Glamorous - A Grace Bishop Novel - Chapter 30
© Denise Bossarte
Viora stood at the wall of
windows that made up one side of the penthouse office. She stared out into the
night, eyes surveying the lights of the city below her. The events that had
occurred the last few days tainted her usual satisfaction with the view and her
place above it.
It was a true sign of her ire
that she wasn’t pacing the room in frustration. Instead
she stood immobile and composed. The anger raged inside her like a maelstrom,
held in check only by her iron will developed over decades of ruling The
Family.
Years of planning, scheming, manipulating, and plotting, working
with deliberate patience and skill behind the scenes to bring all the pieces
together. She was close to attaining her goal. All that at risk because one of
her pets was not clever enough to keep his extracurricular activities secret.
The sheer lack of control was infuriating to her.
She thought when she limited
Eli’s ability to help the girl the small
breaches of secrecy would disappear soon enough. Time and again she had seen
such situations resolve themselves to her favor and satisfaction. But this
time, this crucial time, things were not turning out as she had planned.
Instead of the girl jumping at a chance to become part of the
Paranorm family, she was determined to defy the Paranorms and The Family. She
insisted on pursuing the disappearances herself through unofficial channels.
Under different circumstances, Viora would applaud such dogged commitment, even
admire it. But that was when the efforts were going toward her goals, not
toward thwarting them.
Viora had to admit to herself that Robyn was getting out of
hand. She had known from the start when she bought him from the Klavkov family
the length of his usefulness was limited. But she had let herself be lulled
into a sense of complacency because of how effective he had remained all these
years. How integral he had become to her plans.
But she could not afford to
let his indiscretions bring attention to The Family. It was inconvenient enough
that the Paranorms were aware that a Glamour was in the city. Among them and
preying on Norms. It embarrassed her that the West Coast branch of the family
was also now aware of the situation, having sent a special pyrotechnic Paranorm
to help clean up Robyn’s mess.
Viora had limited the
exposure Robyn had within The Family and allowed minimal contact with other
Paranorms. She knew the isolation was challenging for him, and might have led
to the escalated behaviors. But her plans demanded his abilities and his role
to remain hidden.
She could not have The Family connect Robyn to the “Glamour” as
they were calling him. Connect the “Glamour” to her. She could not have The
Family perceive her as weak and unable to control one of her Paranorms.
Especially one that put The Family at risk wantonly using his power.
Up until now, the Paranorms were convinced that the “Glamour”
was a rouge Paranorm. But that wouldn’t last long if Robyn continued to expose
himself in these ways. The Norms at large could not become aware of The Family
if they were to survive.
She needed one more
acquisition to make her plans complete. Things were far enough along that Viora
could get the contract approved without Robyn’s
help. But having him involved made the process much easier and faster for her.
After the contract was signed, his special powers would not be critical to her
success. In fact, his powers and his recent inability to control his habits
made him a liability.
Viora considered the
situation from all sides. This girl’s
determination might be what she needed to solve the problem without showing her
hand or her connection to Robyn. It might get rid of her growing problem, and
it would give her a chance to see how much skill and power this girl had with
her ability. If the girl failed, then Viora would find another way to deal with
the situation.
A knock at the door pulled
her attention away from her deliberations. Robyn was right on time, as usual.
As Gregory moved to answer the door, Viora
took a seat in the lone chair in the room. One did not sit in her presence
here. As soon as he let Robyn inside, Gregory moved out of the room and closed
the door.
She smiled to herself as
Robyn entered and crossed the room to stand in front of her. His scared expression made it clear he
understood what it meant to be called to meet with her here. A formal meeting
in her office rather than a casual meeting in the limousine meant that she was
not pleased with him.
She waited him out, enjoying the fear that was pouring off of
him as he stood wringing his hands. These moments of watching others cower in
her presence were one of the parts she enjoyed most of being head of The
Family. Having people at your beck and call was one thing, having them at the
whim of your will; intoxicating.
After a time, she grew bored
with his cringing and decided to get to the point.
“Robyn, you know I do not ask much from you,” she began.
He bowed his head at her words, knowing them for the reprimand
they were.
“No, Mia Regina, of course you don’t,” he said, peering at his
feet.
Viora sat in cold silence for several minutes to let Robyn know
his interruption had not improved his situation.
“I do not ask much of you, except your discretion. Your
discretion in all things, including your entertainments.”
Robyn looked up at her, confusion in his eyes, but he knew
better than to say anything.
Viora sighed in exasperation to herself. She couldn’t believe
the fool would pretend to not know what she was taking about.
“Your entertainments have become much too public,” she
continued. “They must stop.”
“My entertainments, Mia Regina? I’m sorry, but I don’t know what
you mean.” He appeared worried that he was not able to understand her.
“The Norms, Robyn. The Norms you have been playing with. I
understand how entertaining it can be to have these creatures dance to your
whims, maybe engage in a little benign torture of few of them. They are there
for our pleasure, in their faceless masses, are they not?
But too many Paranorms and too many in The Family are aware of
these activities. They haven’t connected you to them yet, but we can’t take the
risk that they will. Stop. Now.” Her voice was icy and low, but there was no
mistaking the command it held.
Robyn continued to look confused and opened his mouth to say
something.
But Viora’s patience with him had come to an end. Putting her plans in
jeopardy, providing an opening for The Family to question her competence and
authority, and now denying his actions to her face?
“This conversation is over. We will not have another one on this
topic, Robyn. Go home and stay there until I need you again.”
With that dismissal, she rose and walked back to the windows,
leaving him to make his own way out of the room. She did not notice the change
in his expression from confusion to rage, nor how his eyes changed from brown
to gray as he stalked away from her and out the door.
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