London Dynasty (The Dynasties #1) - Geneva Lee Page 0,63

the way of true love.”

“I don’t care if he sleeps here,” Tod said with exasperation. “I just want to be sure that someone who has Kerrigan’s best interest at heart remains.”

The gauntlet had been thrown. The question he must have been asking himself had finally been spoken. Did I really have Kerrigan’s best interests at heart? It was then I realized that not only did Tod Belmond not trust me. He never would. I couldn’t blame him. I was a mercenary — a woman who’d agreed to take millions of pounds to perform what amounted to con artistry. If that’s how he saw me, I couldn’t change that.

“I’m sure Giles will understand.”

“What will Giles understand?” he asked, joining us. Giles looked expectantly between Iris and Tod then to me. “Is this about the country?”

“I’m afraid I have to stay behind, and father feels that I should have a chaperone.”

Giles took his glasses off his face and began wiping them down, heaving a heavy sigh. “You know how I love the countryside.”

“I know, can you forgive me?” I did my best to sound sincere, but it was hard given I was holding back laughter over the scene I was performing. Everyone in this house had their own intentions. Iris might be the only innocent one of the lot.

“It’s fine. I’ll get theater tickets,” Giles said glumly and stomped off.

Tod looked pleased with himself as though he had just maneuvered the situation exactly as he wanted. If he saw how he had been played, he showed no sign of it. “It’s settled then. You’ll stay here, so you can be there for Spencer—and we’ll have some time alone.”

He patted Iris’s bottom, and I cringed.

“Now, now,” Iris said with a wink. “You’re not the only one who’s in love.”

Chapter Twenty-Six

Giles and I fell into an easy rhythm after their departure. He did not seem concerned that I would make off with the family silver, and he kept mostly to himself. There were no morning itineraries or forced social encounters. He didn’t come in to approve what I was wearing. In fact, he treated me exactly like I assumed he wanted to be treated—like I was an adult fully capable of making my own decisions.

I barely saw him.

Spencer, on the other hand, had not given up. It was clear from his messages that he suspected things had gone too far that night in his flat with Holden. I knew I couldn’t avoid him forever. But I needed to take advantage of the Belmond absence. There was no way that a man with the money and resources that Tod Belmond had wouldn’t know where his daughter was. I hadn’t believed him when he showed up on my doorstep acting like I might be her. I’d been a convenient out.

But someone had to be funding her lifestyle. It wasn’t as if she had disappeared without a trace. She needed money. I’m sure she hadn’t been going without all this time. That meant that somewhere there had to be a clue. A bank account. A credit card. Tod had told me he was actively tracking her down and attempting to get her to return home. Had he hired a private investigator? There had to be some clues in the house. And if he hadn’t found them. Maybe it was time I started digging around in Kerrigan’s room. On the surface, it felt strangely devoid of personality. She had her shoes and her clothes, but there was little else to give me insight into who Kerrigan Belmond really was. It felt more like I was staying in someone’s guest room than someone’s bedroom. There had to be a diary or a computer or something. She had to have left some part of herself behind when she took off.

But the more I searched, the less I found. Despite the wide berth Giles had given me, he’d been around the house most of the week. That meant I didn’t feel comfortable trying to get into Tod’s office or bedroom to look for clues. When Giles finally announced that he was taking in a matinee of a new West End production, I finally found my opportunity. After he left for the theater, I made my way downstairs and discovered Tod’s locked office door.

So, he wanted to keep me out of his office.

The problem was—like most men of his status—Tod Belmond was dependent on other people to do everything for him. It only took me half an hour to find the spare