by AE Jones
Devin glanced at her and then back to the road. “We have to tread carefully. Since we’re in the dark about what Prentice knows, we have to be cautious.”
She gave him a double take. “You honestly think he doesn’t know Sydney’s a selkie?”
“There are a number of reasons why she might not have told him. Since she ran away from the wedding, my guess is he doesn’t know.”
“But they love each other,” Alex protested.
He gazed at her for a longer moment, before turning back to the road. “Love doesn’t guarantee truth.”
“That’s a sad commentary on love.”
“I think it’d be best if I take the lead with Prentice.”
She nodded even though she wanted to roll her eyes at his bossiness. “Fine. Since you’re so persuasive, I’ll let you lead.”
* * *
Bradley Prentice’s beach house sat on a small bluff, high enough to keep the tide from entering his multi-million-dollar living room. It was a sprawling, modern house with a monochromatic color scheme in shades of gray.
Alex glanced around the large living space and shook her head. Who would want to be surrounded by gray? Gray couch, gray walls, gray tile floors… She stood next to the fireplace and stared out the enormous back windows overlooking the dark ocean, waiting for Prentice to join them. Devin prowled the space behind her, his reflection showing in the glass as he took in the room as well. Based on the tight line of his lips, he wasn’t impressed with it either.
After a few more minutes, Prentice walked into the room. Alex stared openly at him. Hello? Who wouldn’t? He was one of the hottest commodities in Hollywood, and he was perfect. Varying shades of blond ran though his tousled, wavy hair and his blue eyes were the color of the Mediterranean Sea. They were also very bloodshot.
“Have you found Sydney?” he asked, forgoing introductions.
Devin replied, “Not yet. We were hoping you could answer some questions to help us narrow the search.”
Prentice strode over to the granite bar and poured a glass of scotch. He took a large gulp, not bothering to offer them a drink. “I don’t know what I can tell you that I haven’t already told the cops and the FBI.”
Devin continued. “If you would just bear with us. Can you think of any reason why Sydney would have run away? Was she upset about anything before the wedding?”
“No. She was a bit stressed with all the plans, but she was doing great.”
“Everything was okay with the two of you?”
“Of course!” Prentice ran his fingers through his hair. “Someone must have coerced her into leaving.”
Devin took a step closer. “Coerced her how?”
“I don’t know. Maybe they blackmailed her.”
“For what purpose?”
Prentice sighed deeply. “We are both up for big projects right now. If someone wanted to discredit us, this would be a good way to do it.”
“Have either of you received threats?” Devin asked.
He shook his head. “These are the same stupid questions the cops asked.”
“Is that a no?”
“We’re both famous. There isn’t a day that goes by that some crackpot doesn’t send us a nasty email or posts filth about us on the Web. It comes with the territory.”
“Your security team reviews the threats?”
“Absolutely. Most are crap.”
“And the ones that aren’t?” Devin pushed.
“My team reports them to the FBI, and they look into them when they can.”
“If either of you received any serious threats lately, I’d like to see them.”
“I don’t know what you think you can do that the Feds aren’t already doing. But if it gets you out of here sooner.” Prentice walked across the room and picked up the phone to speak to one of his security men.
Alex sidled over to Devin and whispered. “He’s going to boot us out. What next, oh, persuasive one?”
Devin scowled. “If you have a better idea, by all means go for it.”
Prentice hung up the phone and headed back to the bar, reached for the scotch, clinking the bottle hard on the glass rim while he poured another liberal helping. “What I want to know is what you’re going to get out of this? A book deal? Money for the story?”
“We’re trying to help,” Devin assured him.
“Bullshit. You’re trying to protect your asses.” He pointed at Alex. “Her family business is at stake.”
Alex decided it was time. “I won’t lie to you and claim I don’t want to clear my family’s name. But I also want to find Sydney. I think you’re right. Sydney left the wedding against her will.”
Prentice’s eyes widened. “You believe me?”
“Yes. I spoke with Sydney before the wedding, and the way she talked about you…there’s no way she would have left you like that unless she had a truly compelling reason.”
He plopped down on a barstool. “I told the FBI she didn’t leave me, but they’re chalking it up to another flaky celebrity running off.”
“I noticed you have a large pool out back. Do you like to swim?”
Prentice gave her a puzzled look. “Not really. I had it put in for Sydney. She’s an exercise junkie. She swims every day.”
Devin interrupted them. “Is the pool salt water? Or chlorinated?”
He shook his head. “Not salt water. Sydney was adamant about that.”
“Does Sydney have any family we should talk to?” Alex asked.
“She has a sister, Elena, but they’re estranged. I’m not sure where she lives.”
“What about her friends?” Alex asked. “Real friends, not those…ahhh…bridesmaids.”
Prentice snorted. “She doesn’t have any close friends. As you’ve already figured out, just about everyone she meets uses her for their own gain.”
“Sounds like you know how it feels. It’s a good thing you found each other, then.”
Prentice’s jaw tightened, but his eyes flashed with pain and a vulnerability he didn’t reveal to the paparazzi or his adoring fans.
