Pain flashed in his eyes before he stowed it away. “I’m going to find out, and then I’m going to cut him into pieces.”
The room was deathly silent for a moment before the murmuring of angry voices and stomping feet reached us. A moment later, Emma threw the door open and pointed at Mason, “Your housekeeper deserves a raise.” Bits of her strawberry blonde hair had come loose from her messy bun, and she wore Christmas pajamas. The housekeeper in question stood in the hall with her hands up and her eyes wide.
“I’ll take it from here, Rochelle,” Mason assured her, and she didn’t waste a moment before fleeing.
“Fuck, Emma, what did you do to her?” Victor accused.
She spun to face him, her mouth dropping open. “Me?ME?What didIdo? She has to deal with you three!” She aimed her finger at each of them.
“Itoldyou to wait in the car,” James muttered in exasperation as he ran his hand over his face.
Her steely gray eyes blazed as she stalked toward him. “No, youlockedme in the fucking car!”
“You don’t like doing what you’re told.” He raised an eyebrow at her in challenge.
“Emma, what’s going on?” I asked, hoping to prevent her from attacking him.
“That fucker!” she screamed as she pointed at James. “Just pulled up outside my apartment, hauled me out, and threw me in his damn car! You kidnapped me,James. That is a crime!”
“Shortcake, I fucking killed somebody last night. I think you should prioritize which crime upsets you most. Isn’t that the big problem between us, the killing?”
“The big problem between us isyou, James. But the kidnapping is now the very next thing on the list!”
“Shortcake,” he warned.
She turned to me. “Merry Christmas, Claire. I would apologize for interrupting your morning, but seeing as I’m not the one who eviscerated that tweed-clad pedo, I won’t. Are there guest rooms upstairs?” Her strawberry blonde hair was a frazzled mess around her head, unlike her usually sleek look.
“There are,” I held back the laugh she clearly would not appreciate as I answered.
A bit of the wild gleam in her eyes faded. “I’m going upstairs to pick one, seeing as this neanderthal insists I won’t be returning home until he deems it safe,” her eyes and tone shifted from soft and deadly to furious, “and there’s not a snowball’s chance I’m going to be staying with you, James.” With that, she stomped off.
“Fuck that,” James bit out as he went after her.
Mason grabbed his arm, stopping his progress. “Does pushing her make things better or worse usually?”
James pulled against his hold, but Mason didn't let go. Instead, he deflated as he stopped struggling. “She's an amazing fuck when she's angry, but I suppose it doesn't help anything.”
Mason dropped his hand. “Give her some time. This way, she’s still right here, and we can pool our resources to keep them both safe, yeah?”
James let out a shaky breath. “Yeah, okay.”
“What’s the plan, guys?” I asked, bringing their attention back to this room.
“Same as before: no business. It’s Christmas. Gavin’s already gone, and there’s nothing we can do today.”
“There’s nothing youwantto do today.” I corrected.
“Fine. All I want to do today is have a nice Christmas with you and avoid being caught in the middle of James and Emma. Tomorrow we will meet with Hector and hit the ground running. Today is Christmas.”
I rolled my eyes as he took my hand and led me out of his office to enjoy our time together, despite the fact the world was waiting to crash down on us as soon as the day ended.
Chapter 8
Claire
Thefollowingday,Idressed in a soft black sweater dress that clung to my slowly reforming curves and seemed appropriate given the carnage and death of the preceding days. I didn’t care that Gavin was dead after learning about the type of man he was, but I did mourn for myself. I would never return to the girl I was before I saw him split open. Yet, I knew I would survive.
Over the past nine months, I had left behind so many versions of myself. There was the lonely girl living in her cluttered crappy apartment, the girl who got what she wanted from her life and career, and then the one who had it all turned on its head. The world had ripped away so many pieces of me, but I found new ones daily.