Even with few interruptions, though, it had taken her longer than expected to accomplish what she’d set out to do today. First, there’d been a delay in getting back to the estate. She’d forgotten that her car wasn’t at Christian’s house, since they’d taken the SUV back home after the confrontation with Anthony. Deciding she wanted her own wheels back, she’d called a cab to pick her up at Christian’s and take her back to her house. From there, she’d driven her car to the estate. And then it had taken a long time to locate Anthony’s personal files on the private server. It wasn’t as if the data was tagged and labeled “Anthony’s Secret Files—Do Not Read.” No, the vampire lord was way sneakier than that, and, again, totally paranoid. Fortunately, her entire job consisted of digging out the secrets of people just like Anthony, people who thought they were the smartest people in the room, and far too clever to get caught.
Unfortunately for them, Natalie was usually much smarter than they were, and had a real talent for following data trails. It was what had made her so much in demand back home, and, unfortunately, what had drawn Anthony’s attention to her in the first place. She knew all the tricks people used to hide information, and had developed her own algorithms to quickly sift through data and identify patterns. But knowing how to do it wasn’t the whole game. It took time, which was something she was quickly running out of.
A nervous glance at the window told her that the sun had maybe an hour left in the sky. She turned her back on the blindingly bright ball of sunlight, determined to get her work done. She didn’t want to risk coming back here tomorrow, even assuming Christian didn’t blow a gasket after today’s adventure. Another thirty minutes would be enough. The sun would be touching the horizon by then, but even vampires needed some time to shower and dress, and she’d be gone before they ventured up from the basement.
When she finally slapped her laptop shut, her stomach was roiling with nerves. If Anthony found out what she’d done . . . Actually, she didn’t know what he’d do. He’d always been careful with her, but that was before Christian, and before he’d made an enemy of Raphael. She’d never seen Anthony as furious as he’d been yesterday at her townhouse, but she’d never forgotten her family’s history with him, either. Never forgotten how he treated people who “disappointed” him. If he discovered she was stealing his files to help Christian, she had no doubt that she’d fall into that “disappointed” category, and all bets would be off. She was glad again that she’d called and warned her family. But the best way to protect them was to be sure Anthony never discovered what she was doing.
She glanced at the window again. Time to get the hell out of Dodge. She stood and slipped the laptop into her bag, just as she heard a door slam down the hall. A moment later, the kitchen door opened.
“Hey, Natalie!” Jaclyn’s human assistant, Lisa, greeted her as she walked in and set a medium-sized shipping box on the counter. “I heard you were working here today, but I thought I’d missed you,” she said, as if it was perfectly normal for Natalie to be spending the day working in the kitchen.
“You almost did,” Natalie said, striving for casual. “I’m on my way out.”
“Good. This is for you. It actually came yesterday, but I didn’t see you, what with the big gala and all.” She pushed the brown box across the counter to Natalie.
“Me? Why would someone send me a package to your office?”
“It’s from Cynthia Leighton. She included it with the usual courier stuff. Do you two know each other?”
Natalie shook her head. “I saw her at the gala last night, but I’ve never even spoken to her.”
“Well, she sent you a present. Open it.”
Natalie glanced at the window, where the sun was almost gone. “I don’t know, I’m supposed to meet Christian.” It wasn’t exactly a lie. She had left him a note saying she’d meet him at the dojo.
“Aw, come on, Natalie. Aren’t you curious?” Lisa slid a pair of scissors across the counter to rest next to the box. The woman had come prepared.
“You’re sure it’s not going to explode?” Natalie asked jokingly, trying to ease her own tension as she used the scissors to split the tape over the seam, then pulled the box open. She looked down at the contents and blinked in surprise. “It’s a gun. Why would Leighton send me a gun?”
Lisa moved closer, and peered into the open box. “And ammunition, too,” she said, lifting out one of four smaller boxes. “Fifty rounds in each of these. Something called . . . Hydra-Shok? I’ve never heard of it, but, then, I don’t know that much about guns. How about you?”
Natalie picked up the pistol and pulled it from its holster. “Glock 23, Gen 4,” she said absently. “Forty caliber.”
Lisa gave her a surprised look. “You know guns?”
“My granddaddy owns a gun store. I worked there part-time during high school and college. He and my father made sure I knew what I was doing.”
“Do you have your own guns?”
Natalie shook her head. “Not here. I have a couple that I left home in New Orleans.”
Lisa laughed. “You might be the only person who comes to Texas and leaves her guns behind.”
“I didn’t think I’d need them. Even back home, I used them mostly for target shooting. You know, just in case.”
“Well, you’ve got one now.”
“Yeah, but why?” Natalie rooted around in the packing material until she found a small envelope with a simple note card. The card had the initials “CL” embossed on the top, and was filled with neat handwriting.
“What does it say?”
Natalie read the message, and scowled. “She says every woman should be able to defend herself,” she lied. She wasn’t about to tell Lisa that Leighton had specifically mentioned that the ammo was great against vampires, and that it might come in handy with Christian hanging around. What the fuck was that supposed to mean? Why would Leighton want Christian dead? And why would she ever think Natalie would do the deed?
“She might be right, what with Anthony going nuts the way he did. I think a long vacation is in order,” Lisa was saying, and it took a minute for Natalie to register what she was talking about.
“Sounds like a good idea,” she said, putting everything back into the box and tucking the flap into the end as securely as she could. “Thanks for bringing this down, Lisa, but I’ve got to run.”
“To meet the scrumptious Christian,” Lisa said knowingly.