Bitten (Book 1 - Book 4) novel Chapter 25

Uri licked a finger and put her bracelet back on. Then, he led her back up to bed, but he just wanted to cuddle. Natalia was half asleep when a thought brought her to full wakefulness. She sat up.

“What?” Uri said.

He sounded like he was almost asleep, too.

“The smell on the Abbess. It was more than just kite,” she said when the full realization hit her.

“What was it?”

“It was the same foul smell of Hell.”

“Hell? Damn, the perfect spot to make and sell kite. Are you sure?”

“One way to find out,” she said.

“Go back to Hell,” he said.

Natalia listened to him breath, expecting him to say more, but he was silent a long time.

“When?” she said.

He pulled her down. She turned, so they were face to face.

“To go and not be detected takes some planning,” he said. “I would like to do a full search of Hell to see what’s going on.”

“You think there’s more?”

“Yeah.”

“Something Moralis brought up?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re back to one word answers again,” she said.

“Yeah,” he said with a smile. “Give me time to think. It’s not going to be right away.”

“Okay.”

“Plus, we’ll need some help,” he said.

“Who?”

“The stealthiest of stealth and someone not loyal to Sherri,” he said.

“Who?”

“Sophie.”

“I thought she was loyal to the bank?”

“Loyalty to the bank is not the same as loyalty to Sherri or the Council.”

“You’re going to take me too, right?”

“You know the smell.”

He cuddled against her.

“Go to sleep. Let me think,” he whispered in her ear.

She didn’t think she could sleep, but he was breathing in her ear. The next thing she knew he rolled out of bed and whipped the covers off of her.

“We need to have our chats earlier in the evening,” Natalia said with a yawn over breakfast.

“You’re the one who wakes up in the middle of the night,” he said.

“Weird dreams. I’m pregnant,” she said.

Both she and Uri were being vague about things while Mag was around or even in the kitchen.

“You ready to go sleepy head?” he said rising.

Natalia chugged her tea and rose.

“I got too much homework already,” she said, deciding that lots of complaining would mask any deviation in her behavior.

The delay in coming in from the garage and taking longer than normal to change were enough to key Mag in to check on her.

As soon as the limo pulled out of the garage, Uri was on his phone.

“Hey, Moralis. Let’s go over what I missed at the last two meetings. Can you join us for lunch?”

There was a pause as he listened.

“Okay, sounds good.”

Natalia didn’t even question anything.

“What homework do you have?” he said.

“Everything. As soon as I complete an assignment, another one pops up.”

“Wise to spread yourself across all the classes and not focus too long on one,” he said. “Otherwise, you’ll get reminders from the school that assignments are late, despite there is no time limit.”

“Everyone just wants me to finish it as fast as possible.”

“Exactly.”

“Did you do it this way?”

“I was doing both at the same time, but I wasn’t working like you are.”

“Both?”

“Some classes I took online. The rest I took by attending the classroom lectures.”

“You were busy.”

“Highly. My mother made sure of that to keep me out of trouble. I was a trouble maker.”

“Yeah, I can see that,” she said with a laugh.

He poked her in the ribs, then rubbed his cheek against hers.

The morning progressed as normal. She saw no sign of Ravi, but saw Caidy a number of times, which indicated that Ravi was in the office. Things seemed to be back to normal. Unfortunately, the conference room was now too quiet. She found she missed Francie’s company. Her only background noise was Caidy passing, muffled voices from the direction of Ravi’s office, and the ding of the elevator. Although about mid-morning, she heard a door. She took a peak and caught sight of the same man and woman going into the utility closet.

At eleven-thirty, Uri stopped at the conference room.

“Lunch,” he said.

She was quick to follow. The elevator picked up Moralis on the twelfth floor. He joined them in the limo.

“What was his excuse?” Uri said once the limo pulled away from the curb.

“A touch of the flu,” Moralis said.

“He’s talking of taking some more time off. We should have Nattie talk with Sittel and find out how he’s doing,” Uri said, looking at her.

“I do have her phone number,” she said.

“I didn’t know you knew her,” Moralis said.

“I’m friends with all his wives.”

