Chapter 6.

RAFAEL.

The girls had seared a few steaks for us and cut it up into strips.

"Here you go," Bella said, handing me a plate and a fork.

"Perfect. Thank-you, beautiful," I kissed her hard then ate a couple of pieces of the tender, perfect beef.

Angelique's butler walked into the room with a crystal decanter of whiskey. "Drink, everyone?"

"Yes," I called out, lifting my hand. "Me please."

The butler came around with glasses and poured generous servings into each one before leaving us again.

"Are we celebrating?" I asked, glancing towards Bill who had pulled a stool over to sit on, while leaving us to the huge four couches.

"Well, yes. I think that's appropriate." Bill said with a smile. He still looked like death warmed up. Pale and too thin. But I was so grateful to him, for everything he was doing to keep our family alive. Whatever we were paying him it was surely not enough.

I made a mental note to speak to Roman about Bill's wages at a later date.

"What is it?" Rose asked, sliding to the edge of the couch and looking hopeful "Did you speak to my stepmother's lawyers?"

He grinned at her. "Yes, I did, after I lodged your last will and testament of course. That really was a stroke of genius, Angelique. It gave Anthony and I the leverage we needed to make sure the deal got done."

"So, what did the old witch want?" I asked, taking a gulp of whiskey to calm my nerves.

It was bad enough that men we didn't even know were hunting us down but knowing that Rose was on the chopping block because of her inheritance, and her stepmother was the executioner... it was infuriating.

Rose was insanely sweet and suited Nate down to a tee. How anyone could hurt Rose was beyond me.

"Everything." Bill said with a grin, "But we negotiated, as you can imagine. Threats were thrown around, her lawyers left, came back and it was a whole shit show, but they ended up agreeing."

"Agreeing to what?" Rose asked. Her knees were shaking as she moved her feet up and down. Her tension was a palpable thing in the room until Nate pulled her back into his arms.

Bill took a deep breath and pulled out a thick document from his stack of papers, then slid it over the large coffee table towards Rose. "In short, you're splitting everything 50/50. We made it clear that you wanted cash, and low maintenance assets, whereas she wanted the business and the high earners."

"What about the holiday home?" Rose asked.

Bill looked at her with a rare smile. "Of course we got you that as well, Rose. Although I wouldn't suggest staying there for a few years, just in case. We don't want your stepmother knowing where you are at any time."

"That works," Nate said with a grin. "Because Rose will live forever as long as I do. We can wait until its safe, or even until that old bitch dies. Then we can live there as long as you like, sweetheart."

"Oh, we'd have to get it altered," Rose said. "We'd need security, and better curtains, and..."

Bill laughed softly, another rare moment for Bill. "Rose you have all the time in the world, and now all the money too. You don't need to worry about anything. We'll take care of it. I promise."

"We, being the security team?" I asked, intuition tingling at the back of my neck.

Bill's cheeks flushed with a rosy hue. "Me and Anthony. Between us, you'll all be safe."

"Anthony..." Rose repeated, then her eyes went wide. "Are you...? Anthony's... Are you two together?"

We all stared at Bill, waiting for his reaction. Bill had worked for us for over ten years, and I'd never known him to have a girlfriend. He wasn't married and had no children. I'd assumed he was straight, and choosey, but I'd never asked.

He didn't answer, but I could see that he wanted to.

"Come on, Bill, tell us," Nate teased. "You've always been so cagey about your love life. Is this why?"

Bill's spine straightened. "I didn't think it was anyone's business, after all, it doesn't affect my work."

Roman stood up and walked over to the man who'd put himself in harms way more than once for us. "I'm happy for you, man." Roman embraced Bill, who froze in shock for a moment, then hugged our brother back.

"Thanks."

Roman sat down as we all grinned at one another. We didn't care that Bill was gay, and I wasn't sure how he even got the impression that we would.

"You've got good taste," Gabe teased Bill, unable to let it rest. "Not my type of course, but his gun skills are..." Gabe chef kissed his fingers and we all laughed.

"Okay, okay," Bill said, flustered now, pushing the hair off his face. "Back to the problem at hand. If you're happy with the deal Rose, sign that and I'll get it back to them first thing. It's only two days until your birthday, so I'd say we're just in time."

Rose slid off the couch and went down on her knees next to the coffee table. "Have you got a pen. I'll sign it now."

"Read over it." Bill said. "Never sign anything you haven't read."

"I'll go over it with you, Rose." Angelique said, standing up. "If you want?"

Rose grabbed the papers and stood up. "That would be great. Where do you want to sit?"

Angelique took Rose away from the main group and Roman focused on Bill. "Is there anything else?"

He shook his head. "Not from my end. What are you all planning from here?"

I ran my hand up and down Bella's thigh. "I think we should get out of here. Maybe fly somewhere in the U.S. for a while and lay low."

"I agree," Roman said. "In fact, I was thinking we should go to Washington and visit the Normingdale clan."

I frowned at him. "We could... but do you really think visiting more gargoyle shifters is the best way of hiding? Aren't we just walking into another trap?"

Roman's lips thinned as he thought about what I was saying.

Gabe shifted on his couch, "Rafe's right. Until these guys who are hunting us give up, or are dead, I don't think it's the best plan."

Roman sighed, "You're probably right. Now's not the time."

"You know," Bella began, looking up at me. "I was thinking that maybe we could go North. To Whitehorse in Canada or something. It'll be winter in a month and they only have three hours of daylight in winter."

Chrissy laughed, "Yeah, and like twenty-four hours of sunlight in summer."

Bella stuck her tongue out at Chrissy, then said, "Yeah, but we could have three or four months up there and we'd be able to be together for most of the day. Because you guys shift according to the sunlight, right? It's not on a clock?"

I stared at my beloved, then glanced across at my brother's. A smile spread across their faces just as my own heart lit up. "You're a genius, beautiful girl."

I wrapped my arms around Bella and kissed her.

"That's a great idea." Nathaniel said. "Truly. That much time awake would be... amazing."

I sat back and smiled from my place on the couch, Bella curling into my side. Being an ex-lawyer, then librarian, Bella had an incredible knowledge bank, but it wasn't until now that I truly appreciated her intelligence.

"Would you like a drink, Bill?" Nate asked.

"No but thank you. I need to drive back to the city with Rose's contract as early as possible, so it's best if I keep my wits about me."

"You look like you need a nap, Bill." Bella said. "Rose and Angelique might be a while with the contracts. Why don't you go lie down for a while?"

Bill gave Bella a grateful smile. "You're probably right. Thank you. Enjoy your evening."

Bill grabbed a sandwich from the table and headed out the door.

"And speaking of going back to bed," I said to my Bella, running my fingers along her arm. "How about we go have a nap ourselves?"

Bella giggled. "Yes. Sounds like a plan."

We excused ourselves and I took my Beloved back to our room for the night. I could only assume that my brothers did the same thing with theirs.