Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,2

been on her trail eight years ago, ready to swap what was effectively a ransom for her safe return, when the pay-off had vanished along with his reputation.

See? We really were quite similar. I’d lost Red, and he’d lost Emerald.

Then we’d both lost everything.

“That’s the way of the world,” Emmy told him. “If shit ran smoothly, neither of us would have jobs, would we?”

“I’d be good with that. Wouldn’t you like to lie around on the beach all day, listening to the waves?”

“Nah, I’d get bored.” The plane hit another rough patch, and her bullets fell over and rolled off the table again. “Fuck it. On second thoughts, the beach doesn’t sound like a bad idea.”

Wow.

Alaric had told me a little about the Riverley estate before we arrived, but I still wasn’t prepared. Quite fancy, he’d said. I’d feel right at home.

Sure, if I were the Duchess of Marlborough.

My parents’ mansion was “quite fancy.” This…this was something tourists would pay money to gawk at. I could only imagine what the inside was like. And Emmy lived here?

When Ravi turned from the front seat of the chauffeur-driven SUV that had been at the airfield to meet us, his eyes were wide.

“This is a house?”

At least I wasn’t the only one to be surprised.

“It’s more of a playground for grown-ups,” Alaric said.

Emmy’s car had left us in the dust on the journey, probably because she’d shooed her driver into the back seat and taken the wheel herself. I spotted him when we reached the turning area at the top of the driveway, leaning against one of the stone pillars that flanked the massive front doors, hands on his knees as he tried to catch his breath. Mental note: don’t get in a car with Emmy driving.

Sky didn’t seem shaken, but she was staring up at the gargoyles that decorated the roofline with a dazed expression on her face. Glad it wasn’t just me. Then she caught me looking at her and scowled as I climbed out of the car.

“What?” she asked. “We weren’t all born with a silver spoon up our arse, okay?”

I was getting used to Sky now. To her snark and the somewhat abrasive personality she used as a defence mechanism. Underneath the prickly exterior, she had a good heart. I nodded towards the building.

“No, it seems some people were born with a gold spoon.”

“Platinum, actually,” Emmy said as she slammed the car door. “But that was my husband, not me. Need a hand with your stuff?”

“Uh… Yes, please.”

Alaric had already started unloading the suitcases. One, two, three, four of them. And embarrassingly, they all belonged to me. He and Ravi had brought a duffel bag each, Sky carried a well-worn backpack, and Emmy had a laptop bag and nothing else. Until the others arrived at my flat to pick me up, I hadn’t realised they were travelling so light, and by then, it was too late to repack. Whenever I’d gone on trips with Piers or my parents, it had been practically mandatory to take a mountain of luggage. A girl never knew when she’d need that third cocktail dress. But with hindsight, perhaps I could’ve left some of the shoes behind, and the yoga mat too. This place probably had its own gym. Heck, I bet there was even a personal trainer just waiting to whip everyone into shape.

I moved to grab a suitcase, but before I could extend the handle, a small man with orange hair bounced down the steps, his silver jumpsuit shining in the sun.

“Ooh, new people!” He scurried towards Sky but quickly veered in my direction when she took a step back. “You must be Bethany? I love your necklace.” Oof. He squashed the breath out of me in a hug, then set his sights on Ravi. “Hey, hot stuff. I’m Bradley.”

Behind his back, Emmy rolled her eyes. “Bradley, for fuck’s sake let people get in the house before you start molesting them.”

“I’m just being welcoming.”

“Really? I pay your salary, and I didn’t get so much as a hello.”

“You live here. That’s different.” Now he headed for Sky again, and I noticed her fists ball up at her sides when he flung his arms around her. “So, you’re Emmy’s new project? I hope you know what you’ve let yourself in for. She’s a real slave driver. I’ve barely had a day off since Christmas.”

“Bradley, nobody made you go to every single fashion week. You also invited yourself to ‘help’ in Florida and then took