Tales of the Otherworld (50 page)

“Well, you can be somewhat impetuous …”

“That’s not impetuous. It’s stupid.” She put her arms around my neck. “I was being very careful, which is more than I can say for the guy who came rushing in here to rescue me without backup, without even checking to make sure the building was
empty.
Troy and Griffin were right downstairs in the lobby, if you’d bothered to check.”

“I was concerned for your safety.”

She rolled her eyes, face tilted to mine. “Ah, so when I act without thinking, I’m impetuous. If you do it, you’re chivalrous. Well, Cortez, your chivalry could have gotten you killed.”

“Hardly. I had the situation under control.”

“Uh-huh.”

“I did. As Kepler was talking, I was compiling a list of escape possibilities, starting with—”

She pressed her mouth to mine, cutting off my explanation and, after a moment, I realized it wasn’t really that important.

T
WO DAYS LATER, THE DUST HAD SETTLED
. The Cabals had still voted on the St. Cloud proposal but only the Nasts had supported it. The matter would not rest forever. For now, though, all was quiet.

That night, after we’d retired, I told Paige about my own proposal.

She listened quietly, taking it all in, then said, “Are you okay with that?”

“I am.”

She sat up in bed. “Are you sure? Because I know this is something you’ve said you’d never do …”

“Does it disappoint you that I am?”

She shook her head. “If you’re ever going to do it, this is definitely the right reason. I just want to be sure you aren’t feeling pressured into it. We can wait, get something in a few years—”

“I want to do this.”

“Then I guess the next step is finding out whether your dad will go for it.”

And that, indeed, was likely the biggest sticking point.

I’d invited my father to breakfast. I went alone.

Halfway through the meal, I said, “I’d like to discuss the office situation.”

“You’ve come to a decision.”

“We have. You said that if I took this office now, I could someday buy it from you. Would that offer stand now?”

“You mean, would I sell it to you now?” He leaned back, sighing softly. “I hope you aren’t thinking of taking out a loan. The operating costs alone could equal or outweigh loan payments, and I don’t want to see you and Paige saddled with that—”

“I mean buying it outright.” I met his gaze. “With my trust fund.”

He blinked. To me, my trust fund has always been off-limits. It was an unwanted inheritance from a corporation I wanted no part of. But, as Paige said, if I was ever to use it, this was the right way—Cabal money to build a firm to defend supernaturals, investigate Cabal injustices, and rebuild the power of the interracial council.

“Do you have enough?” he said. “Not just to buy the building, which I’m sure you can afford, but operating costs
will
be heavy in the early years, Lucas, and I know your brothers were badly hit when stocks sank a few years back. If you don’t have at least half of your original five million …”

“I invested rather conservatively,” I said. “A choice that saw me through the dips with minimal impact and, in subsequent years, paid off quite well. I have just over seven million.”

He smiled. “I should have known. Well, then, as finances are not a concern, let me make a few calls and we’ll see what we can do.”

We agreed on a figure. It was not a bargain—my father knew I’d balk at any hint of getting a deal and therefore being indebted to him. But neither did he attempt to overprice it and frighten me off. It was a fair deal.

Any custom work needed would be finished by my father’s crew, and was included in the price. Then Paige and I would complete construction, and save money by slowing the pace and choosing modest fittings and furnishings. The frugal choice, as always, which suited us both.

Later that same day, I brought Paige over and took her up to our “conjoined” office. As I sat on a pile of lumber, she wandered around, checking everything out, eyes glowing.

“So the divider goes here, I presume,” she said. “Equal windows,
separate doors, a shared bathroom…I think we can fit a sitting area here, beside the divider, to further separate the spaces. Get a couple of chairs …” She grinned my way. “A comfortable futon…Oh, and locking doors. We definitely need locking doors.”

She walked to the plans. “We should consider renting out the offices on the first floor. We certainly won’t need them. But we’ll need to make sure access to the other floors is strictly secured, maybe use a key or code for the elevator. We wouldn’t want tenants wandering, especially into the basement with that cell.”

She lifted the plans. “The meeting room is perfect, big enough that we can start holding council meetings here. We’ll install teleconferencing abilities—that’s something we always wanted. We’ll move the receptionist’s office up here, with one executive assistant to cover reception and secretarial.” A sly grin. “Think we can talk Adam into it?”

“That, I believe, would be even less welcome than head of security.”

“I didn’t get the impression he was all that offended by head of security. Not when he realized it included detective work and SWAT detail. I was thinking…well, I’m not sure he’d take it …”

“You can always try. He’d be a welcome addition.”

She searched my gaze. “Really?”

I smiled. “Really.”

“Maybe security plus research, then. For executive assistant, maybe Savannah to start. It’s important for her to get some job experience. I know I’ve never pushed because she struggles with school, but it’s time. And working for us, we can make sure she’s free when homework heats up. So a security-officer-slash-researcher if Adam agrees, plus an executive assistant. I think that’ll be it for staff, at least for a few years.”

She continued to the windows. “These are gorgeous, huge windows, but being on the second floor, we’ll need blackout blinds for security when we’re out. I’m not sure how big a concern that is, but you’ll be a better judge of such things. Speaking of security, we’ll want a computer network with a server. A small one that can be expanded …”

And so she continued, happily making plans, barely stopping for breath. I added little, just sat in my spot and watched her. That was enough.

KELLEY ARMSTRONG is the author of
Bitten
and
Stolen
(Viking US), as well as
Dime Store Magic, Industrial Magic, Haunted, Broken, No Humans Involved, Exit Strategy, Personal Demon, Living with the Dead, Made to Be Broken
, the anthology
Men of the Otherworld
, and
Frostbitten.
She is also the author of The Darkest Powers young adult series, which includes
The Summoning
and
The Awakening.
She lives in Ontario, Canada, with her family. You can visit her at
www.kelleyarmstrong.com
.