Chapter 64: BREAKFAST ARGUMENT
KEISHA’S POV
"WHAT—"
I launched upright so fast I nearly fell off the guest bed.
Nadia was standing at the foot of it with both hands pressed to her cheeks and her eyes so wide I could see white all the way around and her mouth open in a perfect circle.
"Why are you in this room?" She asked. "When did you get here? How long have you been there? Why didn’t anyone tell me—"
"Nadia." I pressed my hand to my chest. "You just took five years off my life."
"You’re in my house." She shrieked. "In my guest bed. In the middle of the night—"
"It’s morning." I said as I looked at the window. "Early but morning."
"Why are you here?" She asked as she dropped onto the edge of the bed and looked at me with confusion in her eyes. "Tell me everything. Start from when you went home last night."
Reluctantly, I told her everything starting from the person I had seen at my window. Then Alpha Callum who I had met —because of course, I had to fabricate a few stuff — and him telling me to stay over.
Nadia listened to the whole thing without saying a word.
When I finished, the silence lasted long enough that I started to wonder if she was okay.
"Someone broke into your house." She whispered.
"Forced the lock." I corrected. "Didn’t take anything."
"Which means they weren’t there to steal." Her brows furrowed.
"No." I said.
"They were looking for something." She said. "Or sending a message to let you know they’re watching." She looked at me. "Which one do you think it is?"
"I don’t know." I said honestly. "Maybe both."
She was quiet again. "This estate is supposed to be safe." She said. "We have patrols and protocols and checkpoints and people are still getting through to peek in windows and break into houses." She looked at the wall. "Something has broken down somewhere and nobody will tell me what."
"Your dad is handling it." I told her.
"That’s what he always says." She said. "And I stand here knowing something is wrong and not understanding the full thing even though I ask him and it makes me feel—" She stopped. "Like I’m being protected from something I should know about."
"You’re not being kept in the dark to exclude you." I said. "He doesn’t have all the answers yet. None of us do."
She looked at me. "You know more than you’re saying."
I held her gaze. "I know what Callum and Dane have told me." I said. "Which isn’t much more than what I just told you."
She studied me for a long moment. "Do you think it’s Vanessa?"
"I think she’s involved somehow." I shrugged. "But the person I saw last night was a man. Tall and broad So either she has help or it’s someone else entirely."
"She has two attendants." Nadia said immediately. "Both male. I’ve seen them around the estate." She looked at me. "I didn’t think anything of it at the time."
"Tell Dane that." I muttered, my brows drawing together. "What they look like. When you’ve seen them. Where they’ve been spotted."
She nodded slowly. "Okay." She said. Then she looked at me. "Feeling better?"
"I’m okay." I nodded.
She held my gaze for one more second then stood and stretched. "Breakfast." She told me. "Becca made something, I could smell it from up here." She held her hand out. "Come on."
We went downstairs together and Callum was already in the sitting room.
Just on the sofa with his coffee and his phone but he looked up when we came in.
His eyes went to me first just briefly. Then to Nadia.
"Morning." He nodded.
"Dad." Nadia sat across from him. "Someone broke into Keisha’s house last night?"
"Hm, yes."
"You know." She repeated. "And what’s being done about it?"
"Everything that can be done." He told her firmly.
"Which is?" She said.
"Nadia." He said.
"Dad." She said back in the same tone. "I’m not a child. Someone has been peeping through windows on this estate and following people in the dark and now breaking into houses and you keep saying it’s being handled and I keep not seeing any evidence of it being handled." She looked at him directly. "What is actually happening?"
Callum looked at her for a long moment.
"We have a suspected source." He said. "We don’t have proof yet. When we have proof we’ll move on it."
"Suspected source?" Nadia said. "Vanessa."
Callum said nothing.
"It’s Vanessa." Nadia said. "I knew it. I knew from the beginning she was here for something other than—" She stopped herself. "What is she actually doing here, Dad? And don’t say she’s a potential mate. I know that’s not the whole answer."
"It’s part of the answer." He admitted.
"And the rest?" She said.
He looked at his coffee. "I’m sure you know why they’re pushing for her specifically. Osric arranged for her to come here." He said. "Specifically. When there were other candidates, he pushed for her name and I agreed to meet her because refusing outright would have started a different problem." He looked at Nadia.
"And in the meantime she’s wandering around this estate asking questions about everything and breaking into Keisha’s house." She frowned.
"We don’t know it was her." He said.
"You just said you have a suspected source." Nadia raised a brow.
"Which isn’t the same as knowing." He said.
Nadia opened her mouth and closed it and looked at the ceiling briefly.
Becca appeared in the doorway with her apron on and a warm expression on her face. "Breakfast is ready." She informed us. "Come while it’s hot. I made the eggs the way you like, Nadia."
Nadia stood immediately. "Come on." She said to me.
"I’ll go back to my house and get changed first." I said. "Eat without me."
"Your door is broken." Callum said without looking up from his phone.
"I’ll just grab some things and—"
"It’ll take a few days." He said.
I looked at him. "What?"
"I’m replacing the door." He said and looked up at me now. "Proper reinforced door with a new lock system. It won’t be a quick fix."
"A few days." I wrapped my hands around myself.
"Yes." He said.
"Alpha Callum, I can’t stay here for a few—"
"The guest room is comfortable." He said. "Or Nadia’s room clearly works." He looked at me calmly. "Go to your house and get whatever you need and come back."
"Dad’s right." Nadia said immediately. She pointed at me. "You’re staying here and I won’t hear arguments about it."
"Neither will I." Callum said.
I looked between them.
I wanted to stay. That was the problem. I genuinely wanted to be in this house in this corridor close to all of it and I knew exactly what that did to my ability to make decisions that weren’t going to make everything more complicated than it already was.
And it was already very complicated.
"Fine." I agreed.
Nadia smiled. "Breakfast first." She said. "Then we’ll go get your things."
"I’m not hungry yet." I said.
"Keisha." She said.
"Ten minutes." I said. "I’ll come down in ten minutes."
She looked at me like she didn’t entirely believe that but let it go and followed Becca toward the dining room.
I stood in the sitting room with Callum still on the sofa.
"A few days, seriously?"
"Maybe more." He said. "Depending on the door."
"You’re enjoying this." I said.
Something pulled at his mouth. "I’m ensuring your safety." He smirked.
"With a door?" A smile tugged at my lips.
"With a door." He agreed.
I looked at him for a moment.
I should tell him.
"Callum." I started.
"Eat first." He said quietly like he already knew.
I exhaled.
Right.
"Eat." He said again. "Then we’ll talk."
I turned and went toward the dining room and heard him stand and follow.
A few days here? What the hell would happen?
And what if I told them?
They weren’t going to survive it.
I already knew they weren’t going to survive it.
