“How?”
“I’m not sure I have time to tell you the whole story.”
“So hit the highlights,” Braden snapped.
I grabbed his hand to anchor him. “Braden, she’s dying.”
“I don’t care,” he said, although he didn’t pull his hand from mine. “I don’t … where is our mother?”
“I know that my father found your mother still alive,” Andrea explained. “She was burned in the fire. I don’t know why he didn’t take her to the hospital, or why he didn’t tell your family the truth. I don’t know how he kept her alive. I honestly don’t know anything about that time.
“At some point she was taken from him,” she wheezed, weaker now. “I didn’t know about it back then, but apparently he was furious. Everett said something about him wanting to kill some woman.”
“Genevieve Toth,” I supplied. “Did you know her?”
“I never heard that name until my father insisted on me transferring here.”
“You never saw our mother in your house?” I asked.
“I moved out of that house the second I turned eighteen,” Andrea replied. “If they were keeping her there, I swear I never saw her.”
“Why would your father want my mother?” I asked. “What could he possibly hope to gain by taking her?”
“My father has been obsessed with your mother for … well, forever,” Andrea said, breaking off with a body-shaking cough. I didn’t miss the blood on her lips. She was going fast. “He wanted her … he never understood how your father got her.”
“I think it was called love,” Braden supplied.
“My father doesn’t believe in love,” Andrea said. “He only married my mother because he insists reapers should marry and procreate within the existing family lines.”
“Oh, gross,” I muttered. “Aidan said Everett probably wanted me for some breeding experiment. I thought it was a gross suggestion with no basis in reality.”
“Everett definitely wants you,” Andrea said. “My job was to entice Griffin from you and open things up for Everett. It didn’t exactly work out the way it was supposed to.”
“You never could’ve enticed me from Aisling,” Griffin said. “That doesn’t mean you couldn’t have asked for help. You agreed to this. You’re as complicit as they are. If you think I’m going to let that snake of a brother of yours put his hands on my girlfriend, you’re as delusional as your father and brother.”
“My father and brother believe that nothing matters but breeding,” Andrea said. “They want a union with the Grimlocks. I think that’s why they took your mother in the first place, although I can’t be sure. Everett is convinced he’s going to marry into the family and take over your territory.”
“He would have to kill Dad first,” Braden said. “What was he going to do with the rest of us?”
“Everett wants to hurt Redmond badly,” Andrea replied. “He still holds a grudge over that … incident … when we were kids.”
“You mean when your filthy brother tried to grope my underage sister?” Braden challenged. “He’s lucky Dad stopped us from doing what we really wanted to do to him.”
“Everett fears all of you,” Andrea said. “He’ll kill you. Actually, he hopes the wraiths and gargoyles will do it for him. They’re only interested in keeping Aisling alive. If she’s the only heir left … .”
“Then your father believes he can trick her into some unholy union, because she’ll be alone,” Griffin finished, disgusted. “I promise you that’s not going to happen. I don’t understand how Mrs. Grimlock fits into this. Fontaine told Aisling that her mother was behind the attempts on her life.”
“He might have thought that,” Andrea said. “My father was meeting with Fontaine before his death. In fact, we weren’t certain Fontaine was dead until days after the mausoleum massacre.”
I snorted. “Massacre? They were trying to kill us.”
“All I know is what my father said,” Andrea said, her voice weakening. “He believes your father is responsible for Fontaine’s death. I don’t know how your mother fits into this. I’m not even sure she’s still alive. My father doesn’t know for certain. He hasn’t given up on finding her, but he’s focusing his efforts on Aisling now.”
“What about Sylvia Dobbs? Was your father in business with her?” I asked.
“I met Sylvia at least three times over the course of my life,” Andrea answered. “They were business associates for a number of years stretching back to my childhood.”
“I’m getting the feeling your father is involved in more than reaping,” Griffin said. “What else does he have his finger in?”
“My father wants power more than anything. He always has. The Monroe territory isn’t the smallest in Michigan, but it’s certainly not the biggest. Your father has the biggest territory, Aisling, and my father wants it.”
“How can he be assured he gets it?” Braden asked. “Even if you somehow managed to wipe all of us out, Everett must know he can’t control Aisling. No one can.”
“Whatever you did to him at the restaurant the other day has … intrigued … him,” Andrea said. “He wants to make you pay for it. He’s determined to dominate you. He wants to make you his, and he wants to hurt you in the process.”
“I’ll cut his tiny penis off while he’s sleeping before I ever let him touch me,” I muttered.
“It will never get close to that,” Griffin promised. “Don’t even think about anything like that.”
“Griffin worried my father and Everett,” Andrea supplied. “They thought Aisling was too persnickety to settle down with someone other than her gay roommate. When Griffin came along, he threw them. They didn’t expect him to last more than a week or so. They wanted to make sure he didn’t. That’s why they sent me in.”
“That didn’t work out too well for you,” I said.
“No. You should know that I threw myself at him every chance I could and he ignored me.”
“I already have my girl,” Griffin said. “We could’ve helped you, though. I don’t understand why you didn’t tell me.”
