain it remains useful."
She turned. "I'm aware."
"Are you? Because Alec is still a person. He isn't going to tell us everything just because we keep him under guard."
"I haven't suggested otherwise."
"Then don't let this become another reason to control every movement he makes."
Her expression gave little away. "I need him alive, Claire. I need him able to tell us what he knows. I need to understand what his father was involved in before Dario has the opportunity to erase whatever remains."
"I know."
"And I need to know that no one else can get into his room with a knife."
"I know that too."
For a moment, neither of us spoke. "Are you going to tell Jace about the changes?" I asked.
"About the attack?"
"About the additional guards. The restrictions you're planning."
"He'll be informed."
"That's not quite the same as asking him."
"Jace isn't the one who was attacked."
"No, but he's still connected to this. Dario knows who he is, and if you're changing the security arrangements for everyone, he deserves to know why."
Celeste folded her arms. "I'm not taking unnecessary risks with either of them."
"I'm not asking you to."
She studied me for a moment. "Speaking of people who are connected to this, how are your eleven o'clock conversations going?"
I looked at her. "What?"
"With Alec. You've been spending quite a lot of time with him lately."
I stared at her, then let out a short breath. "Have you been keeping track?"
"I live in the same house, Claire. You aren't particularly difficult to notice."
"They're conversations."
"I didn't say they weren't."
"Then what's the problem?"
"Nothing. I'm simply reminding you to be careful."
I folded my arms. "Careful of what?"
"Getting attached."
I almost laughed. " "He's hardly in a position to choose how much time he spends with me, Celeste."
"That isn't what I meant."
"I know what you meant."
"Do you? Because he's here for a reason. His father's business may be the key to getting us what we've been looking for. We don't know how much he remembers, what he might uncover or what he'll do once he understands the extent of it."
"And you think talking to him at eleven at night is going to compromise all of that?"
"I think you should remember that he is still a prisoner in this house. Whatever you feel for him, that doesn't change the circumstances."
The words irritated me more than I expected. "I'm aware of the circumstances."
"Then don't let yourself forget them."
I looked at her for a moment. There was something almost familiar about the way she said it, as though she were warning me against a mistake she'd already made herself. "Is that what you're doing with Jace?" I asked.
Her expression changed. "That's different."
"Is it?"
"Yes."
I didn't push. Not because I agreed, but because I knew Celeste well enough to recognise when a conversation had reached a door she wasn't prepared to open. Instead, I stood and moved towards the study door. "Just don't make decisions for everyone without telling them. We've already had enough surprises."
She looked at me for a moment before returning to her desk. "I'll speak to Jace."
It wasn't quite the answer I'd wanted, but it was something. I opened the door. She gave a small nod in return, and I stepped into the corridor. Behind me, I heard her pick up the telephone. The reports would be reviewed, the guards reassigned, the gaps in security investigated. Alec's father's records would be examined, and Celeste would continue looking for whatever connection she suspected was there.
Alec was important to her. Not because they had grown close, but because he might hold the one piece of information, she had been unable to find elsewhere. And now Dario knew exactly where to hurt us.