Page 44 of Prior Claim
“Something like that. Don’t tell them.
Ellisandre shook their head. Alice was trying too hard. But it was a beautiful thing to watch. “I’ll set the table.”
Linda appeared ten minutes later, just as Alice was plating the food. She was also dressed down, in khaki slacks and a turtleneck sweater and had her gym bag in her hand.
Ellisandre took it from her. “You look tired.”
Linda smothered a yawn. “Dana had nightmares last night. Alice was up with her Thursday, so I took a turn, since I didn’t work today.”
“The new meds didn’t help?”
Linda shook her head. “We have something else to try tonight. The doctor suggested giving her new experiences. We went to the Shedd Aquarium this morning, but she spent twenty minutes staring at that Japanese spider monster they have in the tank by the show area. Now I’m going to have nightmares.”
Ellisandre offered Linda their arm and Linda leaned into them, stifling yet another yawn.
“What about taking Dana and Alice up to the Estate?” Then you won’t ask why I want to go up there.
“Jun and his friends are up there.”
“There’s enough room. Dana and Alice got along with them at New Years.”
Linda looked toward the living room where Ash was screaming with Dana, both of them running their characters across the screen, creating havoc.
Linda turned to Alice. “How would you like to go up to the Estate, get out of the city for a bit?”
Alice raised an eyebrow. It was a disturbingly good imitation of Ellisandre. “I’m not leaving Dana.”
“Both of you would go. Actually, if you’re both gone for a few days, we could give some of the security team down time and also get a large desk for your room. I don’t think the designers picked a suitable one when they redid it.”
“Honest! My room is perfect.” Alice set the plate she’d been fixing on the table and grabbed the last one. “You don’t need to change anything.”
“You absolutely need more closet space.” Ellisandre spoke for Linda. “If you’re going to be shadowing Linda, you need clothes to dress the part. And if you’re training with me, you need space for your tools. A safe, for one, to keep them away from Dana.”
Alice flushed. “Uh, yeah. Sure. I just . . . it’s just . . . the room’s already a lot, and you just redid them. Collin and I grew up sharing an unfinished attic and it was great. This is like…” She motioned at the luxury condo around them. “I’m still scared I’m going to break something.”
Linda reached out for Alice’s hand. “You could break the entire apartment and I could replace it tomorrow. But we couldn’t replace you and we couldn’t replace Dana. They’re just things, and things are things that I can replace. Easily. Time is something I can’t make more of. So anything I can do to make the time of those around me better, that’s what I want to do. That first remodel was just an emergency one to get you started. It wasn’t even a remodel, just some furniture. Now we have a better idea of what you need.”
Alice’s flush deepened but she squeezed Linda’s hand back. “Okay. In that case, a bigger desk would really help.”
The three of them finished putting the food on the table, Linda’s gym bag abandoned against the wall. Ellisandre grabbed it and walked into the living room. “All right, you two. Wash your hands. It’s time to eat.”
Dana dropped her controller and ran for the kitchen. Ash sat up more slowly and rolled his eyes, picking up what Dana had discarded and putting the game away properly. Ellisandre hid their smile and continued to Linda’s room to put the bag away. Ash was a good kid, even if he didn’t want anyone to know it. There was a little of a younger Sevastyan in him. Not a lot. But a bit.
Dana started to crash in the middle of dinner. Linda took her away to help her get ready for bed. She came back to say that Dana wanted Ash to read her bed time stories. Ash shoved the last of his green spaghetti into his mouth and headed off to the bedroom. Linda activated the camera in Dana’s room with her phone and smiled at the screen. Ellisandre leaned in to see.
Ash had seated himself on the floor with his back against the bed frame and Dana was lying crossways on the bed, her chin on his shoulder, looking at the page he was reading from. He had his fingers moving under the words and she was mouthing along with him as he read.
“He’s really good with her,” Linda said.
“He gets her,” Alice responded. “He knows what it’s like.” She stood up and started clearing dishes away.
Ellisandre settled at the table and drew up their tablet while Linda and Alice cleared up the kitchen. There were a few new messages from their contacts and sources around the world. There had been plenty of reasons to keep up with the world they’d left behind after choosing to follow Linda as her personal protector. Being the new co-owner of one of the more powerful private corporations in the world had come with significant risk and disturbance for Linda. She had not been ready for the media scrutiny, the manipulation and fraud attempts, the court cases, and the political machinations that had been hurled her way. Ellisandre had been her shield. More than Linda knew. But there were other reasons Ellisandre kept their finger on the pulse of the underworld, on of them being Sevastyan. News was sparse and infrequent, but he had appeared now and again, mostly in his front as an international art dealer. At least some of his business was legitimate.
The first message was brief and from a source in South Korea. “Sighting confirmed in airport. Departed for Chicago on December 28th.” So Sevastyan had followed Jun to Chicago within a day of Junseo being rescued. That wasn’t news, but it was more data in the timeline.
The second message was slightly more interesting. “He’s an art dealer. Stellar reputation. Well versed in what he does. Specializes in East and Central Asia, but not undereducated in South Asian artifacts either. Speaks German, Russian, and Chinese.”
That did confirm one of the identities Ellisandre had suspected Sevastyan used. Art dealing was an excellent reason to move globally at a frequent rate without suspicion, especially in areas of significant wealth. He’d already been well versed in art when they’d first met, a product of his education and his mother’s obsession with status.
