vice president’s office is on the corner of the third floor. Directly under a maintenance crawl space.”
“Who owns the fourth floor?” Ian asked.
Ada grinned at him. “A hotel. And I’ve booked a fourth-floor suite for the night.”
Veronica had disappeared upstairs after dinner but Rhys had let us raid his warehouse for supplies. We’d loaded everything into suitcases and, to maintain the illusion, I’d donned the dark gold dress I’d bought in Honorius. Ada had loaned me a luxurious hooded cloak and a scarf to hide my face.
Now the obsequious hotel manager was showing us to our suite and trying to sneak peeks at Ada and me. Ian and Loch kept blocking him, but the man was persistent.
“Can I help you?” I asked in my frostiest tone.
“No, madam, I’m just so honored you have decided to stay at our hotel. I’ve personally ensured that the suite is prepared for your arrival.”
“Then your assistance is no longer required,” Ian interjected smoothly. The manager stammered out an excuse, but Ian was having none of it. Ian sent him packing and we made our way down the hallway on our own. Ada swiped us into the suite. We each took a room and scanned it for trackers and bugs.
Loch found three in the bedroom, I found one in the bathroom, and Ada and Ian each found two throughout the rest of the suite. In order to secure the suite she’d wanted, Ada had used her own name. The bugs could be innocuous or someone could be interested in Ada specifically. We wouldn’t know until we examined them.
For now, though, we had a narrow window of time to get in position. The motion sensors in the MineCorp offices would be turned off while the cleaning crew worked. Working at the same time as the cleaning crew carried its own risk, but it meant I didn’t have to spend time overriding the security system.
Ada and I commandeered one of the bedrooms to change into T-shirts, pants, and boots. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to wait here?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes and shot me an annoyed look. “I’m sure,” she huffed.
I nudged her shoulder. “You’re my little sister. I don’t doubt your skills; I’m just trying to keep you safe.”
She turned to me, her eyes solemn. “And who will keep you safe?” she asked softly.
I purposefully misunderstood. “I imagine Ian is going to be glued to my ass,” I said. “You don’t need to worry about me.”
“So, you and Ian, huh?” she asked with an impish grin. “I thought you said he wasn’t interested?”
I bit down on the instinctive denial. This morning’s kiss hadn’t felt uninterested, but then he’d gone and ruined it by apologizing. I didn’t know where we stood, only that we needed to talk.
“He wasn’t, but now I don’t know. He kissed me this morning, then apologized and said it wouldn’t happen again.”
It was harder than I expected to open up to Ada. Before my marriage and her escape, she’d been my closest sibling. But I’d been keeping secrets for so long that I almost didn’t remember how to share pieces of myself.
“He kissed you?” she hissed excitedly. “Why didn’t you lead with that? How was it?”
Heat suffused my cheeks. She took one look at my face and dissolved into quiet laughter. “That good, huh?”
I also had forgotten the pure joy of laughing with my sister. Ada would always, always be on my side. So I gave her an honest answer because I could use her advice. “It was incredible. But then he ruined it by calling it ‘a lapse’ and apologizing.”
“Are you sure he wasn’t interested before?” she asked gently.
“When he first became my bodyguard, I expressed interest. He called me an ‘empty-headed princess’ and said in no uncertain terms that he wouldn’t let me derail his career.”
Ada winced then scowled toward the door. “Can I kick his ass now?”
Emotion overwhelmed me and I pulled her into a hug. She silently hugged me back. Ada had always been good at knowing what I needed, and after years of Gregory’s callous disregard, I was starved for simple physical affection. When I let her go, she said, “I’m glad you’re here, Bee. Now tell me why you won’t let me kick his ass.”
I smiled at her tenaciousness, but the smile died when I returned to the subject at hand. “I think he had a reason to dislike me.”
When I didn’t continue, Ada prompted, “Why do you think so?”