Page 5 of Blake

Pax rose too and rubbed her arms. The sweat from the run had cooled and the cooler air in the flat made her feel cold.

Blake walked out of what she assumed was the bedroom with a dark blue hoodie in his hands and shoved it towards her. “Here take this.”

The material was soft and worn and clearly a favourite of his. She murmured her thanks and slipped it over her head taking in his familiar scent and fighting the urge to bury her nose in it or rub her cheek in the soft fabric. She was tall but it fell to her thighs, leaving her looking half naked and slightly daft.

“Right, let’s have the rest,” he said pouring them both fresh coffees adding milk and sugar to hers without a reminder.

“My father is doing a trial on a very high profile child and I know for a fact that he doesn’t have it going through the MHRA and the FDA turned it down based on the high number of negative side effects and their frequency.”

“What drug?”

“It’s called RXA 1 and it’s used for patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. It’s used to make the thickened heart contract more, allowing the heart not to have to work so hard.”

“Okay. I don’t see an issue so far.”

“RXA 1 is around half the price of other similar drugs to produce and get to market so it has huge profit margins. The scope to make billions is extraordinary.”

“Yes, but that’s part of drugs companies. They make money and we get what we need.”

“Not when then the drug causes kidney and liver failure in over half its patients and the results are being fudged.” She was disgusted and hardly able to believe what her father was willing to do to people to make money.

“Wow. So, I have two questions. One, how do you know all this because it certainly isn’t in the public domain and two, who is the high profile child?”

Pax looked away knowing that this might be the killer. “I know because I have someone inside my father’s company. It may have escaped your notice, but I’m not the same naive child that left my father’s home. I have skills now and contacts, and when I got wind of this a few years ago, I contacted a friend in the USA who was happy to do some digging for me.”

“And this friend,” he said not sounding entirely happy with her response, “are they still providing information?”

“No. I lost contact about three months ago.” That was also another worry she had to get answers too.

“I see. And the child?”

She took a deep breath knowing it was now or never. “It’s Princess Louisa.”

The room went silent as she watched a tiny nerve tick in Blake’s cheek. The only sign that her words had any impact on him at all.

“Why me?” His voice had dropped to a frosty level that made her glad she had the hoodie on. He was not the sweet, flirty, sexy guy now. He was cold, controlled, and lethal and that was what she needed.

“Because you have an association with the Palace, know their ways. I plan to go undercover as a nanny and get as much information as I can. Time is tight and I need to start working this as soon as I can.”

She didn’t add that she had been receiving death threats. No need for him to know about that just yet, plus, she was sure it was a ploy. Her father was an ass, but he wouldn’t hurt her.

He watched her then shook his head. “No. I’m sorry, Pax, I can’t help you.”

He moved towards the door and Pax followed, her heart sinking as she realised her last hope was fading and she would have to do this alone. Zenobi was spread out on jobs all over the world. The only reason Roz allowed her to work this was as the face of the Athena Art Gallery, she was in the office the most and had time.

Pax had skills, but she was not an operative like the others were. She had some training in hand to hand and weapons, but she wasn’t like Mustique or Bebe. Her skill lay in her organisation and information capabilities. She made sure the girls had what they needed to run a successful op including contacts, safe houses, and equipment. She handled the contingencies, the travel, she was instrumental in the success of things, and she could handle some undercover work but not deep cover like Siren or Lili.

Moving slowly to the door she stopped, and made him look at her, locking her disappointment down tight so he could never see how much his saying no had cost her. “I thought more of you than that, Blake. I saw a good man, a man that cared under all that bravado. I guess I was wrong. I won’t make that mistake again.” She stepped into the hall stopping suddenly to whip the hoodie over her head and throw it at him. “Goodbye, Blake.”

As she walked away, and knowing he was watching, she put extra sway into her hips. He wouldn’t know how much it hurt to ask for help when that was something she never did, and have it kicked back in her face. That was another lesson she learned this morning—not to ask anyone for anything. Then she never had to say thank you or be disappointed when the answer was no.

Chapter Three

Blake leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed over his chest watching as Pax proudly walked away. He could see she was trying to hide the disappointment he knew she felt at his refusal to help her. He waited until she was out of sight and then moved inside, the hoodie hanging from his hand. He slammed the door and tried to figure out exactly what it was he was feeling.

His chest felt heavy and his gut churned—he felt suffocated and he didn’t like it one bit because he realised it was guilt. He felt guilty for not helping her. But he couldn’t go back into that world. A world where lies were the norm and people would stab their own brother to get ahead. He had been reminded of it working Evelyn’s case and he didn’t want to get any closer to the royal family than he had to.

It had been the only stipulation he’d had when he’d signed on with Jack and Eidolon and discovered the Palace would be a big contract for them. He didn’t directly have anything to do with that side of Eidolon. Nobody knew why and nobody could ever know. It would destroy so many lives and for nothing. That part of his life was over, and he wouldn’t go back.