She flattened her small, cold hands on my cheeks. She might be a short woman, but her attitude made her ten feet tall. “So good to see you, Layla. I thought that was you in the Starbucks. I would’ve gone over, but I was pressed for time.” Her sugary tone scraped my nerves. “You look pale. Are you eating?”
Yeah, my favorite food these days is blood.“When I can.” I inched back. I needed air, clean air, not the suffocating kind laden with roses. “What’s going on?” My pulse was pounding in my ears like a stampede at the Running of the Bulls. “I came to see Carly. Is she here?” Although now that I knew where Rianne was and had confirmed my grandmother was in on the scheme, a discussion with Carly was a moot point.
Junior’s features were pinched, his shoulders hunched up to his ears as he studied me like I had five heads. He dragged a hand through his red crop that was shaven on the sides. Frowning, he prodded me with his blue eyes as if he was trying to tell me to keep my mouth shut.
Shit. Something happened to Carly. That’s the reason Junior is here.
He knew I wasn’t one to shy away from much—except Harriet. Though I would like to think I’d grown thick enough skin that she couldn’t intimidate me with a look or her narcissistic attitude.
“Harriet, it wasn’t a good idea to bring Layla here,” the man next to Junior said.
She lowered her hand and scrutinized me. “Adam, if you want my money, then she stays.”
The man she’d addressed as Adam must be the one in charge. I held back the need to fidget under her stare.
“You’re not the only one funding this project,” he sniped back.
She squared her shoulders. “I don’t care about your other investors. You need my money, and Layla needs to understand how good our efforts will be for mankind.”
“We’re not saving humanity,” Junior mumbled loudly. “We’re killing them.”
A host of emotions caused my heart to thrash around inside my chest despite knowing my grandmother and sister were knee-deep in this demented scheme.
I swallowed thickly. “You’re engineering humans into vampires.”
Lester Worthington gave me a patronizing glare. “You’re very astute, Layla. Please, sit. Enjoy the show.”
Spine-chilling terror coiled through me like a rattlesnake was about to sink its fangs into its prey. I didn’t want to see any show. I would flip the fuck out if Sam was on the other side of those curtains, and somehow, I knew he was.
Rianne rubbed her hands together. “Ooh, I can’t wait to see your face.” Excitement filled her brown eyes.
If I was previously unsure if Intech had kidnapped Sam, I wasn’t anymore. Glaring at Harriet, my legs wobbled. “Why would you agree to add more vampires to the population? What happened to our family’s mission?”
A noise vomited out of Rianne, sounding more like a high-pitched squeal than a snarl. “You’re not part of the clan anymore, sis. Remember, you traded sides by sleeping with a vampire.”
I gritted my teeth so hard, I think a tooth cracked.
My grandmother overlooked Rianne’s comment and tried to force me to open my fingers. “Just think, dear, we can have a team of supernaturals do what we’ve been striving to do for centuries. We’re failing, Layla. There aren’t many humans out there who want to hunt, and with more predators roaming the planet, we need help. Our family has grown tired of beating a dead horse. Ray is right, and I’m glad my son called me. He doesn’t want his kids hunting, and I don’t want my grandkids to have to take the reins.”
Ray had been far from right. All he’d wanted was money to pay off his gambling debt to the Irvings. I wondered if she knew about that. I recalled the fights my grandmother had gotten into with the patriarch of the Irving family. But I wasn’t standing before her to throw that stone in her face. In fact, I needed to run out of there as fast as I could and not look back. But I couldn’t if Sam was there.
“Does Jack know you’re here?” I asked my grandmother.
“He doesn’t,” Junior answered. “My dad has no clue what’s going on, and neither do I.”
I found the last part of his statement suspect. After all, he was married to Carly. How didn’t he know what was going on? He lived with the woman. But it wasn’t my business.
“I’m not sure I do either,” I mumbled. My mind was scrambling to figure out how Ray, Rianne, and Noah had gotten involved with Intech. Noah had been seen talking to Lester outside of Intech from the images Tripp’s team had gotten hold of. Did that mean Lester cornered them in Montana? He must have.
“It’s easy,” Rianne said. “Carly started all this. She was the one who sent Lester to talk to Jack that day Sam was at the ranch. You see, when she found out we knew Sam, she jumped into action. But Noah and I got to Sam first, not knowing who Lester was or his intentions until after our plot to kill Sam failed. I’m glad it did. Now we can make the arrogant fuck suffer.”
Junior was as red as a tomato. “Until recently, I had no idea about my wife’s involvement. I never told her about the Aberdeen business. Color me surprised when I learned she knew about vampires all along.”
Sleeping with the enemy. I refrained from laughing. In a way, I’d slept with my enemy. But at least we knew where each other stood.Shut up, brain. Focus.
“And how does Ray fit in?” I asked.
“Since I didn’t have a chance to meet Jack, I struck a deal with Ray when he showed up at the Deer and Elk waiting for Noah and Rianne,” Lester said. “Well, not until after I heard Sam wasn’t dead.”
