I shook my head. “I have to hand it to you. Clever, Tuck. Very, very clever.”
He gave a modest shrug. “I do try to be efficient about these things.”
White-hot rage burned in my heart that he had so thoroughly used me, along with more than a little embarrassment, especially since I hadn’t realized what was really going on until I’d been tied to that chair in Porter’s cottage. The only saving grace was that I’d rescued Elissa. But the real irony of the situation was that I probably wouldn’t have been able to save her if Tucker hadn’t manipulated me. Without that lipstick trail to follow, I never would have connected Rivera and Porter to the Dollmaker, and I never would have found Elissa in time. So as much as it pained me to admit it, I owed Tucker.
At least enough to let him walk out of here alive today.
“How is Miss Daniels, by the way?” Tucker’s black gaze flicked past me, and I knew that he was looking at her on the other side of the restaurant.
“She’s still alive,” I snapped. “Not that you really care.”
He shrugged again. “No matter what you think about me, what Porter did to those women was an abomination. I wanted to stop it the moment I learned about it.”
“So why didn’t you?”
His mouth puckered, as though he’d bitten into something rotten. “Let’s just say politics and leave it at that.”
“Politics? Really?” I snorted. “Is that why you went back to the mansion and beat Rivera to death?”
For the first time, a genuine smile played across his face, although his black eyes remained stone-cold. “Oh, no. That was just fun. Believe me, Damian had it coming. He’d hurled one too many insults my way over the years, when he was nothing but a lousy drunk. The only useful thing about him was his massive family fortune, and his problems were starting to outstrip even that.”
I could almost sympathize with him there. I would have enjoyed hurting Rivera too. I waited for Tucker to go on, but he didn’t elaborate, and I knew that he wouldn’t say any more about Rivera. So I decided to change course.
“Tell me one thing,” I said. “Since we’re having such a civilized conversation.”
“What?”
“Why didn’t you kill me when you found me lying next to Porter on the riverbank?”
Tucker blinked, as if he hadn’t expected me to remember that. I’d thought that the man in black had seemed familiar, and later on, after Jo-Jo healed my concussion, I’d remembered that he’d been bundled up just like the man in the car that had driven away from Northern Aggression. Once I’d realized that Tucker was the one who’d planted the lipstick at the nightclub, the connection had been obvious.
“I didn’t think that murdering you when you couldn’t fight back was very sporting,” he murmured. “Besides, you’d done the hard work of killing Porter. I figured that you’d earned a brief reprieve.”
“Is that also why you brought my knives to me?”
He shrugged again. “Damian gave the knives to me after Porter took them off you. I had no use for them.”
“No, I suppose you didn’t,” I said. “But do you know what’s really funny? How many times you’ve tried to kill me versus how many times you’ve helped me. I’d say they’re about even now.”
He frowned. “What do you mean?”
I might not have one of my knives in my hands, but I could still hurt him. “I’m talking about the night that Mab burned my family’s mansion to the ground. How you saw me in the woods but pretended you didn’t. How you dropped some money on the ground and just walked away.”
The vampire shifted in his side of the booth, actually looking uncomfortable, as if I’d caught him doing something that he didn’t want anyone else to know about—ever.
All around us, people ate their food, sipped their drinks, and carried on with their own conversations, but a tense silence fell over our booth. I kept quiet and waited, hoping that I’d rattled Tucker enough to get him to start talking, but of course I hadn’t. Frustration, anger, and annoyance rushed through me at his continued silence.
“Why did you come here?” I snapped, tired of Tucker and all his damn mind games. “What do you want?”
For a moment, I thought that he wasn’t going to answer, but he finally looked at me again.
“You were right. I did realize that you were spying on us in Rivera’s office that night.” Tucker drew in a breath and slowly let it out, as if he was dreading what he was about to say. “I came here because I wanted to explain about your mother.”
I couldn’t have been more shocked if he’d lunged across the table and slapped me across the face. In an instant, all my frustration, anger, and annoyance crystallized into cold, cold rage. On top of the table, my hands curled into fists, my nails digging into the spider rune scars embedded in my palms.