Before Prentice could say another word, Alex blurted, “We’ll help you find her.”
Finding Sydney was the right thing to do, whether it cleared her family’s name or not. As soon as the words were out of her mouth, Alex glanced in Devin’s direction. His expression told a different story than Prentice’s, and it wasn’t hard to interpret. He was spitting mad at her.
* * *
Alex had hoped the silent drive to Bennett Bridal meant Devin was calming down. But now that they were at the office, she could tell he was gearing up for a fight. It was evident in his grip on the back of the desk chair as he leaned over the desk. Alex sighed.
Devin’s eyes narrowed. “You shouldn’t have promised him we could find Sydney.”
“He needs closure,” Alex protested.
“That doesn’t mean we can give it to him.”
Alex stared at Devin for a minute. If she hadn’t been looking directly at him she might have missed his eyes tightening, as if in pain. Almost immediately, though, his face became a stone mask. What was he hiding? And why did men feel like they had to take the world on their shoulders and be so daggone stoic about it?
She walked around the desk to stand next to him. “Well, we know she didn’t drown, so we should be able to find her, right?”
“If she comes back to land.”
Alex gaped at him. “You mean she might stay a seal forever?”
He nodded. “If she wants to. Or she could simply wait a while before showing herself again.”
“I can’t figure out what made Sydney run off. It wasn’t nerves. She was so excited about marrying Bradley.”
“Tell me what happened at the wedding again.”
“We’ve already been through this before.”
Devin nodded. “Yep, but we might have missed something.”
Alex described the events until Devin interrupted her. “Wait, you just said Sydney swayed like she was
going to pass out?”
“That’s what it looked like to me. But then she ran down the aisle.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“Is it important?” Alex asked.
“Maybe. Selkies are pretty resistant. They aren’t susceptible to the same illnesses as humans.”
“What do you think it was?”
He shrugged. “I’m not sure.”
“So what should we do next? Find the sister?”
“I asked Peggy to see if she has any connections in the selkie community who might be able to convince Elena to speak with us.”
Alex rolled the flash drive Prentice had given them around in her palm. It contained the recent threats aimed at Sydney. “What do we want to do with this?”
“We can review them, but I also want to forward them to my tech guy so he can work his magic and trace some of them back to whoever sent the threat.”
“What would make her run away?” Alex mumbled to herself while she plugged the flash drive into the computer. “Why did you ask about what type of water was in Prentice’s pool?”
“Salt water would bring on Sydney’s change.”
“So she would avoid it.” Alex tapped the keys and opened the folder. “So she swims every day, but she couldn’t afford to turn into a seal.”
Devin nodded. “She wouldn’t risk it. Not with paparazzi all over the place.”
An idea bubbled to the surface. “Do you think someone threatened to expose her as a supernatural?”
“Anything is possible. But unless they had concrete proof, no one would believe them.”
Alex stared at the number of files. “Wow, there are a ton of threats here. Didn’t Prentice say these were just the ones from the past month?”
Devin watched over her shoulder. “Yep. Apparently, the more famous you are, the more whack jobs you attract…Sorry.”
“For what?” she asked, turning to him. He was leaning over her so she was inches from his face. Being this close, she could make out specks of gold in his sea-green eyes. He grinned at her, looking anything but contrite.
“For calling them ‘whack jobs.’”
If she didn’t know better, she would think he was baiting her. She lifted her chin. “Just because I see a psychiatrist doesn’t mean I’m insulted by your colorful descriptor.”
She opened up the second email file and they both read it. Or she tried to read it. This whole leaning-over-the-shoulder thing was not going to work for her. “Let’s grab another laptop so we can split the files. We’ll get more done that way, and faster.”
An hour later, Alex’s head was spinning. She stood up and stretched to give her eyes a break. She had read through dozens of threatening emails. One compared Sydney to Medusa, and another declared that she and Prentice had made deals with the devil for their fame.
Devin cleared his throat. “Listen. I know I gave you a hard time earlier about promising Prentice we could find Sydney, but you did a good job with him. He was going to throw us out.”
Was he giving her a compliment? She didn’t want to read too much into it, so she shrugged. “You just read him wrong.”
Devin smirked at her. “Really? It wasn’t too hard to see he was being a jerk.”
“Yes. But he’s scared, so he was lashing out. He loves her, and feels pretty helpless right now.”
“You got all that from our conversation with him?”
She smiled. “Yeah. My two years of therapy came in handy tonight.”
“What does your therapy tell you about these threats?”
“That your term ‘whack job’ may not be too far from the truth.”
He laughed. She’d never heard him really laugh before. It sounded rough, as if his throat wasn’t used to it.
“You keep surprising me, Alex. That doesn’t happen a lot in my world.”
His words warmed her. “Is that a bad thing?”
He stared at her for a moment before responding. “The jury’s still out on that.”
Lorinda’s Wedding Tip: Brides are like snowflakes—no two are alike. And each has her unique idea of the perfect wedding.
