More than happy to spare Maeve a run-in with Jared, I point him toward the rear of the house and wait until I hear the back door close behind him before I let her in.
Maeve steps into the foyer, waving a hand in front of her face. “Goddess, is that Axe body spray? My eyes are burning.”
“Tony’s cousin.”
“Jesus fucking Christ. I suspected something was up when I saw the Maserati in your driveway.” She points a thumb over her shoulder. I move the curtains aside on the sidelight window, and we watch his car back down the drive. “Let me guess. We were right. Tony made you beneficiary to screw you and insulate his family if anything happened to him, and that was the family making sure you stay screwed.”
“Appears so. I’m sure he didn’t expect to die. He certainly didn’t think I was capable of hurting him. He didn’t think enough of me for that. I think it was just one more insurance policy.”
Maeve snorts. “I think being part of a mob family probably comes with inherent risks and you get really good at defensive measures.” She runs her fingers along the strap of her bag. “So what do you want to do? Do you want me to rescind your rejection of the inheritance?”
I raise my chin, steeling my spine. “No.”
Her brows shoot up. “No?”
I share a dark laugh with her. “I know they can come for me. They will come for me if I reject it. But things won’t be easier if I take the money. That won’t be the end. He said if I took it, they’d be in touch to advise me how to use it. They’d still want to control it. Control me. I’ll be damned if I make the mistake of tying myself to the Denardi family again.”
She frowns. “But if you don’t, they will try to kill you. You know too much.”
I scrub my face. “Yeah.”
“You seem distressingly unconcerned with your possible death.”
I hug my middle and look her in the eye. “I’m too worried about Damien to have any room for concern about anything else.”
“Have you given any additional thought to a security system?”
“Like the Denardis haven’t run up against one of those before.” I look toward the ceiling. “I don’t think any system I could buy for this place would be enough to keep me safe. But you know what would?”
“Hmm?”
“Damien.”
She snorts. “You have a one-track mind.”
“Only when it matters.”
“All righty then. Let’s get started.”
“Why does it have to smell so bad?” I tip the green sludge into my mouth and force myself to swallow the bitter concoction.
“It’s the belladonna. It’s poisonous and wants you to know it,” Maeve says. “But whoever wrote this spell did call for a refreshing squeeze of lemon for flavor.” She turns the book toward me, and I read in my father’s handwriting for flavor in the margin.
“It tastes even more like ass this time than last time.”
“I think the first time you were so worried about what would happen when you drank it, you would have downed the ingredients without a blender.”
“Thanks for not letting me do that.”
She chuckles. “No problem. What are witchy friends for? It’s just one of the many ways I’ve kept you alive recently.”
“I’m not actually trying to die. There just seems to be so many things that want to kill me. I mean, between hiding my identity from the vampire queen, dodging the mob, and trying not to die from overusing my magic.”
“It’s practically a full-time job.” She grins and places a hand on mine as I start to drift. “Be careful this time with letting him take your blood. Remember that you’re in his head, inside his thoughts—he can’t tell if he’s taking too much. I’ll be here if something goes wrong.”
“Thanks, Maeve,” I say sleepily. My eyes blink, then blink again. “You’re a good friend.”
The next second, I’m standing in a silo. Weird. Is this Damien’s dream? Bright light blinds me. I try to shade my eyes, but the light is coming from the walls, the sky, every direction but the floor. It’s like I’m in a room of mirrors.
