Page 10 of The Defiant Curse

“If it gets hairy, get her out of there. Call up Jim and make sure she’s on the quickest flight out—with guard duty attached. I’ll make sure you guys get paid for it and back to the castle.”

Oh, he would.

Trust and believe, but he stopped him.

“I’m not taking payment to guard my mother. Don’t insult us, Gene. You can’t call us family, her children, and then offer us money to pay us. It’s weird. I don’t work for Archangel Security anymore.”

At his words, he relaxed.

“Thank you, Michael. I appreciate this. I would have gone with her, but she wanted to do this alone. She’s trying to find herself, and that’s a quest that she needs to make in order to heal.”

Oh, he understood that.

To his soul.

It wasn’t that long ago that he’d landed here, and Ravensmire had been just what he’d needed to figure out who he was as a person.

“If need be, we’ll hire on some help to take care of the animals and move her personally. Neither Graham nor myself mind.”

At that cue, his husband chimed in.

“Absolutely. We’ll keep her protected. She’s safest here with us. You have our word on that.”

Gene was grateful.

“I’m going to be telling the men in her life that she’s not coming back. So, expect that the calls will start. If Ivan contacts you, or anyone else but me, REMEMBER you don’t know where she is. I know I said that already, but it bears repeating.”

Oh, Michael got it.

Already, the picture had been painted clearly.

“Clear, Gene. Trust that we will help her through this. The castle is calm, and she’ll heal here.”

That was all the other man needed to hear.

He loved Elizabeth, and all he wanted was for her to find herself again.

Why she wanted to do it there, he had no clue, but that was neither here nor there. The bottom line was that she had every right to make this decision and to take a break.

Sometimes, you needed to do just that.

Hell!

He wanted to join her at this point. It had been a long week for them.

“I plan on calling Gabby, but if you talk to her first, warn her that she’s going to have to play dumb, too. Ivan is a sneaky man, and he’s driving the tech bus.”

He got it.

The word would be spread.

“No worries. She’s safe. We’re her family too, and while she’s here, we’ll keep her busy. We have some new horses, and fall is gorgeous outside. If there was ever a place to come to recoup, this was it.”

Gene was grateful.

Now, he had to hope she found what she was desperately seeking.

“She’s arriving with cash. If you need more money, or anything, just message me. Use an encrypted line—like I am now. Quiet is the utmost necessity. Ivan is going to be on the prowl, trying to mitigate this. You know how he has to control freak security like he’s guarding a virgin on her wedding night five hundred years ago.”