Page 118 of Blood and Thorns

“Are you sure about this?” Chip frowned, expression etched with concern. “You should be resting, not wasting your energy onhim.” His voice sharpened on the last word, as if even saying it left a bad taste in his mouth.

“Is Sebastian’s uncle that bad?”

Chip pursed his lips, turning to the hall. “You have no idea.”

Following, he walked me over to where Sebastian’s uncle stood over the chessboard, frowning at the pieces from when Chip and I had last played.

“Charlie, how… quaint of you to be working for my nephew. I assume that’s your mother’s doing?” Alexander barely glanced in my direction. “Where is Mrs Potter?”

Chip’s shoulders tightened. “Here’s Arabella, as you’d asked.”

“Hmm.” Alexander finally turned his attention to me, his gaze sweeping over with a glint of displeasure.Rude.“Charlie, please bring up some tea. Your mother knows how I like it.” He dismissed him with a sweep of his hand, while simultaneously gesturing for me to take a seat opposite him. “Miss Grey–”

“Please, call me Arabella.”

His smile was forced, almost fake. “I’m very busy, so I’ll make this quick,” he said, sitting back in his chair with anaura of superiority in his expensive suit and shiny shoes. “You’re a problem.”

“Excuse me?”

“I told my nephew to get rid of you.” His eyes narrowed. “And yet, here you are. Still clinging to Sebastian like a leech.”

“You seem to think it was my choice to be here.”

“Oh, but you do,” Alexander replied, his smile curving with quiet cruelty. “You could’ve asked anyone for help, and I have it under good authority that a certain Detective Graves has been sniffing around. Rather persistently, in fact. So forgive me if I suspect your presence here isn’t as helpless or innocent as you pretend.”

My nails dug into my palms. “I have nothing to do with Gabriel.”

“And yet ever since you’ve arrived, he’s taken a sudden andverypersonal interest in matters well outside his jurisdiction as a detective. Sebastian’s business, the club, the accounts. Even the supply routes.” Alexander’s gaze sharpened, his tone cool and deliberate. “Quite the coincidence, wouldn’t you say?”

“Is there anything else?” I asked coldly. “Or did you come all this way just to insult me?”

“I’ve come to offer you a deal.” Alexander paused, a muscle feathering in his jaw. “I’ve prepared everything you’ll need to… escape, shall we say. I have a driver waiting to take you to the airport, and I’ll pay for you to travel anywhere in the world.”

He pressed a single finger to the pile of papers on the table between us, ones I hadn’t even realised were there.

“I’ve already organised a replacement passport,” he continued. “And I’ll provide you with enough money for you to survive for the next several years, maybe even longer if you live within your means. All you have to do is leave.”

I glanced down at the papers before returning my attention to him. “Why would you offer me that?”

Alexander’s eyes, the same colour as Caden’s, stared at me coldly. “I’m going to be honest with you, Miss Grey. I may have a… strained relationship with my nephew, but he is blood. Which means I will do anything to protect him.”

“Protect him from what? Me?”

Alexander went to reply, but his attention flickered over my shoulder. His posture tightened as Chip placed two cups of tea on the table and then disappeared back down the stairs. “Sebastian needs control to function,” he continued once we were alone. “He’s been like that since he was very young, and it’s only gotten worse since he lost his parents. Without control, he becomes… unruly.”

“Unruly?” I echoed, and Alexander’s eyes narrowed on me like I was an idiot.

“He seems very proprietorial over you, and I believe if he accidentally harms you when he’s–”

“Unruly.”

“Yes, Miss Grey,” Alexander growled, clearly unimpressed with me interrupting him. “If he accidentally harms you, or if you turn out to be the snake I suspect you are, it could push him into a spiral none of us may be able to pull him back from. And if that happens, I won’t be nearly as forgiving.”

I ignored the silent threat. “You think I’m harming him by being here?”

“It’s possible.” Picking up one of the China teacups, he took a sip, only to immediately spit it back out. “This is ghastly. Where’s Mrs Potter? She’d never allow such swill to be served to guests.”

I didn’t touch my own tea, my hands aching from where I clenched them so tight. “Let me get this straight, you’regoing to give me a passport and enough money so I can what… run away?”