Vampire Debt - Supernatural Battle (Vampire Towers #2) - Kelly St. Clare Page 0,35
professional my staff are, they’re human.”
She crouched to peer at the front of the cart, whistling low.
“Yeah… I crashed.”
“We heard.”
Damn. Bet they’d heard a truckload I’d rather keep buried. During my tower stint, I’d gotten used to not saying stuff aloud that I didn’t want overheard, but I was willing to bet tequila loosened my lips. Had I screamed abuse at Kyros at one point?
Before anything else happened, I had to get something off my chest. “Laurel, thank you so much.” For telling me when no one else did.
Her blue eyes darkened. “I knew from the first time we went out with Tommy. You shouldn’t thank me.”
Why would anyone just blurt out the truth to a stranger when it could put their life and future at risk? That she’d told me at all reinstated my faith that not all vampires were fuckwits, even if she’d done it to save Fernando’s life too.
I reached out and gripped her arm. “With the burdens you carry, I consider it an honour that you did. So don’t be boring.”
She looked at me quizzically.
“That is how I talk now I’m rich again,” I informed her. “Now, please call the others to the house. No point in you all standing out here like weirdos.”
Laurel snorted, clambering into the cart after me. “It’s been nice, actually. Just me and the trees.”
I slid a glance her way. “How many nuts have you eaten?”
“… A few.”
Vissimo appetites were huge, so I didn’t doubt that for a second. Though I did doubt what kind of nuts she was referring to. Pretty sure Indebted had harems too.
Firing up the cart, I gunned for the house, trying to stay in the same set of tracks on the grass because Georgia’s mental state was linked to the smoothness of the lawn.
I screeched to a halt in front of the main house.
“It’s big.” Laurel took her time getting out.
I lifted a shoulder, spotting four of the other Indebted approaching. “Things usually get bigger when you get closer to them.”
She threw me an exasperated look. “What I meant to say is that knowing you’re filthy rich, and seeing just how rich, are different things.”
Yep.
Which is why I’d never invited Tommy’s school friends around. When people saw evidence of my wealth—and the estate didn’t register as more than a sentimental blip on the Le Spyre overall wealth—they tended to become very, very uncomfortable. After that, they either smiled double as much or half as much.
Hardly anyone treated me the same after seeing where I lived.
“I guess,” I mumbled. “I grew up in this house but don’t really like anything else in the rich world apart from Grandmother’s friends. I was trying to leave it behind when Live Right drew me in.”
Laurel twisted to look at me. “It must be hard to be back here. Doubly so with your grandmother’s passing.”
Understatement.
Josie waved from the other side of the courtyard roundabout, and I waved back.
A throat cleared. “Miss Le Spyre?”
I whirled. “Fred! Hey. Come meet our stalkers.”
“Laurel,” the Vissimo next to me stepped forward, hand extended.
The butler took her hand without hesitation.
Laurel smiled, keeping her teeth out of sight. “I apologise if I caused you or the rest of the staff concern over the last week. We were assigned to Miss Le Spyre after an altercation with some high-profile criminals who attacked and killed the man she was with.”
The jolt over her flawless switch from Miss Tetley to Miss Le Spyre was usurped by the casual mention of Rhys’s passing. The loss of my grandmother had cast everything else in shadow.
Fred’s eyes settled on me. “I see.”
He saw too much.
I gestured at the incoming Vissimo. “Until the criminals are caught, Laurel’s team will work with ours to heighten estate security.”
“These criminals are organised and dangerous?” the butler asked.
I shifted my weight at the soft reprimand in his eyes.
He narrowed his gaze on Laurel next. “Do these criminals have anything to do with your presence outside this property a few days before Mrs Agatha Le Spyre passed?”
Whoa. I’d totally forgotten that he’d seen Laurel before.
The vampire tilted her head. “That’s why we drove past, yes. We’re not connected to the death of Miss Le Spyre’s grandmother, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”
The two stared off.
Uhm.
I glanced over my shoulder. Most of the others had joined us.
I clapped my hands to break their visual battle. “Let’s reconvene inside for refreshments, shall we?”
Fred broke off first, recovering his polite smile. “Of course, Miss Le Spyre. Where would you like to take them?”