“Really?” I snarled. “You want to explain about my mother? Well, maybe you should start by saying why you didn’t save her. Why you let Mab Monroe and the rest of your precious Circle fucking murder her.”
For the first time since I’d known him, Tucker’s face twisted with regret. Once again, I thought that he wouldn’t answer me, but to my surprise, he began to speak in a flat, emotionless voice.
“Ashland society is a very tight-knit circle, as I’m sure you know,” he began. “My family used to be one of the wealthiest and most respected in the entire city, at least until my father gambled everything away. He was a drunk, you see, just like Damian Rivera, although Damian was at least smart enough not to spend all of his mother’s money.”
He smiled, but it was a dark, humorless expression. “But my father insisted that we keep up appearances and maintain the same lifestyle that we’d always had, even though doing so put us deeper and deeper in debt. He too was a member of the Circle, but without any real money to his name, he quickly fell through the ranks, losing all his power and position, until the others regarded him as little more than a pet. And then, when he died, I became their pet, forced to pay off his many debts.”
“Their servant,” I said.
He nodded, not bothering to deny it. “Everyone treated me that way, except for your mother. Eira was always kind to me, even when we were kids. She was the only one of them who ever treated me like an equal.” He paused, as if he was having difficulty getting his next words out. “I loved her for that and so many other things.”
I asked the question that had been bothering me for days now. “And did she love you back?”
He gave me a sad smile. “She actually did, once upon a time. But my Circle duties took me away from Ashland. I wanted to stay, to be with her, but of course, I couldn’t exactly say no in my position. And by the time I came back, she had married your father.”
“So you missed your chance with her.”
“I did. I regretted it, of course, but she seemed happy, so I moved on.”
He waved his hand, but I could hear the lie in his voice. He hadn’t moved on any more than I had from her murder.
“So you wished my mother well in her marriage, and then, years later, you let Mab Monroe burn her to death. Some love story.”
Tucker actually flinched at my words, but he quickly smoothed out his features. “Once I realized what was going to happen, I tried to persuade Eira to leave Ashland, to flee, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She thought that she could take on the Circle and win. She was wrong about that. And so are you.”
He leaned forward, his black eyes glittering in his face. “You asked me why I came here. Well, consider this a warning, the only one you will ever get from me. You’re right. I wanted Damian and Porter dead, and you helped me make that happen. So I covered up your involvement in this whole messy affair. Think of it as a quid pro quo.”
So that’s why he’d gone to all the trouble to write Porter’s fake suicide note. He almost made it sound like he was protecting me. But I knew better. He was pr
otecting his own ass.
“But?” I asked the inevitable question.
“But if you continue your investigation into the Circle, the other members will eventually notice, and they will take appropriate steps to deal with you. And not just you but your friends and family too. Owen Grayson, Finnegan Lane, the Deveraux sisters, Bria. Everyone you love and care about.” He snapped his fingers. “They will kill them all, just like that, just like they killed your mother and sister.”
“And will you be the one leading the charge, Tuck?” I asked in a soft voice.
“Of course. That’s my job.” His mouth twisted. “And a good pet always obeys his master’s orders.”
This time, I leaned forward, letting him see the cold, hard determination in my wintry gray eyes. “I’m not going to stop. I will never stop until I find out who every single member of your cursed Circle is. I will kill them all, one by one, until I find your boss. And then I’ll kill him too. Consider that my warning to you.”
He stared at me, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “You really do have your mother’s stubbornness. It’s going to be the death of you, little Genevieve. Just as it was the death of her.”
“Genevieve Snow died the night my mother and sister did,” I snarled.
He gave me another sad smile. “And so did I.”
Tucker slid out of the booth, got to his feet, and buttoned his suit jacket, putting his armor back on in more ways than one. He gave me a deep, respectful nod before striding over to the front door, opening it, and stepping out into the cold winter sunshine.
31
I sat in the booth and watched the vampire walk down the sidewalk and out of sight. The second Tucker was gone, Silvio left his stool at the counter and hurried over to me.
“Do you want me to follow him?” he asked. “Try to track him or his car? I can still catch him.”
I shook my head. “No. He’s not my problem, and he’s not my enemy. Not today, anyway.”
