Thane... shut it.
“She stays tied.”
“That wasn’t the deal,” Sydney pointed out. “You said you’d let her go if I met with you alone... and I’m alone, so you need to let her go.”
“It’s not even supposed to be her!” he screamed. “If I could have gotten you at Thane’s house, this would all be over now!”
“You were at Thane’s house?” Sydney frowned. “You were the one that night in the storm, smoking.”
This would explain why we can’t get a hit off the DNA, Sydney.
“No, that was the idiot I hired. Damn Europeans and their need for tobacco.”
“Zach, you have to let her go,” Sydney said again.
Zach let out a sigh of resignation. “I’m not lettin’ her go, but she can have some water.”
“But that’s not what—”
“Shut up!” he bellowed. “Just shut up! She’s not going anywhere.”
He raised his hand and Sydney scowled. “You hit me and this is all over, Zach.”
I’m coming in.
No! No, Thane, I’m okay. We’re okay. Just give me some time.
“Bitch,” he snapped.
“Let her go.”
“No!”
Sydney swore and rose to her feet and Zach made his way to a small fridge.
“Pretend you’re still tied,” she whispered to Lucy while Zach has his back turned. Sydney made quick work with the bindings, grateful for her new Cauld Ane strength. Zach handed Sydney water and she helped Lucy drink it. “A little more,” Sydney whispered, and Lucy sipped again. “That’s it. Give it a minute and you can have more.”
“Sit down, Sydney,” Zach demanded.
He blocked the only way out, so Sydney did as he said. “What’s this all about?”
“My sister’s sick.”
“Wait. You’ve beat the hell out of my cousin and you’re threatening me because your sister’s sick?” Sydney shook her head. “What do you want, Zach? Money?”
“I want justice.”
“For what?”
“For my family.”
“I don’t understand,” Sydney said.
“Your mother ruined our life!”
“My mother? What do you mean?” Sydney rose to her feet. “If you can’t explain what’s going on, I’m leaving.”
“If you move, I will kill her.” Out of nowhere, Zach produced a gun and pointed it at Lucy. “Sit down, Sydney.”
Sydney did, but pulled her chair closer to Lucy, shielding her as much as possible. “It will help if you tell me everything,” Sydney placated. “Start at the beginning.”
Sydney.
You said I can heal myself, Thane, but I have to keep him from hurting Lucy.
I’m coming in.
No, you’re not. Just give me a minute.
“Your mother wouldn’t acknowledge the fact that she stole our money,” Zach said. “It was ours, Sydney.”
“I can’t imagine why she’d steal money from you, Zach. We had our inheritance from my father.”
“Which was half ours!” he screamed.
“What?”
“Your father is our father!”
“What are you talking about?” Sydney snapped. “You aren’t that much younger than me, Zach. I would have known if my mother was pregnant.”
“Maybe you are as stupid as your cousin,” Zach said with a sneer.
“Screw you, Zach. You’re not making any sense.”
“The story goes that your father met my mother at a trade show in New York. She was young, naive, and had only been the States for ten years. Her parents were Chinese and spoke no English, so she had to translate the world for them. She was twenty and working as a maid at the hotel where he stayed that week, and he seduced her. That was twenty-four years ago.”
“No, there’s no way. My parents had been married for five years by the time they had me. They loved each other. He would have never cheated.”
“Well, that’s where you’re wrong, big sis. He did cheat. When Mom discovered she was pregnant with me, he moved her out to San Jose. He bought her a house, one in a shitty neighborhood, because she wasn’t his wife, and he wasn’t going to bring his affair into Menlo Park.”
“My mom wouldn’t have stayed with him if he cheated. Your mom must be mistaken.” Or a liar, Sydney thought to herself. Pain came and went quickly as Thane obviously helped ease her discomfort.
You’re an empath, Sydney. You’ll be able to tell if he’s telling the truth.
Sydney listened a little differently as Zach spoke again.
“He was with us every other weekend and two weeks every summer, until he was too sick to keep up the charade. He’d come for our birthdays, but when he couldn’t we had to celebrate alone. Then when he was in hospice, we had to sneak in to see him in the hospital. Do you know how many times we almost bumped into you?” He settled his hands on his head. “God, it was humiliating.”
Sydney blinked back tears. “You’re wrong.”
“He promised us he’d take care of us. Promised we’d be okay.” Tears welled up in his eyes. “But he lied! And your bitch of a mother refused to listen to us. Beth’s dying and we don’t have the money for her meds. Dad’s life insurance was barely enough for the first six months of treatment.”
“What do you mean my mother wouldn’t listen?” Sydney asked, but the truth of what he was saying flooded in. The memories of her mother’s cryptic phone calls at random times... the ones she always brushed off... settled in her soul. Her father was gone every other weekend and he always took two week-long trips during the summer, every year. Sometimes more on occasion, but always the same weeks each time.
