Blood Assassin (The Sentinels #2)(68)

“Everyone makes enemies.”

“Not everyone chooses to live without a conscience.”

There was a hesitation as Kaede sought a diplomatic means of assuring Bas that his years of being an immoral bastard weren’t a mistake.

“You have to make tough choices when you’re the leader.”

“A nice excuse.” His lips twisted into a humorless smile. “We both know my decisions were based on the bottom line, not what was best for my people.”

“That’s not entirely true,” Kaede protested.

“True enough.” Bas grimaced. This wasn’t a bout of self-pity. Just a long overdue examination of his life. “I’ve hurt too many.”

There was a long silence as Kaede came to terms with Bas’s unfamiliar guilt.

Then, clearing his throat, the young man asked the question that had no doubt been plaguing him for the past four years.

“You never discuss Molly’s mother.”

Bas smoothly turned, as if he was gazing out the window. He was emotionally compromised, and the last thing he wanted was for anyone to realize that Myst had ever been more than a meaningless coupling.

Myst.

A familiar sense of exasperation raced through his blood.

The tiny woman with a pale, perfect face that was dominated by a large pair of velvet brown eyes and long, silvery-blond color so pale it didn’t look real had slammed into his life with the force of a mini-tornado and then simply disappeared.

Poof.

Gone.

And the fact that he’d secretly spent the past four years searching for her annoyed the hell out of him.

“There’s nothing to discuss,” he said, the words clipped. “She was a clairvoyant with only minor abilities. She asked to work for me, but to be honest she seemed more a liability than an asset.”

“So you took her to your bed instead?” Kaede pressed.

Bas glanced toward the hand-carved wooden cabinet that concealed a top-of-the-line media center.

Four years ago there had been a leather couch there that was long enough for him to stretch out for an hour nap when he was working around the clock.

A common occurrence.

But after Molly had arrived, he’d had the office completely redecorated.

He told himself that it only made sense to make the room as kid-friendly as possible.

But a part of him knew that he’d commanded the change because he found himself unable to walk by the couch without catching the faint scent of cinnamon that had clung to Myst’s skin or seeing her spread beneath him, her pale face flushed with pleasure.

Shit.

Bas gave an abrupt shake of his head.

“She was upset so I poured us both a drink,” he said, giving a dismissive lift of his shoulder. “And then another. Eventually we ended up on the couch. One hour later she was gone.”

Kaede gave a short laugh. “Left or was escorted out?”

Bas had a brief urge to allow his companion to believe he’d had her tossed from the building. After all, it wasn’t as if he hadn’t had to use force to remove an overly persistent lover on any number of times.

But he swiftly dismissed the cowardly impulse.

He might resent Myst’s ability to walk away as if he was just another f*ck, but she was Molly’s mother. He wasn’t going to allow anyone to disrespect her.

“I asked her to stay,” he admitted, turning back to face his companion. “I felt—”

“What?”

“I felt peace when she was in my arms.”

Kaede lifted a brow, but he wasn’t stupid enough to press the issue.

“Then how did she disappear?” he asked instead.

Now that was a good question.

One that had nagged at him for four years.

“I got up to answer the phone and when I turned around she was gone.”

“That must have been a first for you.” Kaede didn’t bother to hide his surprise. “Did you look for her?”

Bas gave a warning frown. He was willing to admit he’d enjoyed sex with Myst. And even that he’d wanted more.

But there was no way he was going to share that he’d been paying a fortune to the best private detectives in the world trying to find her.

“What the hell does it matter?”

“I hear regret in your voice.”

“You hear annoyance,” he corrected. Which was true enough. Myst was a mystery that refused to be solved. What could be more annoying to a man who used information as a bargaining tool? “The woman disappeared and nine months later left a baby in my private rooms with a note attached saying that she belonged to me.”

It was a story that Bas shared with no one, so he was fully prepared for Kaede’s sudden suspicion.

“You didn’t speak with her?”

“She obviously didn’t feel the need to explain why she was abandoning her child, and since she had a rare talent for sneaking past my security I didn’t have the opportunity to question her decision.”

Kaede wasn’t satisfied. “Did you have a DNA sample of the baby taken?”

“No.”

“Shit, Bas, how do you know the child is yours?” Kaede stared at him as if he was looking at a stranger. “Or for that matter, if the woman you slept with is the biological mother?”

He shrugged. “Molly is a tiny replica of her. Except for her eyes.”