aisling grimlock 03 - grim discovery
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Griffin lifted his finger to his lips to remind me to keep quiet. I fought the urge to roll my eyes and instead jumped when Griffin slammed his mouth against mine, overwhelming me with a hot kiss. He held me close for a moment, running his hand down the back of my head before releasing me.
“When this is over, we’re getting that hotel room,” he whispered.
I smiled. “I want bubbles in the Jacuzzi.”
“Sold.”
Redmond’s message came through, alerting me they were about to make their entrance. I nodded at Griffin and slipped my phone in my back pocket, watching as he silently opened the door and stepped inside.
Dad sat behind his desk, elbows resting on the top as he chatted with Fox. All outward appearances showed a calm and rational man. I knew he was anything but what he projected. He caught sight of us, pausing in the middle of a sentence and furrowing his brow. Before Fox had a chance to follow Dad’s gaze, Redmond and Braden strode in through the other door and placed themselves between our newly sworn enemy and father.
“Mr. Grimpond, so good to see you,” Redmond said. “I hoped we’d catch you before … lunch.”
“What’s going on?” Dad asked, climbing to his feet. “I … why are you all here?”
“Because Fox plans to murder you,” I answered, moving toward Fox from the other side. He jumped when he realized we were in the room as well.
“That’s preposterous,” Fox scoffed, rubbing his palms against his knees. “I thought you told me she was past the dramatic histrionics of her youth, Cormack.”
“She is,” Dad said, narrowing his eyes. “Why do you think Fox is going to kill me?”
“Because he and Everett are behind the attempts on my life,” I said. “They’re controlling the wraiths and gargoyles. I have no idea where the wraiths and gargoyles are, but I have a sneaking suspicion they’re somewhere close, and that Everett will be moving on the house any second.”
“Why do you say that?”
“Because Everett stabbed his sister in the chest at a Detroit warehouse and left her for dead an hour ago,” I answered. “Before Amber died, she told us everything she knew, and that everything included the fact that Fox took Mom from the fire ten years ago.”
Dad’s expression was truly terrifying. It was one thing to suspect a business associate of doing something heinous. It was quite another to have those suspicions proved. “Is that so?”
“She’s lying, Cormack,” Fox said, hopping to his feet. “She’s disturbed and crazy. You can’t seriously believe that I would do anything to harm Lily or your family.”
“You sit your ass down,” Griffin warned.
Fox’s eyebrows shot up when he saw Griffin was armed. “You can’t shoot me. You’re a police officer.”
“No one here is going to testify against him,” Braden countered. “We’d actually really appreciate it if he did shoot you.”
“I want him to shoot you in the balls,” I suggested.
“Aisling, don’t be crass,” Dad snapped. “If he’s going to be shot anywhere it will be the face … or ass.”
Fox blanched. “You can’t threaten me, Cormack. This whole thing is absurd. I don’t have to stand here and take this.”
“If you try leaving this room I’ll shoot you in the knee,” Griffin threatened. “Mr. Grimlock won’t be thrilled when I ruin his rug, but something tells me he’ll get over it.”
“I’m not afraid of you,” Fox spat. “You’re a simple man. You can’t possibly know the power I wield.”
“You don’t wield anything any longer,” Dad said. “In fact, I’ve been on the phone with the main office three times today. It seems they’ve been looking into your actions regarding other matters for years. This little manipulation will be your last.”
“You called the main office?” I was surprised.
“After you all left this morning I realized that we were in a vulnerable position,” Dad replied, his eyes never leaving Fox’s ashen face. “Even with all of us working together, there are just too many wraiths and gargoyles to fight. We needed help and I knew I would have to own up to everything to get it … so I did. Barbara helped me get the right people on the phone, and I told them … everything.”
“What did you own up to?” Redmond asked, confused.
“I told the front office every single thing we’ve been up to for the past two months,” Dad said. “I told them what Genevieve Toth told Aisling, which is something I left out of my initial report. I told them about the continued wraith attacks. I told them about the gargoyles. I told them about Griffin knowing our secret. I made sure we were completely covered.”