Chapter 11
Since when did faeries start texting? Devin read the message from Lokar, the head magistrate on his case.
“What’s wrong?” Peggy asked.
“I was just notified that my hearing is in two weeks.” What he didn’t tell her was the magistrate had also warned him that they were watching his current case closely.
Peggy frowned at him from across her desk. “Is that enough time to prepare your defense?”
“It will have to be.” He’d been working on his defense for a year now. Testimony and summaries he’d practiced over and over until they were permanent fixtures in his brain. Once he won, he would reopen the gang case and avenge both Marina and Thomas. But in order to do that, he needed to get his powers back.
“Devin…”
He interrupted, before Peggy could launch into the same conversation he’d been having with his family for a year. “We’ll have to discuss this later, sis. I’ve got to go follow up on some leads.” He walked out, and kept walking until he got in his car and fastened the seat belt. But instead of reaching for the ignition, he stared off into space.
His phone rang and he muted it. It was Connie, his office manager. He would have to call her later. He’d add it to his growing list of things to do.
It had been days since he thought about his upcoming trial. This case was a distraction he couldn’t afford. He shook his head. Who was he kidding? The case wasn’t distracting him. It was Alex. And that was a serious problem.
When was the last time he’d felt comfortable spending time with a woman? But that didn’t matter right now. He wouldn’t be lulled into complacency. He had no problem with her reviewing the binders, but if this case threatened even a hint of danger, she was out.
And here he was thinking about Alex, again.
He blew out a hard breath and started the car. Two hours later Devin pulled back into the parking lot of Bennett Bridal. The drive had helped him clear his head, which he desperately needed. He climbed out of his car.
“It’s about time you got back here.”
Devin turned toward the familiar voice and shook his head slightly at his sister-in-law. “I don’t have to guess why you’re here, Julia.”
She grinned and hooked her arm through his. “No you don’t. Take a stroll with me, please.”
Devin let her lead him behind the building to a bench surrounded by a small patch of grass. “I didn’t know this was back here.”
She sat down, set her purse next to her, and gestured for him to join her. “I’ve been wandering outside for a bit, waiting for you, and stumbled across it.”
“I’m sorry you wasted your time coming here. Peggy shouldn’t have called you.”
“Defending your case is not a waste of time. Besides, I’m one of the best lawyers around.”
“I don’t need a defense counsel.”
She clucked her tongue at him. “Please don’t tell me you were planning to defend yourself.”
Anger bubbled to the surface and he fought to push it down again. “I know what happened better than anyone. Who better to stand up and tell the truth? Marina is dead, and I was the one who ordered her undercover to infiltrate the gang.”
“Of course you know, Devin. But you need someone to protect you in that courtroom. You’ve protected countless supernaturals and humans from harm. Let me defend you. It won’t help our people if you lose your powers indefinitely.”
“Our people? You always argued with Thomas whenever he insisted you were part of our clan just because you married him.”
Julia’s eyes grew soft. “I argued with Thomas because we were both lawyers, and we loved our debates.”
Devin swallowed hard. He shouldn’t have mentioned his brother. “He loved you very much.”
“Your brother will be in my heart always.” Her eyes glistened, and she glanced away for a
second before continuing. “Thomas would never forgive me if I didn’t do everything in my power to help you.”
Devin scowled at her and his chest tightened. “You’re playing dirty.”
“I’m not afraid to get mud under my fingernails if it helps you.” She reached into her purse and pulled out a pad of paper and a pen. “Now, let’s start from the beginning.”
* * *
Where the heck was Devin? Alex paced the small office. They were supposed to meet to review the threats Prentice had given them. Hopefully together they would be able to narrow them down to a manageable list in order to interview the ones who posed a real threat to Sydney.
She went and knocked on Peggy’s door. “Have you seen Devin?”
“Nope. Not for a few hours. He said he had to follow up on some leads.”
Alex gritted her teeth. He was working on a lead without her? “Do you know what?”
“No.” Peggy stared at her a little too long. “Is there a problem?”
“No. We were supposed to meet a while ago. Don’t worry about it.”
Alex headed down the hall to check for Devin’s car. There it was, in the lot. She scanned the parking lot and caught sight of him coming around the side of the building. Alex moved to push the door open and call out to him, but hesitated when a woman followed closely behind him.
Alex checked her out unashamedly. She oozed power. She wore a killer blue suit and heels that screamed designer, and her dark hair was cut in a chin-length bob. And she was beautiful. As in tumble out of bed, run fingers through your hair, no makeup needed beautiful.
Devin stopped in front of a Lexus and opened the door for her. The woman turned to him and smiled. Perfect teeth. Alex sighed. Of course they were perfect. She couldn’t be buck-toothed.
Alex chided herself. She was being ridiculous. Acting like a jealous girlfriend. Devin might have met her for the first time today. Was she one of Devin’s leads?
The woman opened her arms and Devin responded, enveloping her in a hug that lasted way too long for Alex’s taste. Before he let her go, she leaned to his ear and said something, and he laughed. Then she kissed him on the cheek before getting in her car.