“Dad promised he’d leave us money, but when it came down to it, your mother stopped it. We never got the big payout he’d promised, just the small one that my mother had paid the premiums under her name. Your mom knew, Sydney. I don’t know how long she knew, but she sure as hell knew at the end, and made sure we got nothing. Dad had a contingency if that were to happen; I’d just never expected it would need to be used.”
“What kind of contingency?”
“A little life insurance policy that would pay my mother should yours have an unfortunate accident.”
“What?” she squeaked.
“One million dollars is going to be paid out as soon as the cops release your mother’s body, but they’re takin’ a long damn time to do it, and Beth needs help now.”
“How could you possibly have counted on—” She stopped herself with a gasp. “You! You hired the guy to kill my mom!”
He shrugged. “Did I? No one will ever prove anything.”
“But if you’re struggling financially, where did you get fifty thousand dollars?”
“Hypothetically, should I ever think to do something so reprehensible,” he said, “I might consider borrowing from the money Mom got when she refinanced the house to pay for Beth’s treatment. But that’s hypothetically.”
With a hiss, Sydney stood and headed for him. “You bastard!” she screamed. “Lucy, get down!”
Sydney heard a thump and Lucy’s groan as she reached her arms out, Zach’s body slammed against the wall and he let out a hiss of pain. She didn’t realize she’d done all of that with her mind as she advanced on him again. She had little time to focus on what was happening, her murderous intent failing, as strong arms wrapped around her and pulled her away. Zach was summarily divested of his gun and shoved onto his stomach. He was cable tied and made to lie where he was until they were ready to move him. EMTs took care of Lucy as Thane dragged Sydney from the building.
* * *
“What are you doing?” she screamed. “Let me go!”
He held her tighter. “You can’t kill him, love.”
“Why the hell not? He killed my mom.”
“I know, baby, but we need to find out more information... turn him over to the authorities.”
“He gave us everything we need,” she countered. “If we turn h
im over to the authorities, I can’t make him pay.”
“Sid.” Thane cupped her face. Her eyes flooded with green, even the white, and Thane knew he needed to get her to calm down. “I need you to take a deep breath.”
“Screw you.”
He closed his eyes and concentrated on breaking down her defenses. She struggled against him, but he held tight. “Shhh.”
“Thane!”
“No, sweetheart, you need to settle.”
It took several minutes for her to stop fighting him, but he continued to hold her tight. He’d let down his guard before and she’d taken advantage of it, so he wasn’t doing it again.
I hate you.
He grinned. “As soon as you calm down, love, I’ll let you go.”
“I’m calm.”
“You’re no’ calm.”
“I’m so calm, I’m Zen calm.”
Thane chuckled. “Oh, my love, you’re so far from Zen calm it’s not even funny.”
“You’re so far from Zen calm it’s not even funny,” she mimicked with a sing-song voice.
He dropped his forehead to hers again, listening to her heart. “Almost there, love.”
It took a little while, but finally she fell against him with a sigh and wrapped her arms around his waist.
“There she is.”
“I still want to kill him.”
“I know, sweetheart,” he whispered.
“He killed my mom.”
“I know.”
“My dad cheated on her.” Her voice hitched on a sob. “She was the best person in the world, and he cheated on her.”
“I know, baby.”
“How could he do that?”
He took a deep breath and kissed her temple. “I don’t know.”
“I need to check on Lucy.”
“She’s on her way to the hospital. We can go in a minute.” He rubbed her back. “I want to make sure you’re okay first.”
“I’m fine, Thane.” She leaned back to look him in the eye. “Other than the issue of my overwhelming homicidal desires, I’m frickin’ great.”
Thane smiled. “All right, love, we’ll go.”
“Can we pass the bastard on the way?”
“He’s gone, Sydney.”
“What?” she snapped.
“They took him away.”
She let out a frustrated squeak. “You did that on purpose!”
“Comforted you long enough for him to be taken to Scotland Yard? Aye, lass, I did.”
“Jerk.” Sydney pushed him away and made a run for the car.
Thane watched her go... waiting. She stopped midstride, bent at the waist, and settled her hands on her knees. He felt her frustration, but because she didn’t like him interfering, he let her have her emotions... for approximately ten point two seconds. Then he moved.
Don’t, Thane.
He stopped, but not until he was within a foot of her. Sweetheart—
No, Thane. I need a minute.
He felt powerless.
You need to get over it.
He shook his head. Now who’s in whose head?
Sydney righted herself and faced him, crossing her arms. “Is this ever going to stop?”
“Your emotions being on ten?”
She nodded.
“It should.” He sighed. “But this is all new for me as well, sweetheart, so I don’t know how long it will take.” Thane held his hand out to her. “You just need to trust me and let me help you calm down.”
“I’m not good at playing the submissive wife, Thane.”
“This isn’t about submission, Sydney. It’s about trusting me to know I have your best interests at heart and I’m protecting you. If I left you to your own devices while you were in that state, you would have killed him, and then where would we be? Hmm? You’d be in jail for murder and I’d be left without you.”