“Are you in trouble?”
“They’re taking it under advisement,” Dad replied. “I don’t care whether I am in trouble. It’s worth it to keep my family safe. Even as we speak, an army of reapers is moving into this neighborhood. They’re here to fight the wraiths and gargoyles when they attack. When are they coming, Fox?”
“I … have no idea what you’re talking about.” Fox wasn’t ready to concede.
“Don’t you even care that Amber’s dead?” I asked.
“Amber has been a waste of space since she was born.”
“She was out of your family and you dragged her back in,” I argued, moving closer. “She changed her name and left your filthy family behind. You brought her back because you wanted her to go after Griffin.”
Dad balked. “Why?”
“Do you want to tell him or should I?” I challenged, narrowing my eyes as Fox shifted to face me.
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Fox answered. “You’ve always had a vivid imagination.”
“Amber said Fox took Mom because he’s always had a thing for her,” I explained. “She said that Mom was burned in the fire. She never saw her. Everett and Fox kept Mom’s location a secret while they had her.
“At some point, Mom was taken from them,” I continued. “I think we can all guess who took her.”
“Genevieve,” Dad muttered.
“I think Fox needed help keeping Mom alive,” I said. “Genevieve survived for centuries by absorbing the life force of others. I think that’s what she did to keep Mom alive. Amber said her father was making deals with the wraiths and gargoyles. He promised them homes and open feeding grounds to do his bidding. That probably appealed to Genevieve – at least at first.
“At some point, Genevieve either grew tired of Fox’s plan or decided to embark on her own, and she took Mom from Fox,” I continued. “He’s been looking for her ever since. He hasn’t had any luck finding her.”
“I don’t understand how you play into this,” Dad pressed. “Why does he want you?”
“The Grimponds believe breeding should be relegated to pure reaper lines,” I said, my stomach twisting. “That’s why he originally wanted Mom. He didn’t get the chance to fulfill his nasty plan with her, so they decided to move on to someone else.”
Dad’s face flushed with fury as realization washed over him. “You were going to take my daughter from me to … breed her?”
“He wanted to marry me off to Everett,” I corrected, wrinkling my nose. “He wanted to kill you, Redmond, Aidan, Cillian and Braden, and then swoop in to offer me help. Everett thought he would take over our territory if he married me.”
“I will kill you,” Dad seethed, jerking his hands toward Fox’s neck. Redmond caught him before he could make contact.
“Not yet, Dad.”
“The girl is obviously delusional,” Fox said, turning to glare at me. “She’s always lied to get attention.”
“Don’t you even look at her!” Dad raged.
“You can’t believe any of this,” Fox said. “She’s making it all up.”
Dad’s desk phone rang. He didn’t even glance at it. Braden moved behind the desk and answered, tilting his head to the side as he listened. “Okay,” he said finally. “When you guys are done out there, we have a situation with Mr. Grimpond in here.”
“You’re my father,” Braden replied simply. “I won’t let you become a murderer, no matter how heinous these people are.”
“Do you know what they wanted to do to your sister?”
“Do you know what she would’ve done to them instead?” Braden challenged. “She would’ve burned their house to the ground. She never would’ve aligned with that family.”
“They were still going to … .”
“They’re never going to touch her,” Griffin interjected. “Who was on the phone?”
“Wraiths and gargoyles have been sighted, and they’re moving toward the house,” Braden said. “I’m guessing Fox wanted to be the inside man for the offensive. Tolliver Ward is leading the group outside. He says the wraiths and gargoyles appear to be in a holding pattern – as if awaiting orders.”
“Oh, really?” Dad asked, arching an eyebrow. He moved in front of Fox and started running his hands through the inside of his enemy’s jacket pockets. “Let’s see if we can find a phone, shall we?”
