Her Name Is Knight(Nena Knight #1)(67)

“No, I just popped up to make bloody small talk.” Elin rolled her eyes, pushing off her car and sauntering toward Nena, tall and regal as usual. And annoyed. Couldn’t forget that.

Nena scanned the street. Where was Elin’s security? She asked, but Elin waved her off. “Is it Mum or Dad?”

“They’re fine. And I don’t need security when Oliver’s with me.”

Nena did a double take. Not only had Elin appeared, but she’d brought Oliver, when she knew how much Nena wanted to keep the Baxters separate from their lives for now.

“You brought Oliver?” Nena strained to see around her insufferable sister. “What’s so damn important that you had to hunt me down? And with him?” Nena gestured toward the car. She couldn’t see him through the tinted glass.

Elin flipped her hand. “We’re on our way to Vegas. And because my sister refuses my calls.”

Nena had never wanted to wring her sister’s neck as much as she wanted to at this very moment. “What. Is. It?”

“A warning. That little spa day you had not too long ago? It’s been noticed.”

Nena made no response. She’d expected as much. Maybe not this soon, but still. “All right.”

“Intel came in through Network about it. I don’t think it’ll make big waves because no one knows or cares about the bastard. But if it’s coming through Network, it means your big bad has likely heard through his own channels. You need to watch your back until we find Paul, wherever he is.”

Too late, Nena thought grimly. Paul was already found.

While Nena had told Elin about the intel Witt had provided, she hadn’t told her sister who Oliver’s father was. She couldn’t do that to Elin just yet, burst her idealistic dream by telling her that her boyfriend’s dad was a sadistic monster. Plus, Paul’s threat against her family weighed heavily on Nena’s mind—heavier now that he likely knew Kwabena was dead.

“Has anyone else said anything? Oliver?”

Elin scoffed. “Are you mad? Oliver is an altar boy. Give the man a financial sheet, and that’s the most excitement you’ll get from him. I can’t even get him to go anal on me, he’s so fucking squeaky clean.”

“Please,” Nena begged, the vision of her sister and Oliver assaulting her. She was used to Elin’s garishness but wasn’t ready for this.

Elin was grinning down at her squeamish sister, proud of knocking her down a peg. “I just came to say be careful.”

Nena nodded. Her eyes were on Elin’s car, whose inside light had suddenly come on. The passenger-side door opened.

Elin continued, “Stay the course, right?”

Right. Nena already knew. No more detours until she knew what play Paul would make. She thought of her conversation with Witt, of how she might have poked the bear.

“Your man’s joining us,” Nena warned in hushed tones, her pulse quickening. She didn’t like this. Didn’t want Oliver here, much less these two sides of her life colliding.

A sly smile slid across Elin’s face as she gazed past Nena’s shoulder in the dimming light. “So is yours. And the kid.” She sounded much too gleeful.

Sure enough, there they were, Cort following a now-glowing Georgia down the walk. Nena faced a smirking Elin, warily watching Oliver make his own approach.

“Look what you’ve done,” she growled.

Elin was loving it. “Aww, sis, are you ashamed of your family? Don’t you think it’s time I met this illustrious man who”—she lowered her voice, leaning in as both sides were nearly upon them—“made you disobey orders for the first fucking time? I rather enjoy seeing you flustered. Another first.”

Elin straightened, brandishing a huge smile as the Baxters stopped before her and Oliver came from the rear. “So you’re Georgia.” She held out her hand, which Georgia took and pumped energetically, surprising Elin.

“You’re Nena’s fancy sister.”

Elin’s eyebrows rose. “Is that what Nena called me?”

Georgia shrugged. “Kinda hard to miss,” she answered, indicating Elin’s attire and her car.

Oliver laughed as he moved beside Elin, his eyes sweeping Georgia, then lingering on Cort, then Nena, then back to Cort. “It’s true,” he said. “She’s very fancy. You’re pretty astute, er . . .”

“Georgia,” she answered. “And I know.”

“Peach,” Cort warned, shaking hands with Oliver and introducing himself.

Elin looked down at Georgia, her nose flaring in distaste. “So you’re the reason my little sister had to run off and wasn’t answering my calls.”

Georgia pursed her lips and, without missing a beat, replied gravely, “You’ve had her all to yourself for a long time. Time to share Nena with the world.”

Elin’s mouth dropped open in a most unbeautiful manner as she was struck speechless, despite Oliver laughing as if he were at a comedy show and Cort placing a firm hand on his daughter’s shoulder while trying to mask his amusement.

“She’s a regular spitfire, yeah?” Elin said, bemused. Elin wasn’t used to someone having faster quips than she did. She quickly regained her ultracool. “You may borrow her for a little, but you must return her every so often, because I rather like her.”