“Oh really? I didn’t know that for sure actually. My mom told me she got some money in her account every year and assumed it was from him.” At least this was something which I could honestly answer him on.
Some of the stiffness left him then. “Yes, the Quorum acted against my wishes and tapped your mother’s bank account. They have traced the sums of money she gets every Christmas to an account in Switzerland. It was registered under a fake name. Which was enough to raise suspicion further, suspicion which started with your very strong levitation abilities in the culling. They took the last image of Carter, and using facial recognition, cross referenced all CCTV footage they could get their hands on.”
My heart was beating like crazy in my chest. What the fuck was the Quorum doing spying on my mother’s bank account? And more importantly…
“Did they find him?”
This guy was my dad and my mom loved him, so if he was alive and walking around I wanted to know what the hell he was up to.
Lucas took a sip of his blood. “We have footage of Carter Atwater boarding a private plane in Canada.”
“Holy shit!” I exclaimed. He was actually still alive.
Lucas’ normally flawless and gorgeous face was strained and wore the lines of stress. He reached over and placed a hand on mine as he leaned in to whisper in my ear.
“Even though they have not tied him to the money transfers, they now know that Carter is alive. And, well, I think the Quorum has put two and two together about his relationship to you. Despite what I’ve managed to fake in your blood work, I’m not sure how much longer I can protect you in here, Charlie. The Quorum has been meeting in secret without me, and it may only be a matter of time before they decide you’re too much of a risk to keep alive.”
My blood chilled at his declaration. He pulled back, resting easily against the couch, and patted my hand.
“Let’s take it one day at a time, okay?” he said, still whispering. “I just wanted to make sure you were aware, and if I know Ryder at all, he’s already taken steps to ensure a timely exit if it’s required.”
Lucas’s words reminded me that I needed to share this information with my enforcer team.
I nodded. “Okay, thanks for stopping by and letting me know.”
I wasn’t sure whether it was the events with Deliverance or this new threat to my existence, but something inside of me snapped. A fight-or-flight instinct was raging within me, demanding I either confront the vamp assholes or run so I never had to see them again.
I had no idea why the hell the Quorum feared the Originals so much. Why the fuck was I—one little ash female—even on their radar? It didn’t make sense, unless they knew something about Originals and the cure or some shit. If my father was alive, maybe it was in our best interest to try and find him also, get some answers before someone decided to try and kill or kidnap me again.
One thing was for sure—these weak-ass Quorum vampires clearly had no issues with killing off someone they perceived to be a threat. And I hated to admit it, but they could wipe me out no problem if they wanted to.
I missed my old life then, and Tessa especially. I ached for her smartass comments about what I was wearing and the way she always seemed to look on the bright side of every situation.
As Lucas stood to leave, things felt a little awkward between us. He politely excused himself, leaving in a silent visage of white.
In a daze I made my way to the enforcer locker room, although I managed a chuckle when I saw someone had drawn a dress over the stick figure man on the sign stuck to the door.
Trust the enforcers to brighten my day. The last twenty-four hours had sucked the big one and I needed some happy. Where was my mutha-effing happy?
As I walked in, I was really hoping to find Ryder glistening with droplets of water and half naked in a towel. Come on, I did just ask for some happy, and that was a step up to ecstatic. Instead, I saw the sexy five—minus one silent enforcer—hovering around a whiteboard Ryder was drawing on. At the top, he had the words SANCTUM and DELIVERANCE in bold and circled, with small lines branching out. On a chair in front of him was a huge fishbowl of water with tiny black microphones floating in it. Okay, WTF? The boys had finally lost their damn minds.
Noticing me, Ryder tipped his head, giving me a tight smile.
Kyle winked at me. “Come on in, Charlie. Ryder was just about to detail operation ‘Don’t fuck with the ash or we will kill you,’ aka: ‘Revenge.’”
Operation Revenge? Awesome.
My eyes shot down to the bowl again and Oliver answered this time. “Kyle scanned the room and found twelve bugs.”