“You think Aidan is behind all of this?” Her black eyes glazed over as though she were remembering another time—probably the time when she was married to theman.
“He’s the only one who benefits from Everest’s death.” Unless my cousin was wanted dead for what he’d hidden in myroom.
Blinking away the haze, she got up to get a kitchen towel to clean the spilled milk. “Someone needs to put an end to that man’slife.”
“If he dies, his lawyers will release information about the pack to thepublic.”
“I heard. Frank told me.” She dabbed the sides of my mug until no trace of the overflow remained. “I have never hated anyone like I hate this man. He is a cancer. Do you know how many times I have dreamed of ending his life?” Her breathing increased in tempo, and her cheeks flooded withcolor.
I caught her hand, the one clutching the towel with which she kept wiping down the countertop even though it was clean. “Promise me you won’t getinvolved.”
She lifted her gaze to myface.
The resolve in her expression quickened my pulse. “Promiseme.”
After a long moment, she exhaled a slow breath. “He should not be allowed tolive.”
“I agree. Now agree that you will stay away from him. Because if anything happens to you . . . ” My voice broke then, and in turn, it broke herdoggedness.
The same way her features had hardened, they softened. And then she was pulling me against her. “I promise you,querida, that I will not put myself in harm’s way, but you promise me the samething.”
I swallowed. I didn’t want to make Evelyn a promise I had no desire tokeep.
“Ness. . . ”
“Fine. I’ll stay away fromhim.”
Fornow.
23
The following morning,after a brief night of sleep in one of the two twin beds set up in Frank’s guest room—I suspected it was the room his grandson used when he visited because it smelled like boy and was plastered with superhero movie posters—I dressed in yesterday’s clothes and went out into the kitchen forcoffee.
Frank and Evelyn were already up, sitting on the couch, talking in hushed tones. The deep circles beneath Frank’s eyes told me his night had been longer thanmine.
“There is coffee in the kitchen,querida,” Evelynsaid.
I went to serve myself, watching as they resumed their quietconversation.
“How’s Jeb?” I ventured after abit.
Frank rubbed his jaw that was coated in white stubble. “Not too good. Eric took your uncle back to his place last night so he and Lucy could talk. There was a lot of yelling apparently. And a lot ofcrying.”
I took a careful sip of coffee. “What’s going to happennow?”
“We’ll bury Everest on pack Headquarterstonight.”
I stared into the murky depths of my coffee feeling a familiar burn beneath my lids. No tears fell,though.
“They found yellow paint on one of the Jeep’s sidemirrors.”
My gaze bounded onto theelder.
“Probably transferred from the car that pushed his off the road. It’s a solid lead, because it’s not a common color.” He studied the vase full of wildflowers on his wooden coffeetable.
“Does Aidan own a yellow car?” I asked, wending my way around the kitchen countertop toward the open living room with its peaked timber ceiling and swooping antler chandelier. I wondered if Frank had crafted the light fixture himself from collected staghorns.
“Aidan Michaels is in thehospital.”
