The Alpha King Call Boy
Chapter 139

Fiona

"Put the phone away," Nina said sternly.

I hadn't realized I'd taken it out again, and was sitting there staring at a lock screen with no new notifications. "Thank you," I muttered to my friend.

Alexander had warned me this morning that he would not be reachable for most of the day. Cell reception in the area where he and Kayden were traveling was expected to be patchy at best. And, of course, he would not have his phone on him during the time he was inside the actual prison as well.

I guess I had gotten used to being in pretty much constant contact with my fiancé recently. A couple hours without hearing from him just felt strange.

Nina watched as I followed her orders. Then she allowed herself to relax once more with her eyes closed and head leaned back. We were side by side in reclining spa chairs with our feet soaking in little rose-scented whirlpools.

"Why don't you tell me what's going on with your work? I've been rambling about mine. What's new in the finance world?" Nina smiled, trying not to laugh at hearing herself ask this last question.

The manicurists decided we'd soaked enough. They sat on little stools at our feet and turned the jets off in the foot tubs, then dried our feet and started massaging them with warm oil.

Nina looked extremely relaxed, still lying back with her eyes closed and a smile on her face.

The foot massage felt pleasant. But the small hands of the manicurist were nowhere near as warm and strong as Alexander's. He had spoiled me.

"Well, my boss finally came back on Friday, so that's a relief. And he gave me a bonus for covering for him."

"Ooh. How much?"

It was weird to discuss money in front of strangers. But the women working on our feet at least politely acted as though they were not listening to my and Nina's conversation. "Twenty thousand," I confessed. I was grinning; it was hard not to feel accomplished when I thought about this.

Nina's eyes flew open. "Nice! Good for you. You've done crazy overtime for a salaried job. He really should be giving you a raise, too."

"Also, I'm hiring an assistant."

"Ooh. Fun!"

"Yeah. I'm interviewing candidates this week."

"Wow. That would be so cool to have an assistant. Are you gonna have them bring you fancy coffee drinks every morning, run your errands, and stuff like that?"

I snorted. "First of all, that is not what employees are for, Nina."

She giggled under her breath.

"Secondly, I already have someone who makes me fancy coffee every morning."

"Oh, riiight. Yeah, that was tasty. I personally like my coffee sweeter, but that's just me."

"I think it's perfect."

"Of course you do."

"Stop." I gave her a half-glare.

"Hey, you brought it up."

Talking about Nina's visit to the palace finally reminded me - "Oh, my god. I can't believe I forgot until just now. You never told me what you were talking to Kayden about yesterday morning." "Wondered when you were going to ask about that."

"What was that all about, Nina?" I glanced at the manicurists, trying to decide if I cared that they heard us. I guess I trusted Nina to use her discretion and answer me if she could. "Look, I just wanted to ask him what was up with that bitch that moved in down the hall from you."

I sighed. "Nina, you didn't need to do that."

"Maybe not. But I worry about you, Fi. You're my ride or die, you know? We gotta look out for each other."

"I love you for that. But I can't go nosing around in Alexander's business. It's not my place."

"You're not. I am."

"Well, as my best friend, you are an extension of me."

She laughed. "Whatever. I really don't think that he cares, Fi. Alex saw me talking to Kayden, and I'm sure they debriefed later. Those guys are very close."

Nina's point was fair enough. Alexander sure had not seemed upset with me in any way when I saw him last night after I returned from shopping and he returned from training. "Well, I guess now I have to ask, what did Kayden tell you?"

"He tried to be gentle about the way he said this, but the bottom line I understood was, he finds her pretty difficult to tolerate, and he's just trying to be a good guy in keeping her there. Really doesn't seem like he has any other interest." "I didn't think that he did."

"Well. Now you have confirmation."

"You really thought something was going on with them?"

"No. But it was possible. And I know Kayden, he's a good guy and a bad liar; I think we can trust he was telling the truth."

I caught Nina's eye and gave her a pleading look. "Be honest. Did you ask him about anything else?"

Nina pursed her lips. Paused a little too long. And said, "Nope."

"You sure about that?"

"I asked no more questions. Swear to god."

"But?"

"But he did volunteer a few things."

If I had something in my hands other than my phone (when did I take that out of my purse again?!) - I would have thrown it at her.

"Why are you making me drag this out of you?"

Nina fell into a fit of laughter. "I don't know. You told me to keep you distracted today. And sometimes you just make it too easy to mess with you." Third person

"I don't care if they think it is a stalling tactic. File the motion."

Scarlet, alone in the Queen's study, was whisper-shouting into her cell phone, instructing her lawyer to file a motion that would delay her embezzlement trial.

She was absolutely certain that her husband was in court at the moment. She received confirmation of that just five minutes ago. But she also believed it never hurt to keep your voice down when you didn't want to be heard, whether or not you thought someone was listening.

"You have to understand, Queen Luna... regardless of your intentions, the court may very well interpret this as an attempt to interrupt court proceedings... you could be looking at adding a contempt charge to your case..."

"Let them interpret it however they want. File the motion. I am not going to court tomorrow."

Scarlet received the confirmation she needed from her beaten-down attorney, then hung up the call with shaking fingers.

She glanced over her shoulder more than a couple times while breezing down the dim palace hallways, heading west.

Scarlet had no interest in "trespassing" into the West Wing, which Alexander and his men occupied; he'd threatened her plenty of harm if she did so. But there was a dark corner in a seldom-used corridor near the edge of this domain. And that was where Scarlet and her spy in his pack traded communications, by way of a drop point.

She reached the spot. The wall sconces that lit this corridor hung lower on the wall than in the other hallways, and were reachable by any adult of average height. Scarlet reached into a little cavity in the wall behind one of these sconces, and was flooded with disappointment when her fingers touched the small bundle that was hidden away inside.

She pulled the bundle out slowly, knowing full well what it was.

Because she had left it here a week ago. It was a communication to her spy, along with a roll of cash - an advance payment for his next delivery.

He hadn't picked it up.

She put the bundle back into its hiding place and walked quickly back to her chambers.

A sudden, splitting headache told her she was grinding her back teeth into each other. She wrenched her jaw open with difficulty.

Scarlet had been watching her surveillance footage as much as possible, scrubbing through hundreds of hours of video recordings of all the goings-on in Alexander's slice of the palace. And so she knew that her man on the inside was spending a fair amount of time in direct contact with her stepson lately.

Perhaps his allegiances were changing.

What other reason could there be for him to cut off communication?

The young man been more than happy to take her money in the past. The fact that he was leaving it on the table now did not bode well for Scarlet.

She still had nothing on Alexander. Nothing to give the vampires.

And the clock was ticking.