She blinked pale lashes, unperturbed by Zaria’s strange position on the floor. “Don’t tell me you tried to run.”
Zaria tested her voice, relieved to discover that it still worked. “Who are you?”
The woman ignored her. “It was convenient Evan happened to come across you. I don’t have need of you until tonight, but I suppose a day early doesn’t hurt.”
It took Zaria a moment to recall that Evan was Pritchard’s given name. “What do you need me for? Where am I?”
“You’re not too far outside of London. I’ll admit, I rarely make use of my late husband’s country home, but I’d forgotten how charming it is. Wouldn’t you agree?”
“I don’t give a damn about your country home,” Zaria snapped. “Tell me what you want from me.”
The woman sighed, fingering a ringlet that had been left to hang artfully loose by her face. Despite her slight stature, she seemed to take up much of the room. “I don’t want anything from you. Not anything that requires effort on your part, at least. All I need is your presence. A good thing, since you appear to be incapable of carrying out the tasks I assign you.”
“What tasks? I don’t even know who youare.”
“I suppose it’s true that we haven’t met face-to-face. You do, however, know who I am.”
“What do you…” Zaria trailed off as those words sank in. Horrified understanding pulsed through her. “No. No way.”
The woman waited, smiling coyly.
“You’reMister Vaughan?”
“Miss Vaughan, if you will.” A light laugh. “Mister Vaughan was my husband.”
Zaria’s head was spinning too fast to form a complete thought. “I don’t understand. Why do you want control of the dark market? How can you be a kingpin?” Then, a realization: “My mother works foryou?”
“Ah, Zaria. You can be whatever you want, so long as enough people are willing to accept it as truth. As for why I want control of the market… Well, that’s my business. But you’re going to help me achieve it.”
“I’m not going to help you do anything. You had mekidnapped.”
“Like I said before, all I require is your presence.” A shrug. “I don’t even need your cooperation.”
“Screw you,” Zaria said throatily. She was beginning to notice that speaking required more effort each time she did it.
The woman laughed again, and this time the sound was far higher. It sent a chill skittering over Zaria’s skin. “God, you’re so like your father. He always seemed to think that if he only got angry enough at a problem, it would simply go away.”
“How would you know anything about my father?”
The woman settled primly on the couch. She angled her body closer, extending a hand to take Zaria by the chin, almost as if she wanted to examine her features. “How would I know anything about Itzal Mendoza? Ah, my darling girl. I had a child with him.”
The floor seemed to bottom out from beneath Zaria. Her immediate thought was that Itzal couldn’t possibly have had another child without her knowing—but then she became conscious of the way the woman was scrutinizing her face, continuing that slow examination. She remembered the letter they’d found in Cecile’s apartment. The initialsAV.
“Aurora Vaughan,” she whispered, disbelief and horror dawning.It couldn’t be. There was simply no way that the cold-eyed woman before her was hermother.
Aurora released her with a thin smile. “I couldn’t help wanting to take a good look at you first. A pity you’re more like your father.”
All other emotion fled. In that moment, Zaria didn’t think she could have moved even if she’d been physically capable. Anger froze her, the force of it tensing each one of her muscles. She felt like a tempest yearning to wreak havoc. If she’d had control of her arms, she would have channeled every ounce of effort into hitting Aurora as hard as she possibly could.
This was her mother. The woman who’d brought Zaria into the world only to immediately abandon her. The woman who’d left Itzal without a word, leaving him a shell of his former self. The woman who’d brought him a child he didn’t want becauseshedidn’t want it, either. Not once in eighteen years had she made an effort to contact her daughter or get to know her. Not until now, when she’d chosen to introduce herself to Zaria byhaving her kidnapped.
“You’re sick,” Zaria said, her voice shaking with repressed fury. “You got Pritchard to tell me that you worked for Vaughan. You knew I would’ve wanted to meet you, and you used it against me.” Her eyes burned. “What the hell is wrong with you? Whodoesthat? I could have gone my entire life without knowing you were still alive, and I would have been better for it. You’re not fit to be a mother.”
“Do you think I don’t know that?” Aurora rose from the sofa, something like frustration etching twin lines between her brows. They had the same nose, Zaria noticed with a disturbed jolt. The shape of their mouths, too, was similar. “I didn’t want to be a mother. I didn’t then, and I don’t now. I certainly didn’t want to be tied to Itzal Mendoza any longer. So my new husband helped me get out of London long enough to conceal the pregnancy, then delivered you toyour father. It was best for everyone.” Aurora’s eyes turned shiny. For a beat, Zaria wondered if she was experiencing a moment of regret despite her words, but then she added, “That was just how Gareth was. He didn’t care that I was pregnant with another man’s child. He cared only for me, and he did whatever he could to make it work.”
How silly that after years of accepting her mother didn’t love her, hearing it admitted aloud still felt like a knife through Zaria’s heart. She didn’twantthis horrible woman to love her, did she? There was no world in which she would’ve wanted to cultivate a relationship with someone like Aurora. So why did it feel as though someone had wrung the air from her lungs?
“How nice,” Zaria said acerbically, ignoring the ache in her chest. “What’s changed? Why do you suddenly need me now when you’ve never given a damn about me before?”