Silvio looked at me. “I heard what he said about your mother. About his . . . feelings for her. Does Bria know?”
I shook my head again. “No. Owen knows, but I haven’t told Bria yet. But I will. Tomorrow. Tucker, the Circle, searching for Mason. Everything will go back to normal tomorrow.”
“And what about today?” Silvio asked in a quiet tone.
I looked out over the restaurant, my gaze going from one person to another. Sophia standing by one of the stoves, stirring a pot of baked beans. Mosley finishing up his meal. Jade and Ryan with their heads close together, talking and laughing. Elissa, Eva, Violet, and Catalina chatting away in their booth. All the other customers enjoying their barbecue.
“Today? I’m going to enjoy what I have.”
Silvio nodded and went back over to his stool. I got to my feet, walked over to the counter, and stepped behind it.
I needed to make one more vat of Fletcher’s secret barbecue sauce today, among other things, and I quickly lost myself in the comforting rhythms of cooking, cleaning, and cashing out customers. All the while, though, I kept thinking about everything that I had to do next, my mind spinning one strand after another, stringing them all together into a web of certainty.
I’d told Silvio the truth. Today I would enjoy and be grateful for everything that I had. The restaurant, my friends, my family, Owen.
But I’d also told Tucker the truth too. I would never give up my quest to find out more about my mother and what had led to her murder, and I wouldn’t back down from the powerful people who’d taken her away from me.
So tomorrow I would start figuring out a way to keep my friends and family safe during my upcoming war with the Circle.
About the Author
Andre Teague
JENNIFER ESTEP is a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea. Spider’s Bite, Web of Lies, Venom, Tangled Threads, Spider’s Revenge, By a Thread, Widow’s Web, Deadly Sting, Heart of Venom, The Spider, Poison Promise, Black Widow, Spider’s Trap, Bitter Bite, Unraveled, along with the e-shorts Thread of Death, Parlor Tricks, Kiss of Venom, Unwanted, and Nice Guys Bite are the other works in her red-hot Elemental Assassin urban fantasy series. Jennifer is also the author of the Black Blade and Mythos Academy young adult urban fantasy series and the Bigtime paranormal romance series. For more on Jennifer and her books, visit her at JenniferEstep.com and @Jennifer_Estep.
FOR MORE ON THIS AUTHOR: Authors.SimonandSchuster.com/Jennifer-Estep
MEET THE AUTHORS, WATCH VIDEOS AND MORE AT
SimonandSchuster.com
Books in the Elemental Assassin Series by Jennifer Estep
Spider’s Bite
Web of Lies
Venom
Tangled Threads
Spider’s Revenge
By a Thread
Widow’s Web
Deadly Sting
Heart of Venom
The Spider
Poison Promise
Black Widow
Spider’s Trap
Bitter Bite
Unraveled
Snared
E-novellas
Thread of Death
Parlor Tricks
Kiss of Venom
Unwanted
Nice Guys Bite
We hope you enjoyed reading this Simon & Schuster ebook.
* * *
Get a FREE ebook when you join our mailing list. Plus, get updates on new releases, deals, recommended reads, and more from Simon & Schuster. Click below to sign up and see terms and conditions.
CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP
Already a subscriber? Provide your email again so we can register this ebook and send you more of what you like to read. You will continue to receive exclusive offers in your inbox.
Pocket Books
An Imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
1230 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10020
www.SimonandSchuster.com
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2017 by Jennifer Estep
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book or portions thereof in any form whatsoever. For information, address Pocket Books Subsidiary Rights Department, 1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020.
First Pocket Books paperback edition May 2017
POCKET and colophon are registered trademarks of Simon & Schuster, Inc.
For information about special discounts for bulk purchases, please contact Simon & Schuster Special Sales at 1-866-506-1949 or
[email protected] The Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau can bring authors to your live event. For more information or to book an event, contact the Simon & Schuster Speakers Bureau at 1-866-248-3049 or visit our website at www.simonspeakers.com.
ISBN 978-1-5011-4227-7
ISBN 978-1-5011-4228-4 (ebook)
Jennifer Estep, Snared
Thank you for reading books on BookFrom.Net Share this book with friends