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 protecting 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.