“As much as I hate my family, I wanted their acceptance,” Andrea explained. “Living in a house with Everett proved to be … difficult. He’s a sociopath. He gets off on hurting others. My father didn’t care. He had his male heir. That’s all he really wanted. Everett was the future. I was the spare that didn’t matter.”
“What about your mother?”
“My mother lives in a bottle,” Andrea replied. “She doesn’t know what day it is. As long as Everett and my father aren’t torturing her, she doesn’t care who they turn their wrath on. She’s … broken.”
“I’m sorry your life sucked,” I said. “I still don’t understand why you did this.”
“I don’t either,” Andrea said. “It seems I’ll find out what my ultimate punishment is going to be. I guess you will get to reap a Grimpond after all.”
The sound of scuffling feet drew my attention as Redmond, Aidan and Cillian, all armed with swords from my father’s private collection, raced into the room. They came loaded for bear and appeared disappointed to find the room almost empty.
“Where’s the fight?” Redmond asked.
“Andrea is dying,” I replied. “She never worked with our mother. Her father and Everett have plans for Dad – and not very nice ones.”
“They have plans for Aisling, too,” Braden added. “They want to kill all of us and marry her off to Everett.”
“I’ll kill that little snake,” Redmond muttered.
“I’ll hold him down,” Aidan said. “What happened to her?”
“Everett was here,” Griffin answered. “We couldn’t tell it was him because he wore some weird robe. For a few minutes we thought it could be your mother. He stabbed Andrea and took off.”
“Why?” Redmond asked.
“I told him I wouldn’t do this any longer,” Andrea replied. “I told him I was done. I told him … .”
“You were
going to tell the truth, weren’t you?” I asked.
Andrea weakly nodded.
“Where is Mom?” Cillian asked.
“She’s not here,” I replied. “Andrea says her father lost her at some point. She’s not sure if she’s still alive. If she is, she’s not working with the Grimponds. They’re trying to get her back, but … .”
“But they’ve shifted their attention to Aisling,” Griffin interrupted.
“We should go after Everett,” Redmond said. “How much of a head start does he have?”
“Not much,” I said. “You can’t go down there, though. We have no idea what’s waiting for you. For all we know there could be an army of wraiths and gargoyles on the other side of that door.”
“There aren’t any wraiths or gargoyles here,” Andrea said, the light from her eyes dimming.
“Where are they?”
“On the way to your house,” Andrea said, fighting to get her final words out. “My father is going to kill your father. He wants payback for … something. Everett’s on his way there now.”
“We have to get home,” Redmond said, moving toward the door. “We have to get to Dad.”
“Aisling.” I could barely hear Andrea. “My father wants you to take your mother’s place. He’s controlling the wraiths and gargoyles. He wants them to grab you. He made promises about territory, money and … open feeding grounds. That’s how he controls them.”
“What about my mother? Has she ever been a part of this?”
“I have no idea where your mother is,” Andrea whispered. “I’m not lying about that. I don’t know where she is or whether she’s still alive. If my father gets his hands on her, he won’t need you. That’s all I know.”
“Rest in peace, Amber,” I said, my voice soft.
I had no idea whether she heard the words. She was already gone.
Thirty-Three
“I can’t get Dad on the phone,” Braden said, sliding to the side and smacking against the door of the Mercedes as Griffin took a Grosse Pointe corner a little too closely. “Let’s try to get there in one piece, shall we?”
“Put your seatbelt on,” Griffin ordered.
“We’re about to go throw down with wraiths, gargoyles and evil reapers,” Braden replied, nonplussed. “A seatbelt is the least of my worries.”
“Put your seatbelt on or I’ll write you a ticket as soon as this is over.”
Braden glanced at me, confused.
“He’s a stickler for seatbelts,” I said, my mind busy. After Andrea passed, I absorbed her soul before it had a chance to fully materialize. I didn’t want to deal with her in life. There was no way I would deal with her in death. There also was no way I was going to leave her there – no matter what Redmond kept insisting. No one deserved an afterlife of aimless roaming. After her unhappy childhood, Andrea could find a little bit of peace in what came next – I hoped.
“Does he write you tickets if you don’t use your seatbelt?” Braden asked, snapping his belt into place.
“He’s written three tickets.”
“Holy crap! You fined your girlfriend?”
I smirked. “I usually get to work off the debt another way.”
“You two are sick,” Braden muttered. “Are Redmond and the others still behind us?”
Griffin grunted his assent. He was focused on navigating the busy streets without killing anyone. And, even though he hadn’t said anything, I figured his mind was also on Andrea’s lies and subterfuge. He hadn’t known her long, but she was his partner.
“I’m sorry about Andrea,” I said softly.
“She put herself into that position. You shouldn’t feel sorry for her.”
“I think she had a horrible life and she wanted some form of approval from her father,” I offered. “I’m not saying what she did was right. She wasn’t all bad, though. I think she truly cared for you.”
“That makes things worse,” Griffin said, moving his foot from the accelerator as he pulled onto Grimlock Manor’s street. “She worked with her father and brother to take you away … not just from me, but from your family as well. She wanted you isolated. She wanted you alone. Do you think they wouldn’t have taken out Jerry, too?”