Griffin raised his gun when Fox’s hands twitched. “I’ll blow your head off. Don’t doubt it for a second. You tried to take my girl … and you wanted to kill her family … and you wanted to leave her all alone. I won’t feel a stitch of remorse for killing you. Go ahead and tempt me.”
Dad collected Fox’s phone and started scrolling through the contacts. Fox must have decided he was a goner, because he changed tactics. “If you turn me over to the main office you’ll never find Lily, Cormack. You know that.”
“You don’t have Lily,” Dad said. “You haven’t for a long time. I’m guessing you used her as a convenient scapegoat in hopes of drawing her out. You wanted Aisling to believe her mother was trying to grab her, when it was you all along. If Lily is alive, she never was working against us. For all we know, she’s dead … again.” Dad met my gaze. “If she’s alive, we’ll find her. I have faith that my children can do whatever they set their minds to.”
Tears stung my eyes. “I want to be the one to call Everett,” I announced.
“Why?” Griffin asked.
Dad snorted and handed the phone to me. “Watch and learn, boy. You’re going to find out how Aisling managed to derange each and every one of her brothers a hundred times over while growing up.”
“Oh, well good,” Griffin deadpanned. “I haven’t heard her be really mean in almost two weeks.”
“It’s going to feel good,” I said, pressing Everett’s name on the contact list and lifting the phone to my ear.
“If anyone can draw Everett out of hiding, it’s Aisling,” Braden said, gracing me with a smile for the first time in days. “Go and get him, sis.”
Everett answered on the first ring. “It’s about time, Dad. I thought you were going to wimp out.”
“Hi, Everett.” My voice was unnaturally bright. “How are you this fine summer day?”
“I … who is this?”
“It’s Aisling Grimlock. You just saw me at the paper warehouse. You remember, right? You stabbed your sister in the chest and left her to die. She was quite chatty on her way out.”
“I think you’ve flipped your lid,” Everett shot back. “I would never hurt my sister.”
“You’re a filthy liar, Everett,” I argued. “Amber told me everything before she died. She told me you were a sociopath. She told me you and your father took my mother from that fire and held her against her will. She also told me you were inept and Genevieve managed to take my mother and escape.
“Amber was upset with what she did,” I continued, leaning into Griffin as he rubbed my back with his free hand. “She said you tortured her as a child. She said you thought you were going to marry me. She also said you have a small penis and you’ve over-compensated your entire life.”
Griffin pursed his lips to keep from laughing, while Redmond and Braden exchanged amused glances. I expected a frown from Dad. Instead he looked … proud. Huh. Even now he still surprises me.
“Listen, you hateful little idiot, you have no idea what you’re talking about,” Everett seethed.
“Don’t worry, Everett,” I said, faux sympathy practically oozing through the phone. “I already knew you had a small penis. It wasn’t a surprise when Amber told me. We used to talk about it all the time when we were kids. Redmond called you Pee-Wee Grimpond and said you were hung like an infant.”
“I’m going to kill your brother!” Everett exploded, causing me to hold the phone from my ear.
“He doesn’t sound happy,” Griffin murmured.
“He’s about to be unhappier,” I replied, pulling the phone back to my ear. “Hey, Everett, do you know what else we used to laugh about? We were all big fans of that brown streak in your underwear when Redmond ran your clothes up the flagpole.”
“You bitch! You tell Redmond I’m coming for him! You’re going to wish you’d never been born! I … what’s that noise? Wait, where are you going? We have to move on the house! Don’t you dare run! You cowards! Wait … please don’t shoot me! I’ve been framed!”
I snapped the phone shut. “I think the team found him,” I said, smiling.
“That was lovely, dear,” Dad said, shaking his head. “I can’t tell you the pride I feel as a father right now. Of course, I kind of wish you could’ve pushed him over the edge without referring to Everett’s penis twenty times, but I’ve learned that I’ll have to live with annoying things as long as you’re in my life.”
“I think he’s talking about me,” Griffin said.
