Hidden Devotion (Trinity Masters #5)(50)

There was an awkward silence when it was just the two of them, reinforcing the need for Franco in their trinity.

“I’m sorry, Juliette.”

“I’m sorry, too.” She pulled on stretchy pants and a sweater. When she sat on the bed to put on socks, Devon took them from her. He knelt at her feet like a knight pledging fealty.

“Whatever you decide to do, whatever you need, I’ll support you.” He kissed each foot before putting the socks on.

“Thank you. I’ll need it. I have an idea, a way to solve multiple problems at once, but I don’t know how everyone else will react.”

“Change is hard.”

Juliette wiggled her toes in her socks then jumped to her feet.

“Well, change is coming. There’s a new sheriff in town.”

Devon groaned and started getting dressed. “He’s rubbing off on you.”

Juliette laughed, slapped Devon’s butt and headed downstairs, ready to have her first council meeting. Members of the Trinity Masters may be powerful, dangerous people, but she was the Grand Master.

And she was about to change everything.





Chapter Fourteen




“Papa.”

“Francisco. How are you?”

“I’m good.”

“Marcia says you are not home, not at the foundation.”

Franco reminded himself to tell Marcia to stop reporting on him to his parents. Though he was technically the foundation president, Marcia knew where the real power still lay—Franco’s father. But it was his mother who liked to keep tabs on him.

“Tell Mama to stop making Marcia spy on me.”

“She worries.”

“Where are you right now?”

“Morocco. Did you see the video your mother posted to our YouTube channel?”

“No.” Franco stifled a groan. His mother was a bit tech-mad. She’d started a Twitter account and YouTube channel to document their retirement travels. “I’ll check it out after this.”

“You better, before you talk to her again.”

“I actually called because I have a question.”

“Of course. Ask.”

“It’s about something of Grandfather’s. It’s that old box, the one he said belonged to the secret society.”

“Oh, your grandfather and his stories. Why do you ask?”

“I’m doing some research on a photo I found. You’ll love it. I’ll show you when you get home. Anyway, while I was working on that, I looked at the box again. I’m thinking about opening it. Do you know why Grandfather never did?”

“He said that the person who delivered it to him warned him it was a test. If he didn’t open the box, it would prove he could resist the temptation. He always said he was smarter than Pandora—he knew when to leave a box alone.”

That didn’t make any sense. The letter hidden inside the box had explicit instructions that Luis was to try to decode the list and then bring the answers to Boston. There was no way he could do that if he never found the letter.

“Do you remember anything else about it? Maybe about the man who gave him the box?”

“Now that I think of it…it wasn’t a man. It was a woman. A beautiful red-haired woman, of course.” Henry laughed. “His stories never had anything but beautiful women.”

“That helps, thanks, Papa.”

Franco hung up and relayed what he’d learned to Devon.

“He said that a beautiful red-haired woman delivered the box.”

“My turn.” Devon picked up his phone and placed a call to his father. Ewan was one of two, and of his two fathers, he’d always been closer to Ewan, though based on looks, Ted was probably his biological father. His career in the Navy meant Ted wasn’t around much, but both men were good parents.

But Ewan had been a councilor to Juliette’s father.

“Dad, it’s me.”

“Devon, how are you?”

“Busy. I have some things going on.”

“Do you want me to call you back on the other line?” There was a secure landline in his parents’ house that couldn’t be traced or tapped.

“Not now. Hasn’t reached that point yet. But I do need information.”

“What kind?”

“Red-haired woman who delivered messages and packages in the late nineteen forties.”

“Nineteen forties? Hmm.”

Devon knew better than to interrupt while his dad was thinking. He glanced at his watch. The gala was in a matter of hours. He wanted to have answers before he walked into that room. If the threat was an old one, directed at someone besides Juliette, then there was no imminent danger. If the poison was meant for her, which seemed farfetched but not impossible, they would need to take extra precautions tonight.

“It might be Jessica Breton. She was a very visible member of your grandfather’s generation.”

“Would she have had any connection to the GM?”

“I don’t know who her two, uh, friends were. I don’t think anyone knew.”

“Could it have been the GM?”

“No, but either she or one of her friends might have been councilors.”

“That helps. Thanks, Dad.”