Web of Lies

by Jennifer Estep

  manipulate fire just about any way she wanted to. But

  “You know who this is?” he rumbled.

  Mab Monroe had far more power than Jake McAllister

  “No. Should I?”

  had ever dreamed of. Rumor had it that Mab had more The giant nodded his head. “Yeah, Jake McAllister.”

  magic, more raw power, than any elemental born in the My gray eyes narrowed. “McAllister? As in Jonah last five hundred years. Given her stranglehold on the McAllister? The lawyer?”

  city and queenlike position in the Ashland underworld,

  “The one and only,” Xavier rumbled. “Jake here is his it wasn’t so much a rumor as a commonly known fact. son. Third time he’s been in trouble since Halloween.”

  Anyone who went up against Mab Monroe got dead in The beginnings of a headache throbbed behind my a hurry.

  eyes. Jonah McAllister was Ashland’s highest priced and Jonah McAllister was more than just Mab’s lawyer—he most successful lawyer. A charismatic showman who was one of her top lieutenants, along with Elliot Slater, the could make the most violent, irredeemable, sociopathic giant who handled Mab’s security and brutally enforced criminal seem like an innocent schoolgirl—and make the her wishes. McAllister’s job was to deal with anyone who jury weep with compassion while he did it. McAllister challenged Mab through legal means. To bury them in didn’t care whether people were guilty or not, as long as enough paperwork and red tape to drown an elephant so they could pay his astronomical fees.

  that they either gave up outright or were forced to when But even more problematic was the fact Jonah McAlthey went bankrupt trying to pay their own attorneys. lister was also the personal counsel to Mab Monroe. AshNo, Jonah McAllister wouldn’t be pleased about my land might have all the municipal trappings of any other beating down his son. He, and by extension Mab Moncity. Police and fire departments, a city council, a mayor. roe, could make problems for me—problems that weren’t But Mab Monroe was the one who really ran the town, as easily solvable now that I was just Gin Blanco and not in addition to her own lucrative, Mob-like empire. To moonlighting as the assassin the Spider anymore. Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 20-21

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  “You sure you want to press charges?” Xavier asked.

  “Fuck who his daddy is,” I said. “He almost slit that

  “Most people don’t, after they find out who his daddy is.”

  girl’s throat. I’m pressing charges.”

  I stared at Jake, who kept blinking up at the ceiling. Xavier shrugged. “Your choice. Just don’t expect much My gaze slid over to Cassidy, who was busy looking at to come of it.”

  her shoes. She’d heard Xavier’s question, and she knew He clinked the silverstone handcuffs around Jake’s what the McAllister name meant as well as I did. Cassidy wrists and yanked the Fire elemental up to his feet. The thought I was going to fold, and she didn’t want to see me abrupt motion snapped Jake out of his blinking trance, tell the cops to let Jake go.

  and he looked over his shoulder at the cop, then back at The image of the orange-red flames licking at Cassidy’s me. It took a few seconds for the reality of the situation slender throat flashed before my eyes, along with her tearto penetrate his thick skull. streaked face. Reminding me of another place, another

  “You called the cops? You’re going to pay for this, time, another girl desperate for me to save her, to conbitch!” Jake screamed. vince her everything was going to be okay, even if I knew He surged forward, trying to break free of Xavier and it wasn’t. That it would never be all right again. get at me. But Xavier easily restrained him with one hand. The memories of my baby sister, Bria, and the horHard to break a giant’s grip. rible night our mother and older sister, Annabella, had But instead of staying where I was, I stepped around been murdered, swam up in the back of my mind, a dark the counter and walked over to Jake. This time, I let him shark rising to surface. The memory sank its cold, jagged see just how cold and flat and hard my gray eyes really teeth into my heart. Fire, torture, destruction, death. All were. “You’re the one who’s going to pay when Daddy that and more had happened that one, fateful night sevfinds out you’re knocking over restaurants—or trying to. enteen years ago. My hands curled into loose fists, hidPiss poor job you did, all the way around.”

  ing the spider rune scars that had been burned into my

  “Bitch!” he screamed again. “You’re gonna die for this!

  palms—scars that were a constant reminder of my lost Do you hear me? You’re dead!”

  family.

