Page 26 of Blood and Thorns (Twisted Ever After #1)

T’s eyes rounded behind her goggles. “Ridiculous,” she exclaimed, her voice direct, even if it was slightly muffled beneath her face mask. “Nothing passes or leaves these walls without me checking.”

For a woman of barely five feet tall, she held herself with the confidence of a rugby player three times her size.

“It seems tight,” Caden commented, eyes flicking to me. “I’ll keep looking.”

“I don’t appreciate the sudden disruption.” There was a predatory gleam in her gaze that I recognised, and one of the reasons I allowed her to organise the lab in the way she saw fit. Under my authority, of course.

I looked down at her, her fear buried beneath frigid control. She’d first introduced herself as T, and I never asked for her real name, or cared. This was Caden’s domain, and I trusted him to run it. I also paid her a fucking fortune to deal with the bastard .

A whistle sounded, and holding my arm out I gestured for her to enter the office ahead of me. Back rigid, she entered to find Langdon lounging behind her desk, legs kicked up with his head cocked. A pile of paperwork was beside him, and when I entered the room he lifted his hands.

“Everything tracks,” he signed. “If she’s aware, she hasn’t noted anything down.”

I nodded but didn’t reply while T moved to the side, tugging off her mask and goggles. They left red marks across her skin, but she seemed more pissed at Langdon’s feet on her papers.

“If you’re accusing me of something, say it out loud,” she snapped, her tone absolute. Confident, with only the faintest tremble.

“There’s been evidence of tampering,” Caden said, appearing in the doorway.

“Not here there hasn’t.” Her gaze was sharp when she turned her attention to him.

I tossed her the packet found on the newly deceased Eight.

With a frown she moved towards the desk, and turning on the lamp she held it beneath the light. Her lips pursed, eyes focused and searching. “This isn’t ours. The colour is off by a shade, and the powder density is wrong,” she finally said.

“And yet the rose marks the packet, sweetheart,” Caden drawled. “So someone’s clearly fucking with us somewhere in the chain.”

T lifted her head. “My powder leaves here perfect every time. I know because I personally check every single batch without fail.” She held the packet up, raising an eyebrow. “This is mass-produced.”

“ Your powder?” Caden growled .

“Yes,” she snapped, pointing a finger. “ My powder. Who has the Master’s in Medicinal Chemistry, and who just likes to mix things together and watch them go boom?”

Langdon threw his head back and laughed, the sound barely a gruff of air. Caden snarled in his direction, giving Lang his middle finger.

“Get your feet off my desk,” she stressed, a muscle feathering in her jaw. “You’re messing everything up.”

Langdon blew her a kiss before dragging his feet. They made a thump when they hit the ground, and when she continued to glower, his smile grew into a smirk. “Am I allowed to play with the tiny chemist?” he signed to me and Caden.

T frowned, her cheeks flushing. “What did he say?”

Caden clenched his jaw, lifting his hands to reply. “Stop thinking with your dick,” he signed back before speaking aloud to the room. “Everything looks clean. If someone’s fucking us, I doubt it’s here.”

T let out a sound of frustration. “I could’ve told you that.”

“What can you tell me about the powder?” I asked, and T’s shoulders went rigid when she turned to face me.

“That it’s low quality, and you’ll likely find it available at every club in the city. I may be able to let you know the chemical breakdown, but I can’t promise it’ll help track down its origin.”

She handed the packet over to Langdon, who was still staring at her. Taking the cocaine, he tipped it onto her desk, much to her distress.

“Please stop messing with my things,” she hissed, reaching for the papers that he’d moved. “Manufacturing is sound. Look at distribution. Now, are we done here? Or can I get back to work?”

I straightened, my hands fisting at her tone.

“You seemed to have forgotten yourself, sweetheart,” Caden commented with a glower. “Who do you think you’re talking to?”

She stiffened, her gaze just off to the side rather than being directed at Cade. “You’ve disrupted my day with no evidence that any members of my team have tampered with the powder.”

Langdon’s smile tightened, eyes narrowing. But before he could move, I took a step forward, and she immediately backed into the desk.

“Don’t take my lenience as a sign of weakness. I’m giving you leeway because of your value as a chemist,” I said, dropping my voice in warning. “But never forget, you’re replaceable.”

T’s eyes widened impossibly further, moving to Caden in her first sign of panic. Smart woman.

“Sir,” he said, his hand landing on my shoulder. His touch jerked me out of my anger, taking it from a boil to a simmer. “She’s all good, aren’t you, sweetheart?”

T nodded, the movement jerky. “I didn’t mean any offence.”

I pulled myself back, and Caden removed his hand.

“While everything’s under investigation, the operation’s under lockdown,” he said, defusing the situation. “You’ll continue as you are, but not a hint of this conversation leaves this room. Understood?”

T licked along her bottom lip, having recovered from my slight loss of control. “Understood.”