Page 10 of Emeric

“Will it be Lana?”

“Her or her brother. I’m not sure who’s available.”

“It can wait until they have time.” I’d offer to drive to them, but driving into East Dremest would give me a panic attack. I used to be fine in the city. Now that I lived outside it, I enjoyed the quiet much more. Fortunately, Jordan knew and understood that. I didn’t question him sending someone here. I only wanted them not to have to drop what they were doing.

“I’ll text to let you know who will be coming. We’ll take care of this. The grumpy motherfucker next door will shut up from here on out.” There was no point in asking him to make whoever this was wait until they were free. What Jordan wanted, he got. In this case, it was an attorney responding to him and doing his bidding, dropping their own work or personal lives in the process.

“Thank you.”

“You never have to thank me, Sylvan. You do more than enough for me. We’ll talk soon.” He ended the call before I could remind him I do next to nothing for him, except live in this stunning house and keep things running. His housekeeper visited every two weeks to thoroughly clean the home. Between her visits, I handled whatever needed to be done.

If someone saw the life I lived, who wasn’t aware of the man who helped me get here, they would think I had a lonely existence. The truth was, I loved it here. It was a dream come true. I didn’t have to deal with people regularly, except my neighbor, but he never set foot onto the property. He’d once mentioned the cameras were unnecessary and couldn’t imagine why I’d need them. I liked unnecessary. I liked it when things were quiet. That meant no one was after Jordan, anyone in his family, his organization, or his friends. Quiet was a good thing.

My phone chimed with a text.

Jordan: Emeric will be there shortly.

Me: Thank you again.

Since I hadn’t planned on anyone visiting, I decided to do a quick sweep of the main level of the home to ensure I didn’t leave anything lying around. I typically didn’t since I wasn’t sure who would show up when. That was one of the worst parts of living here. When people who were under threat arrived unexpectedly, my anxiety went into overdrive. Not so much that I was afraid I would be attacked too. It was the sudden, “incoming in ten minutes,” that rattled me.

I could shoot a gun. I even knew how to use a bow. Oleander taught me that as well. He wanted to teach me knife-throwing next, but life got busy for him, and it didn’t happen. While I would have loved to see him, I didn’t have knowing how to throw knives on my list of things I wanted to learn.

Luckily, nothing was left lying out as I went from room to room, tidying up as necessary. I doubted Emeric would go farther than the main living area or kitchen, but I liked to be prepared. Having a stranger in the house made my nerves jump. Jordan knew him and obviously trusted him. For me, it took a little time for that to happen. I wasn’t used to meeting new people, especially when I was alone.

4

EMERIC

It wasn’t as if I was doing anything, like running a hotel or having a life. Apparently, I sat around waiting for a call from Jordan with an urgent matter today. With Lana in court, guess who got to drive to the safe house with Oleander, thanks to Jordan’s request to have a matter handled immediately?

“You’re miserable, aren’t you?” Oleander asked. I could hear a bit of humor in his voice.

“I have a mountain of work to do that doesn’t include Jordan’s neighbor being pissed about rabbit babies.”

“Kits.”

“What?”

“Rabbit babies are called kits.”

I stared at him. He was gorgeous with his hair pulled back and a short-sleeved shirt on that had the very tip of a tattoo peeking out on his right arm. What I wouldn’t give to lift that sleeve and find out what he had there, maybe taste his skin too. “How do you know that?”

“Honestly? Albert. The man is a never-ending well of wisdom. I have no idea how he learned it all, but I swear he stays up at night researching shit to irritate Jordan with.”

Chuckling, I said, “That wouldn’t surprise me.”

I’d been there once when Albert spoke to Jordan with a very straight face about Jordan’s lack of proper gloves when getting covered in blood. There was an entire speech about diseases. I didn’t know what to do, if anything. Jordan’s jaw ticked, and his eyes narrowed, but he didn’t go off like I thought he would have. He bit out an angry comment and stomped off. It was mind-boggling how Albert got away with it. Albert had winked at me before turning and following his boss.

“You never said why you’re coming with me,” I reminded Oleander. I’d asked when he showed up in a tinted Lincoln Navigator. They were Jordan’s vehicle of choice for his guards to travel in. The man himself rode around in a Maserati driven by Albert.

“I know what I say to you stays between us, but if you make one wrong comment about what I’m going to tell you, I’ll have to explain to Jordan why you showed up at the safe house bloodied.”

I cocked an eyebrow. “A threat? I’d say it’s a bit early for that, although there’s no such thing when it comes to Jordan and his guards.”

“I’m sure you’ve heard about the safe house and how it’s not in Jordan’s name for obvious reasons.” He’d completely ignored my comment. “Have you done any checking on the person whose name the house is in?”

“No. I have no reason to.”