“I heard about the cocktail party. You won them over that quick? I heard they are pretty particular who they talk to.”

“The cocktail party was the second time I saw Nancy and Beah. Then I crashed the Ladies Garden Society tea party. That’s where I met Sittel.”

“Make that call tonight,” Moralis said, then he laughed. “You crashed the tea party?”

“Sounds more devilish than it was,” she said.

The limo pulled up to Coopers.

“I’ll go back to the Cobb salad. No extra meat,” she said once they sat at their table.

“So what are you thinking?” Moralis said.

“Dinner party. Your place,” Uri said.

Natalia was now confused. This didn’t have anything to do with what Uri had said or what she thought they were going to talk about.

“I’ll have to get Francie out of the way.”

“Francie?” she said.

“Different Francie,” Uri said.

“My wife,” Moralis said. “She hates any limelight, hassles, you name it. I’ll tell her I need a boys night, and she can go visit her mother.”

“When is she going to give you a kid?” Uri said.

“She’s planning.”

“Always planning,” Uri said with a raise of eyebrows.

“Hey, I don’t care. I already have a son, and I see him regularly. I like having Francie around. I don’t push the issue.”

“When can we do this?”

“Let me check with Francie and her schedule.”

“The sooner the better.”

“Can’t be Friday. Will have to be a Saturday.”

The waiter brought their meal and all conversation stopped. Although halfway through her salad, what they were talking about finally dawned on her.

“So a dinner party puts us in one spot for a long time,” she said in a whisper.

“You’re thinking of bringing...” Moralis nodded in her direction.

“Hound dog,” Uri said. “Plus I would bring my wife to a dinner party.”

“Sorry, wasn’t thinking. You’re right. Way too much on my mind right now.”

They finished lunch with little other conversation and headed back to the bank.

Natalia was tired at the end of the day. She had to move a lot of boxes, and they were heavy. Her satchel was already packed, and she was heading toward Uri’s office when he stepped out. He waited for her, and they went to the elevator together.

“Can I call Sittel on the way home?” she said before they stepped out of the bank.

“No. Wait until we get home.”

“Okay.”

The ride home was quiet. The limo pulled up the laneway and into the garage. Uri opened the door.

“Your car is a problem,” she said when she slid out.

“Oh, yeah, I did pull up further than usual. Easier to go around the back,” he said, leading her.

They made it to the bedroom without seeing Mag. Uri shut the bedroom door. She started changing when he beckoned to her with a finger. He led her into the closet. There was a tie rack. He put a hand on the wall nearby. The tie rack moved, revealing a very small room. He pulled her in and slid back the tie rack.

“This is a quiet room,” he said. “No one can hear us in here, even if they were standing in the closet with their ear to the door.”

She nodded.

“Make your call now to Sittel.”

He had her phone and handed it to her. She figured he must have slipped it out of her satchel.

Natalia dialed the number.

“Hi, Sittel. This is Nattie. How are you doing?”

She put the phone on speaker.

“Oh, hi, Nattie. I’m doing well. And you?”

“I’m well. Busy with school and work. I was just wanting to call and say how much I enjoyed the Botanical Gardens.”

“Oh, you’re so welcome.”

“I was also a little concerned. I had heard Ravi was out with the flu. How is he doing?”

Sittel laughed over the phone.

“No. No. I know new expecting mothers can get a little overboard with illnesses, but rest assured, he didn’t have the flu and he’s quite fine. He just needed a little wife attention.”

“That’s good. I know I get so paranoid about germs,” she said, deciding to use the excuse that Sittel so nicely provided her.

“I think he works too hard. He needed some time off. Nancy, Beah, and I get so busy with things, and we forget he needs some of our attention, too.”

She laughed.

“His eye starts roaming, and he thinks he needs a new wife. We have to kindly inform him he’s getting old, and he should just focus on what he has.”

“Good advice for any man,” Natalia said.

“Oh, so true,” she laughed.

“I look forward to the next garden party.”

“Yes, Sittel said. “Perhaps we can get together sooner. I don’t always go to the business socials, but if I know you will be there, then I will.”