How About Seven? ✔

41. Lux Aeterna

Carefully, I peered out from behind the pillar. Black and Tan had arrived on the scene five minutes ago, and were now chatting amicably in the lobby area. There were four men and two women. I recognized three of them immediately; they had been in the profiles Mr Hood drew up and which Jasper and I went over in his apartment. Maggie Adams, Park Seol-Hee and Oliver Griffith-Jones. The fact that the head security wasn't among them made me uneasy - that meant he was probably somewhere else, and he looked to be the last person I wanted to stumble into when I turned a corner of the hallway. For the life of me, I couldn't remember the name of the last person.

The six-person group sat on comfortable couches, shoes sunk deep into the lush carpet, blissfully unaware of the fact that two other parties were shadowing them.

"They seem to be waiting for someone," I whispered into my earpiece. 

"Yes," came William's reply. "Jasper just sent out a command to his inside man - wait for the Octagon chairman."

"Who's his inside man? I don't see anyone else except me here hiding behind a pillar. Unless they've developed Harry Potter's invisible cloak or something."

"He's the one walking toward the coffee table now."

I looked at the newcomer. My eyes widened and immediately the fifth profile Mr Hood had collected came to me.

"That's Blake Jones! He's supposed to be on Black and Tan's side!"

"Not anymore," came Damian's soft murmur. "Jasper got to him two days ago and he's now our man."

"Looks like Jasper struck much earlier than we thought."

Suddenly, all the men around the coffee table stood up. I followed their line of sight.

And saw a woman. Tall, with a wickedly blonde pixie cut, dressed in a white pantsuit that had its cleavage cut slightly low. The men fell over themselves trying to shake her hand. For a moment I couldn't process what I was seeing.

A woman. In a leadership position. Of a criminal empire.

For a second an image flashed across my vision; me holding the will, me being lauded the savior. Me being made Blackcroft don. 

Blackcroft Manor being mine, and I could decorate my own bedroom as well as every other room in the house the hell of any color I like.

"Guys." William sounded like he was frowning. "I think Damian is trying to tell us something. But he can't speak because he's right next to Jasper. He can hear us though."

I pressed the earpiece closer to my ear. "What is he doing?"

"He keeps scratching his chin with a finger. I think he's trying to - is he pointing at someone? On his left? The people on his left?"

"Who's the people on his left?" Kaylan asked.

"Let me just adjust the cams - oh. Wow. Okay, I've got two teenage boys here, looking pretty young. I think they're brothers."

I immediately became alert. "Is that Do Re Mi?"

"Who?" William sounded bewildered.

"Damian will know. Is it Do Re Mi?"

"Okay, Damian just scratched his chin with middle finger and ring finger," William relayed. 

"Re and Mi," I breathed. "So where is Do?"

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the party began to move away. "William, Black and Tan are heading for the elevators."

"Yes, I see them. Emrys, how are things with you and Kaylan?"