Dad smirked. “Possibly.” He turned to Fox. “You don’t have a lot of options left. I hope Everett puts up a fight out there and they kill him, quite frankly. Your whole empire crumbled in one afternoon. How do you feel?”
“I’ll tell you how I feel!” Fox lurched in Dad’s direction, a letter opener in his hand. I recognized it from Dad’s desk. He’d managed to pocket it when no one was looking.
“Dad!”
Braden was too quick for Fox. He expected an attack. Days of my brother’s personal misery were about to play havoc with Fox Grimpond’s future – and no one lifted a finger to stop Braden from expressing his rage.
He had a lot of misery to share.
Thirty-Four
“What are you doing out here?”
Braden found me outside almost a full eight hours later. Darkness descended, and instead of listening to Tolliver Ward scold us for the umpteenth time regarding proper procedure and backup regulations, I sneaked out to enjoy a few moments for myself.
“Just thinking,” I said, accepting the beer Braden handed me. “How are things in there?”
“Well, Dad is getting a formal reprimand for lying,” Braden said. “Since we took down the Grimponds, who apparently were also stealing from their charges, he’s not in any real trouble.”
“That’s good. I’d hate to think of him getting punished for telling the truth. When we were kids, he always told us that we wouldn’t get in trouble if we stopped lying.”
“Yeah, and then he grounded us for whatever mischief we got into anyway,” Braden said.
We lapsed into comfortable silence for a few moments. Finally, I had to ask the question I’d wrestled with for hours. “Are you okay, Braden?”
“Are you asking me if I wish I’d beaten Fox Grimpond to death?”
“I’m asking if you’re okay,” I pressed.
“I’m glad I didn’t kill him,” Braden said. “I am worried he’ll find some way to weasel out of this, but I don’t want to be responsible for his death. We’re not the Grimponds. We don’t play with other people’s lives simply because we can.”
“I’m glad you didn’t kill him, too,” I admitted. “I want him to spend the rest of his days in a really tiny cell. If he’s close to Everett and has to listen to him whine, that would be a nice bonus.”
“I hope he has a big bubba rapist in with him,” Braden
said.
I barked out a laugh. “Me, too.”
After a few more minutes of silence, Braden turned to me. “I’m sorry I was mean to you,” he said. “I wasn’t really angry with you.”
“I know. I deserved your anger, though. I shouldn’t have lied.”
“You didn’t lie to hurt anyone,” Braden said. “You were trying to protect us. I get it.”
“What do you think happens now?”
“What do you mean?”
“Mom could still be out there,” I reminded him. “Genevieve took her from the Grimponds. She could’ve been lying about her death. She lied about being the one to take her from the fire, although … I guess for all we know she was there at the time. Maybe we should get some clarification on that.”
“Yeah, while you were outside Fox started babbling about the fire,” Braden supplied. “He said that they couldn’t pass up the opportunity when they saw Mom’s name on their list. They locked the doors from the outside to trap her. They didn’t expect to be inside for so long and almost died themselves. I guess Mom was running when she was … burned. Part of the roof collapsed on her.”
I pressed my eyes shut, horrified. That was what I always feared most about my mother’s death. How much pain is one person expected to take? “How long ago did Mom disappear?”
“He had her for two months while she recovered,” Braden answered. “Genevieve kept her alive by feeding her souls. She was called to the house that first night. Apparently they knew she was in the area with a cadre of wraiths. They made a deal with her to overlook what she was doing if she helped them. She agreed.”
“That means Mom is a ghoul.”
“If she’s still alive, I’m guessing that’s the case,” Braden conceded.
“Are we going to look for her?”
“I don’t know,” Braden said. “I’m not sure what the right answer is. Maybe she stayed away because she realizes what she is and knows she’d be a danger to us. Maybe she opted not to live off the souls of others and let herself die.
“Our mother was a good woman,” he continued. “That’s what she would do if she had control of her faculties. Maybe Genevieve wasn’t lying. Maybe Mom gave up and died.”