I raised a hand. “I need a word.”
“Give me a moment with Miles,” Levi said.
“Are we okay?” I said to Priya.
“You’re my best friend, but navigating between you and Levi is exhausting, and I haven’t been able to take on any outside clients because I’ve been pulling such long hours. This wasn’t what I signed up for, Ash. I believe in your cause, but the House is where my professional opportunities lay right now.”
“Next time, say something.” Priya’s normal usual vitality had dimmed to a lackluster waxy sheen, and looking back, she’d been coming home and crashing most nights.
“I’ve tried,” she said gently.
Arkady strode over to us. “Are you going to keep ignoring me, pickle?”
I stood up so he’d tower over me slightly less. “Are you going to share whatever it is you’re lying about?”
“We have this amazing process called innocent until proven guilty,” he said. “Do you have any proof that I’ve done something wrong, or are you so hyped up on your own self-importance that you’ve decided everyone is out to get you and I couldn’t possibly have moved in next door because I needed a place to live?”
My eyes narrowed and I crossed my arms. “Excuse me?”
Priya jumped up between us. “That’s it. I’m invoking forced socialization. Tomorrow night, the two of you are going to work this out.”
Arkady and I gave similar sullen stares.
“Pout all you want, but I’m done with this. Rafael?”
He looked up from his phone.
“We’re going out tomorrow,” Priya said. “Come with us. You must be going crazy having basically only Ash for company.”
“Serving his Jezebel is an Attendant’s greatest joy,” I said.
“Horrors.” He shivered. “I’d be delighted.”
Priya clipped the leash back on Mrs. Hudson with a nod. “I’ll get started on Deepa’s financials. See where that leads.”
I reached for the leash. “Can I have my puppy back?”
“No.” Priya batted her lashes at me to show we were good, but the dog was non-negotiable.
“Can I ask for one more favor?” I said.
“It depends.”
“Talia is being blackmailed.” I watched Arkady for his reaction, but he whistled softly under his breath. His shock seemed genuine.
Priya gasped. “What?”
“Bloody hell,” Rafael said. “Who would do such a thing?”
“She wields power within a controversial political party,” Arkady said. “Is it tied to the legislation?”
“Could be,” I admitted.
After Priya heard the details, she said that she’d examine my mom’s phone for any clues as to the sender from either the text, the unknown number, or the video file itself.
Miles came over and squeezed Arkady’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
The two of them, Priya, and my dog all left together, while Rafael said he’d meet me down in the House Library. He wanted to speak with Elke, the librarian, about resources pertaining to Bookworms.
Rafael shut the door, leaving me with Levi.
“Is this going to take long?” he said.
You insufferable bastard. “Your mom wants to leave your father.” I brushed off my hands. “There. All looped in.”
Levi’s mouth fell open, then he frowned. “How would you know?”
“Nicola allocated the best resource to help her.”
His expression grew more and more glacial as I recounted our conversation. He could rent himself out for parties, stuff beer down his shirt, and market it as a way to save on ice.
“Put a guard on her in case she isn’t able to keep up the status quo charade or Isaac gets suspicious and she has to be pulled out immediately,” I said. “Oh, you’re our go-between.”
Levi pulled out his phone. “Then I’ll tell her you’ve changed your mind.”
“I haven’t.”
“My mother isn’t equipped to deal with you like I am. If you go scorched earth on her—”
“I went scorched earth on you?” Not only was that the furthest thing from the truth, but after our entire history, he’d reduced me to some destructive force? I clapped my hand over my mouth, pressing down to physically prevent a hateful response. Or a wounded noise.
I grabbed my purse to leave, needing distance.
He sighed and placed the phone on his desk. “I’m asking you not to do this.”
I searched his face but there was no trace of the man I’d made love to and shared my secrets with. “Your ‘ask’ sounds more like a decree.”
There was a knock on the door and Veronica entered with some file folders. “These require your signature.”
“Thank you.” Levi smiled at her as she left. It even reached his eyes. He flipped between emotions so quickly. Was this another mask? Did he ever take them off?
He used to with me…
“If you find this bamah,” Levi said, leaning over his desk to sign the documents, “Isaac will suspect, if not know outright, that Nicola gave him up. You can’t even be certain it concerns the Sefer.”
I ruthlessly shoved my pang of sympathy away. “Of course this concerns the Sefer.”
“What if my mom meets the same fate as Adam?”
“We’re going to make sure she doesn’t. And if I don’t help her, she’ll find someone who has no idea how carefully to tread. You didn’t see her. She’s going through with this and, as such, I’m her best and safest option. No harm will befall her on my watch.”
“Can you swear that her trust in you will be sacrosanct?” There was a weight to his words and the way he watched me, his mouth in a grim line.
Were we talking about Nicola anymore?
Levi clicked the pen a couple of times, and the moment passed. “I’ll talk Mom out of her plans and I’ll make sure you have cases to occupy you besides finding the Bookworm.”
“Thank you, O Great and Beneficent One, for throwing me a bone.” I picked up a magazine, Business Insider, raised an eyebrow, and smacked it back on the coffee table. Since when did Levi care about Mundane business? What mask was this? My voice lowered. “Look, you know it doesn’t work that way. I’m a Jezebel. You want me to ignore my purpose?”
“Three months ago, you didn’t even know you had a purpose. How much of this is about some noble cause and how much is revenge for Adam?”
I froze, caught in his barbed sneer, and unable to stop the flash of anger that speared through me at his contempt. “Two months ago, you had no problem with me wanting vengeance for my dad’s murder. In fact, you promised to help me, so don’t you dare throw that back in my face now.”
“I didn’t mean…fuck.”
A curious calm settled over me. “Ah, but you did.”
Levi held out a hand, his expression beseeching. “She’s my mother. Would you charge blithely forward if Talia’s life was on the line? If Adam’s was?” He paused. “Would you have pursued this if stepping back meant keeping him safe?”
“There is no ‘safe’ anymore. Not for your family or mine. That ship sailed more than fifteen years ago and I have to do the best I can from day to day. So do you, and hiding your head in the sand isn’t going to change that fact. What do you think will happen if the Ten bring about immortality?” I said. “How safe do you think your mom will be then? How safe is she living in fear of that monster every day?” I hitched my slipping purse back onto my shoulder. “You want Nicola to remain trapped with him? Isaac murdered my father for daring to leave. Nothing short of a complete and utter takedown of that man is going to allow her to be free.”