  Jake lunged forward again, but the giant cop jerked After a few seconds, I uncurled my palms and flexed him back by the scruff of his neck—none too gently. my fingers, working the tension out of them. Xavier winked at me, and I smiled. I was starting to like I focused on Jake McAllister again, remembering the Xavier. I’d have to slip him an extra C-note or two the next sharp, sly way he’d stared at me. Two hundred dollars or time I saw him working the door at Northern Aggression. not, he’d been ready to kill me and everyone else in the

  “Come on, Jake,” Xavier rumbled. “Let’s get you in restaurant for nothing more than a thrill. I’d be damned the squad car so you can call your old man to come bail if I was letting him get away with it—any of it. you out.”

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  *

  *

  *

  Then our paths had crossed again—and in person—

  Xavier pushed Jake McAllister and his friend Lance two months ago when I’d been framed for the murder through the front door and into the back of a waiting of a corporate whistle-blower named Gordon Giles. cruiser. The other cop, the short guy, took statements Some nasty people thought the detective had informafrom Cassidy and Eva. He’d just finished talking with the tion that could implicate them in the subsequent scheme girls when the front door of the Pork Pit opened and anand cover-up, and they’d been beating it out of him when other cop stepped inside. A tall Hispanic man with short I’d shown up and taken them out. After that, Donovan black hair, bronze skin, and eyes the color of smoky whisCaine had reluctantly joined forces with me to find the key.

  real killer.

  Detective Donovan Caine.

  During the course of our investigation, we’d had a hot The majority of cops in Ashland might be known for one-night stand—well, more like a hot one-hour stand—

  their apathy and avarice, but Donovan Caine was a rare a couple months ago, but nothing since. The detective’s exception to the rule. He fought against the rampant Boy Scout mentality was a sticking point between us. I corruption, bribes, and payoffs most of the police force found his morals admirable, if impractical, in a city as took to look the other way and actually tried to catch dirty, violent, and corrupt as Ashland. He found my lack criminals. And the detective really did believe in all that of said morals and zero remorse for all the bloody things protect and serve, touchy-feely stuff.

  I’d done in my former profession disturbing, to say the My path had first crossed Caine’s several months ago least.

  when I’d assassinated Cliff Ingles, his corrupt partner. In Still, the attraction between us had been intense, and addition to forcing money and sexual freebies out of vamthe hurried sex we’d had in a supply closet had been fanpire hookers while he was on duty, Ingles had viciously tastic. I’d only seen the detective once since then, at my raped and beaten one of the prostitutes’ teenage daughmentor, Fletcher Lane’s, funeral. Caine had come to offer ters. Even among the scum in Ashland, Cliff Ingles had his condolences and check up on me. I’d kissed him right been a real prince, and I’d done him pro bono. My own there in the cemetery. Afterward, he’d bounded away sort of public service.

  from me like a scared rabbit.

  Donovan Caine hadn’t known how dirty his partner
I hadn’t seen or spoken to the detective since then. I was and became obsessed with catching Cliff Ingles’s thought about him a lot, though. More than I wanted to. killer—me. of course, the trail had gone cold, since I was And now here he was in my gin joint, in my little corner nothing if not professional, but that hadn’t kept Caine of the city.

  from keeping the case alive and digging for information Donovan Caine sensed my gaze and raised his head. every few weeks.

  our eyes locked, gold on gray. My chest tightened, and Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 24-25

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  the familiar heat flooded my veins, pooling in my stomhot desire in every direction. I breathed in. The detecach before sinking lower. I eyed the detective’s navy coat. tive’s clean, soapy scent filled my nose, overpowering the The wool fabric draped over his shoulders and hinted at cumin, red pepper, and other spices in the air. Donovan his lean, hard body beneath. I remembered the feel of that looked away and cleared his throat.

