She flicked lint off her sleeve. “And I intend to keep it that way. Life is too short to spend bewailing every wrong ever done to you. I want us to have a truce. That way neither of us has to look over our shoulder and keep piling on more armor. Do you think I want an abhorrent man like Fletcher under my watch? No. But I intend to keep him until I get the assurance I need that us three can form an amicable relationship. Which of you would kill him just to satisfy your thirst for revenge? Because doing so would open up an investigation that won’t end well for Raven.” Lenore fished her gloves out of her pockets. “Your boss works for me.”
“Withyou,” Christian said. “Keystone receives jobs from the higher authority, to be sure. But don’t be misled into thinking you’re the only money filling our pockets. We don’t rely on the higher authority for jobs. Viktor simply prefers the ease of it.”
“Be that as it may, we have to uphold a working relationship. The only thing I’ve wanted from either of you is trust. Since you’re so fond of animals, let me put it this way: Lions are powerful enough to kill men, and by the same token, men can kill lions with weapons. The lion is an instinctual animal, whereas man relies on intellect. Let’s say there’s a rogue lion that everyone is hunting. One day a man takes this lion into his home and protects him. Builds a fence around the property. Feeds the lion. Doesn’t love him. Doesn’t pet him. Instead, he offers him a life of security. Is it in the lion’s best interest to kill the man?”
We waited while one of the workers passed us and went into the bathroom.
Lenore adjusted her diamond earring before continuing. “Not only might he eventually starve, he would still be in a cage. And when the hunters find him, they would have no trouble skinning him since he was trapped and therefore easy to catch. In other words, don’t bite the hand that feeds you. Emotions are dangerous, and you need clarity to make the best decisions for your future. Everyone sitting at this table is perfectly capable of killing the other. An intellectual won’t follow his impulses when there are consequences. I used to think impulsively,” she admitted, putting on her gloves. “I believed the only way to get rid of a threat was to bury it. I didn’t kill you all those years ago, Christian. I could have, but I wanted to see if it was possible for a man to change. It’s not. We are who we are at our very core. Yet it’s possible for us to learn and make different choices. I want you—the both of you—to align with me. Be an ally. When you need my help, I’ll do everything within my power. And should I need your help, I’ll ask the same. A symbiotic relationship doesn’t require friendship.”
“I’ve heard enough.” I slid out of the booth and stared daggers at Lenore. “You have a lot of nerve walking into my territory and asking for us to get along. Spare me the lion analogy. We’re not idiots. If those are the cards you wanna lay down on the table, then let me show youmyhand. I despise you. And my not joining your evil alliance has nothing to do with anger or revenge. You buried me. Not to mention you buried Christian. You think you can bury all your problems? Maybe that’s why you rushed to Sparrow—so he’d lift the curse and you wouldn’t see any more ghosts. You were afraid of bumping into all those skeletons in your closet—the ones who died because you had someone else do the killing. Yes, I know everything. And now that we’re enemies, I don’t care about holding my tongue. Even if we worked out a mutual agreement, I wouldn’t trust you weren’t scheming. You have a track record for stabbing people in the back, and I don’t make alliances with backstabbers. Maybe my heart is black, but at least I care about people. And when you hurt the people I care about, you make an enemy. You’re a hollow shell. Power means nothing if you don’t have someone who truly gives a shit about you. And parading Fletcher in front of me?” I slammed my fist on the table. “I hope he ruins you, because that’s the one thing he excels at. Now take your bony ass back to your castle in the sky.”
“You will rue the day you didn’t accept my offer.”
Christian left money on the table and then flicked a dollar bill in Lenore’s lap. “For the entertainment.”
Once outside, I spotted Fletcher standing near the front of the diner. His hands were in his pockets, and though his facial hair concealed his mouth, I could tell he was smiling. From inside the truck, we sat in the parking lot and watched Lenore put on her scarf and eventually drive away.
“I know you didn’t want me to make an enemy of her, but I can’t play games anymore,” I admitted, my thumbnails pressing into the steering wheel. “That woman is a tornado.”
“What do you want to do about it?” His tone implied many things, one being that he was open to anything I might suggest.
“I don’t know yet. I could have lied and told her what she wanted to hear, but I think she’s used to that. Maybe she’ll leave town, or maybe she’ll do something insanely reckless. I’m more upset about…him.”
“Aye. You heard what she said about an investigation. That’s a veiled threat.”
“Do you really think she’s obligated to tell them if one of her guards is murdered? She’s just doling out threats to keep us from doing anything. If she wants to turn us in, she does it at her own peril. She knows it, and that’s why I think she reminded me that I’m not official with the Mageri.”
“Lenore is threatened by anyone she can’t control.” Christian cracked his window when the glass began fogging up. “Let’s worry about it later. The one thing Lenore knows how to do is distract a person, and we can’t afford distractions.”
I sighed. “We made promises we can’t go back on. No matter what we do, we’re always in a stalemate. It would be nice if the universe would throw me a bone. If neither of us can go after Lenore, I’d love nothing more than to have someone accidentally drop her off on my doorstep with a little note around her neck that says ‘She’s all yours.’ I just want them to get what they deserve, without consequences. Haven’t we suffered enough?”
Christian reached around my waist and pulled me across the bench seat of my truck so I was straddling him. He cupped my neck in his hands, and I barely noticed that his fingertips were like icicles.
I tumbled into his gaze like Alice down the rabbit hole. I didn’t mind that he didn’t shave his beard properly or that he never put food on his plate at the table. Christian didn’t have a filter on his mouth, but his lips were home.
Our kiss deepened briefly before I nipped his bottom lip. Something about the frigid temperatures turned me on the closer our bodies got. His neck was warm, and I nibbled his earlobe before tasting his skin.
When my phone vibrated, he cursed under his breath.
I climbed off and pulled out my phone. “It might be Viktor.” When I didn’t recognize the number, I answered with hesitation. “Hello?”
“Hi. Is this Raven Black?” a woman asked.
“Yes.” I gave Christian a puzzled look.
“My name is Amanda from Memorial Hospital of Cognito. I have you down as an emergency contact for Eugene Graves. Can you confirm your relation to him?”
My hands were shaking, and I almost dropped the phone when I switched ears. “He’s my father.” My heart raced like a hummingbird as the truck closed in all around me.
“How soon can you be here?”
“I’m on my way.”
CHAPTER11
Driving to the hospital was a complete blur. My phone wound up on the floor, and Christian pleaded for me to let him take the wheel. I had mentally checked out, my worst fear realized.
Would I get there in time? The woman wouldn’t say over the phone what had happened, only that it was an accident. I’d known this day would come, and yet nothing could have prepared me for it. I wasn’t ready to let go, and yet I didn’t want to be late and not have one last moment with him. Tears blurred my vision as I struggled to keep the truck on the snowy roads. Only the bridges and overpasses were salted, and I took every shortcut I knew to get there.