My heart rolled. That hadn’t even occurred to me. “I … .”
“They’re not going to touch you,” Griffin seethed, pulling the Mercedes to the curb and slamming it in park. “I’ll kill them all first.”
“Wow,” Braden said, exhaling heavily from behind us. “He’s like Rambo.”
“And don’t you forget it,” Griffin said, whipping the keys out of the ignition and hopping out of the SUV. “Come on!”
“He’s really upset about Andrea’s death,” I said, worried.
“Don’t kid yourself, Aisling,” Braden countered. “He’s really upset that someone would dare try to take you away from him. He’s not thrilled with Andrea’s betrayal or death, but this is about you.”
“Is it wrong that I feel a little better about that?”
Braden snorted. “You really are a girl sometimes.”
Redmond, Cillian and Aidan met us at the rear of the Mercedes, their faces grim and drawn.
“Why are we parking out here?”
“Because I’m hopeful that we can get in the house before Fox knows what’s going on,” Griffin replied. “If we can take Fox into custody, it’ll be much easier to control Everett and his minions.”
“What if he already has Dad?” Braden asked.
“Then we kill him.” Griffin was adamant. “What’s the status of the help here during the afternoon?”
Redmond ran his hand through his hair, frustrated. “I didn’t even think of that. We have one maid and one cook who work throughout the entire day. They’re usually in the back doing dinner prep and laundry now.”
“Okay. Cillian, I need you and Aidan to go through the back,” Griffin said. “Try to get those women out of the house – or maybe stick them in the dungeon where no one can get at them. Just do something so they can’t be used as hostages against us.”
Something occurred to me. “Where’s Jerry?”
“Don’t worry,” Aidan said. “He’s at the bakery. I called him during the drive. He shut it down and he’s hiding behind the counter. He says we owe him a spa day when this is all over.”
“I could use a spa day,” I admitted.
“You know what? If we pull this off, I’ll go with you,” Griffin offered.
“Will you get your chest waxed?” Aidan asked.
“I don’t want his chest waxed,” I argued. “I don’t want him looking like some hairless little boy. Although … .”
Griffin arched a challenging eyebrow. “Although what?”
“Just a minor trim under your arms would be great.”
“I am not shaving my armpits!”
“It makes you look more muscular, man,” Redmond offered. “You should try it.”
Griffin scowled. “Let’s focus on the important things now, people. Redmond, we need to separate into two groups. You and Braden take the front door to your dad’s office. I’ll take the back one. The most important thing is to make certain Fox Grimpond doesn’t know we’re there until we already have him under our control.”
“Agreed,” Redmond said.
“What should I do?” I asked, turning to Griffin expectantly.
“You should wait for me in the Mercedes.”
“No.”
“Aisling, you’re the one they want,” Griffin said, choosing his words carefully. “We don’t want to put you in danger or give them any opportunity to grab you. You’re safer out here.”
Like hell … . “What happens if Everett happens to be staking out the place and finds me here all by my lonesome? You know he’ll try to make me touch that tiny thing in his pants.”
Griffin shot me a murderous look. “Do you think that’s funny?”
Redmond put his hand on Griffin’s chest to still him. “Dude, she’s got a point … not about touching
the tiny thing in his pants, but about leaving her alone. If Everett shows up here and sees her without protection, he may decide to take her and run instead of helping his father. We may never see her again.”
“We have to take her with us,” Braden said. “We can’t lose her, too.”
Griffin sighed, resigned. “You’re coming with me. In fact … .” Griffin reached out with his handcuffs. “Come here.”
“No way! I’m not a child. I promise to stay close to you.”
“Dammit!” Griffin rubbed the heel of his hand against his forehead. “Don’t you even think of moving out of my sight. If something happens … if we get separated by accident … tie yourself to one of your brothers. If you don’t, I’ll … .” Griffin mimed strangling me.
“That was truly terrifying,” Braden deadpanned. “The fact that you’re threatening her with interpretive dance fills me with dread. She must be shaking in her boots.”
“Shut up, Braden.”
“Let’s go,” I said. “We need to get to Dad. I have a feeling that it’s important we get to him sooner rather than later.”
“Is this like when you had a feeling that someone was peeping into your bedroom window and we found out it was only the tree brushing against the screen?” Redmond asked.
“Hey! That was totally plausible.”
Griffin grabbed my hand and forced me to keep pace with him. “You stay with me, baby. This is it.”
“This isn’t it,” I corrected. “This is it for Fox and Everett. We still have that whole back-from-the-dead mother thing looming over us when this is finished.”
“Yeah, but that might not be as bad as we originally thought,” Griffin pointed out. “If she wasn’t behind all of this … .”
“Then she might not be evil,” Braden finished, clearly wanting to believe the words.
Sadly, I wanted to believe them, too.
WE heard talking as we approached the back door to Dad’s office. I held my phone in front of me, waiting for Redmond’s text to tell us when he was in position. I had no idea where Cillian and Aidan were, and I pushed my worry for them out of my mind. They knew what they were doing. They wouldn’t be caught off guard.
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