  hard body. His mouth pressed against mine, our tongues He jerked his head, and I followed him to the far side crashing together. Hands clawing at each other’s clothes. of the restaurant, out of earshot of everyone else. The crisp, clean scent of him filling my nose. The way

  “You want to tell me what happened?” he asked in a he’d murmured my name over and over like a curse—or low voice.

  the answer to a prayer—as he’d thrust into me, quick and

  “You want to tell me why you’re here?” I countered. hard and deep. Mmm.

  “Detectives don’t usually come out for Southtown robThe short cop saw me staring at the detective. He beries, especially those that are thwarted.”

  walked over, murmured something to Caine, and jerked Donovan stared at me. “All right. I asked dispatch to his head in my direction. Probably pointing me out let me know if there were any incidents at the Pork Pit.”

  as the owner and prime witness. Most women, most

  “Why? Afraid I might take to killing people in my own left-behind lovers, would have stalked forward and deplace of business? You must not have gotten the memo, manded to know what Donovan Caine was doing here. but I’ve retired, detective.”

  Why he hadn’t so much as called. Instead, I leaned one His black eyebrows drew together in surprise. “Retired?”

  elbow against the counter and remained nonchalant, I nodded. “Retired. Now I spend my days here at the even though my stomach clenched at the sight of him. Pork Pit serving up the best barbecue, cole slaw, and Patience was one of my virtues. Always had been. The blackberry iced tea in Ashland.”

  detective would come to me soon enough.

  Some emotion flared in his amber eyes. It might have Less than a minute later, Caine finished his quiet conbeen relief or even hope, but it was gone before I could versation with the other cop and walked in my direction. decipher it. “Well, good for you, I suppose.”

  He stopped about a foot away, his golden eyes taking I shrugged. My quitting the assassin business wasn’t in my grease-stained blue apron, worn jeans, and longgood or bad. Fletcher Lane had been after me to retire for sleeved T-shirt. Two scarlet tomatoes decorated the top of months before his murder. After his death, I’d decided to the black cotton.

  honor the old man’s final wish. Nothing more, nothing

  “Gin.”

  less. But as my eyes slid down Donovan Caine’s body,

  “Detective.”

  I couldn’t help but wonder if my revelation would be We stood there staring at each other. An invisible enough to get the detective back into my bed. Certainly electric current hummed between us, firing off sparks of couldn’t hurt.

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  Donovan dug a pen and notepad out of his hip pocket. Being an assassin has been my way of life since I was thir“So tell me about it.”

  teen, detective. I’m not going to forget what I did for I recapped the events of the last hour. After I finished, the last seventeen years just because I’m not doing it anyCaine stilled, his pen frozen on his notepad, turning over more.”

  something in his mind. Then he raised his golden eyes

  “I see.”

  to me.

  This time, the disappointment was as sharp as one of

  “Why didn’t you kill them?” he asked in a soft voice. the silverstone knives hidden up my sleeves. Donovan

  “We both know you could have.”

  Caine still wanted me, but he wanted his conscience to

  “Easily,” I agreed. “But one of the girls was on the floor be clear about it too. I wasn’t the only one who needed next to me.”

  to change.

  “And you didn’t want her to see you do it?”

  Caine cleared his throat. “You know who the blond I shrugged. “Witnesses are bad, detective. I’ve told you kid is?”

  that before.”

  “Jake McAllister. Jonah McAllister’s nearest and dearHe snorted. “And here I thought you were developing est. The giant cop told me—then asked if I still wanted a heart.”

  to press charges.”

  Disappointment tinged his words. I ignored the longDonovan looked at the cop, who could be seen standing the sound stirred in me. ing on the sidewalk through the storefront windows.

