Page 133 of Marked By Moonlight

I glanced at Henrik. I’d never thought I’d feel indebted to him for anything, but hell. I was. If he hadn’t been there to help Mina…

I shook that ugly scenario away.

Everyone remained silent for a while, digesting all that.

“God, what a night,” Roux muttered, summing things up perfectly.

“Not over yet,” Bene pointed out. “We still have to call Gordon.”

Everyone groaned, but Mina raised her hand. “I’ll be happy to do it.”

Roux side-eyed her. “Not sure that’s a good idea.”

It was aterribleidea, but Roux wasn’t as blunt as I was.

But Mina, of course, pulled out her phone and began dialing.

Everyone tensed.

“Uh, Mina…” Bene started.

She put the phone on speaker mode, muttering something that sounded likeNo more Mr. Nice Girl.

Roux and I traded looks. What the hell did that mean?

“Clervaud here,” Gordon answered the phone in a clipped tone.

Mina motioned to Roux, who leaned in to say, “Anand here, calling to report.”

“Yes?” Gordon asked eagerly. “How did everything go?”

Roux thought that over, then spoke in a tone as dry as the Sahara. “Jensen has the painting, and Anastasia has the money.”

Definitely an abridged version of events.

“Excellent, excellent,” Gordon said.

Then Mina leaned in. “Hello, Gordon.”

The line fell silent before he recovered. “Mina?”

“Yes, it’s me,” she said, waiting for him to put two and two together.

“What are you doing in London? You should have left hours ago.”

“Irrelevant,” she said curtly. “The question is, what is Celeste doing with Jensen?”

Boy, was she good at deflecting.

“With Jensen?” Gordon parroted, clearly caught off guard. Then he put the obvious together. “Listen, my dear. Celeste is a woman with certain…er…peculiarities.”

Mina rolled her eyes. “Do you mean the insatiable sex drive of a succubus or something else?”

Gordon was speechless. I was fairly taken aback myself. I was the blunt one. Mina was the one who found a nice way to put things.

Not this time,my dragon chuckled.

“How isthatrelevant?” Gordon finally sputtered.