  “oh, I’ve always had a heart, detective,” I replied in a

  “Xavier? He’s a good guy. Probably thought he was doing breezy tone. “I just don’t let it keep me from doing what you a favor, letting you know about the kid and his conneeds to be done. That would be weak, and I’m not weak. nections. Because Jonah McAllister isn’t going to like this. Haven’t been in a long time.”

  He could cause a lot of trouble for you.”

  “No, weak is one thing you’re definitely not.” Dono“If he does, I’ll handle it the way I always do. Quickly. van eyed me. “You may be retired, but you really haven’t Efficiently. Permanently.”

  changed at all, have you, Gin?”

  “The way you always do? I thought you were trying

  “That depends on your definition of change. Am I to change.”

  suddenly going to morph into a soccer mom or a bleed“I am,” I replied. “But white trash is still white trash, ing heart who lets people walk all over her? No, and I detective. Nobody comes into my restaurant, tries to hold don’t want to. But I’ve reevaluated my life, my priorities, up the place, and threatens my customers. I don’t care and I’ve decided to change them accordingly. That being who his daddy is.”

  said, if somebody pushes me, comes at me like those two We stared at each other. Not for the first time, I longed clowns did, I’m going to push back—three times as hard. to draw the detective close, to pull his lips down to mine Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 28-29

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  and see if the sex would be as hot and hard and good as it had been before. We’d certainly have more room to maneuver on one of the tables than we’d had in the supply closet. Mmm.

  But I wasn’t going to make the first move. I’d done that 3

  before. If the detective wanted me, he could let me know. But he didn’t.

  Instead, Donovan Caine stared at me, his eyes tracing over my features, as if he was memorizing them. As if he was never planning on seeing me again. Maybe he wasn’t. The idea made my stomach twist, but I kept my face smooth and expressionless. I hadn’t survived this long by wearing my heart on my sleeve. I didn’t plan on doing it now. Not even for him.

  Finally, Donovan held out his hand. I took it. His Barely a minute passed before the front door opened once fingers felt hard, strong, capable against my own, and more, making the bell chime. I looked up, wondering if the heat from him warmed my whole body. Donovan the detective had changed his mind about, well, anydropped my hand like it burned him. Maybe it did, to thing. E
verything.

  want me so much, the woman who’d killed his partner. But the man who strode into the Pork Pit wasn’t DonI’d heard the detective say once that you didn’t fuck your ovan Caine or another cop. His suit was much too nice partner’s murderer. But he’d done it—twice—and enfor that. The black fabric draped off his shoulders, highjoyed it. And he still hated himself for it. lighting a frame that was compact, sturdy, strong. Given

  “Take care, Gin.”

  his body structure, I would have thought him a dwarf.

  “You too, detective. You too.”

  But at six foot one, he was much too tall for that. He had Donovan Caine nodded at me a final time. Then the a thick head of hair that was a glossy blue-black, while his detective turned on his heel and walked out the door, eyes were a light violet. A white, thin scar slashed diagoleaving my gin joint and heart a little emptier and colder nally across his chin. It offset the crooked tilt of his nose. than they had been before.

  Those were the only two flaws in his chiseled features, which somehow added even more character to his face, rather than detracting from his good looks. He cut an impressive figure. Striking, confident, agEstep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 30-31

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  gressive, forceful. Someone who demanded attention. attempted robbery. As she talked, the man crossed his Someone worth watching. Especially since he looked arms over his chest. His biceps bulged with the motion, vaguely familiar to me.

  and he started tapping one finger on his opposite elbow. I half-expected a couple of giant guards to follow the Despite the movements, he was totally focused on his sisman into the Pork Pit. Most of the rich folks in Ashland ter, as though she was the most important thing in the employed at least a couple, and this guy was definitely world to him. Maybe she was. He stared at the red welt wealthy, judging by his swanky suit and confident deon her cheek, and his hands curled into fists. I got the meanor. But the man entered alone. His light eyes swept distinct feeling he would love to have some alone time over the interior of the restaurant, pausing at the blood with Jake McAllister.