She bit her lip and lowered her head, closing the distance between them and taking his hand. “It’s always all about you, isn’t it, mister movie star?”
Thane chuckled. “Damn straight.”
Sydney closed her eyes and leaned against him. “I’m sorry.”
“Baby, it’s okay. This is all a learning process.”
“I know.” She smiled up at him. “But I’m sorry anyway. Even if I don’t always show it, I appreciate you looking out for me.”
He leaned down and kissed her. “I love you,” he said against her lips.
“I love you too.” She frowned. “Did I shove Zach into the wall?”
“Aye, lass.”
“Without touching him?”
“Aye.”
“How did I do that?”
“It appears you have the gift of telekinesis, so when you wanted him to move, you moved him.”
“Wow.” She let out a deep breath. “Do you have it?”
“Not yet. My strongest gift is suggestion, like when I put you to sleep. But it’s something that will more than likely happen, just as you will more than likely acquire my gifts soon.”
“Can we practice later?”
He smiled. “Of course we can. For now, let’s go check on Lucy.”
Sydney nodded and they walked to the car.
CHAPTER TWENTY
ARRIVING AT THE hospital, Sydney was relieved to discover Lucy wasn’t actually in as bad of shape as she suspected. Bruised and battered, but nothing was broken and she didn’t need stitches. Just ice, pain meds, and lots of rest.
Aunt Clara still wasn’t talking to Uncle Cary, but managed a little civility until Lucy was released. Then the gloves came off and she insisted he stay at a hotel for a few nights until things calmed down. Sydney unwittingly caught the tail end of their argument as she was returning from getting coffee.
“Clara, love, don’t do this.”
“Don’t you bloody well “love” me, Carville Ashworth. If you loved me, you wouldn’t have tried to drug me. God, do you really think I’m that stupid? I was a nurse in another life, you idiot. I slid that needle out of my vein and the doctor didn’t even notice.”
He dragged his hands through his hair. “I was trying to protect you.”
“No, you were trying to “handle” me.”
“I’m sorry, Clara.” He dropped his head in contrition.
“I’m not ready to forgive you yet and, no, I can’t tell you when I will be. You’ll be lucky if you’re ever allowed back in.”
“Don’t say that.”
“You’ll give me space right now, Carville, or I’m calling a divorce attorney today and we’ll be done with it.”
Sydney decided to announce her presence by making heavier footstep noises as she came around the corner.
“Oh, Sydney, love. Thank you,” her aunt said, and took her coffee. “I’ll speak to you later, Cary.”
Aunt Clara walked back into Lucy’s room and Sydney followed, giving Uncle Cary a slight smile on her way in. Thane and Anson were chatting, so she handed them their coffees and sat next to Thane.
Two hours later, Lucy was cleared to leave and the family headed back to the Ashworth’s home. Uncle Cary made sure Lucy was settled and then did as Aunt Clara asked him to...he gave her space, but left a team of security guards to watch the house. Sydney didn’t want to leave her cousin, so her aunt offered her and Thane a room, and they took her up on it.
After climbing into bed, Sydney snuggled close to Thane as she tried to decompress after the most uncomfortable dinner she’d ever experienced.
“I thought Aunt Clara was going to stab Malcolm with her steak knife,” Sydney whispered.
Malcolm Smith had been with Aunt Clara when she’d been sedated and was the one who’d driven her to the hospital when she’d waked up. Aunt Clara appeared to put almost as much blame on him as her husband.
Thane smiled. “I was ready if she tried.”
“Aunt Clara has always been the sweet, fun-loving auntie. I have never seen her raise her voice. I’m not sure she and Uncle Cary are going to survive this, Thane. She�
�s pissed.”
“Aye, love, she is. But don’t count him out just yet. He was wrong, but his intention was pure.”
Sydney snorted. “Excuse me?”
He tightened his hold. “Hear me out before you hulk out on me.”
She craned her head, unable to move the rest of her body. “You better explain pretty damn quick, Thane.”
“Men are men, whether they are human or Cauld Ane, and sometimes we can be idiots.”
“You got that right,” she grumbled.
He smacked her bottom. “But there are carnal urges that overwhelm us on occasion, the biggest being the need to protect our women. So, no, I do not agree with what your uncle did, but I understand it.”
“You understand him drugging her?”
“I understand him wanting to keep the pain away from her for a little while.”
Sydney sighed. “I suppose I can see that side of it, but it really isn’t an excuse, it’s not even a good reason.”
“I agree, love.”
She relaxed against him. “Okay, mister movie star, you’ve calmed the beast.”
He chuckled, rolling to hover above her. “I’m thinking I want to rile her up again.”
“We’re in a house full of people.”
He kissed her neck and whispered, “We’ll be very, very quiet.”
* * *
One week later, Sydney was in their London apartment, attempting to throw together something that resembled dinner with the limited ingredients they had on hand.
They hadn’t planned on staying in London as long as they had, but until the mess with Zach was cleared up, they couldn’t head back to Edinburgh.
“Honey, I hope meatless spaghetti’s okay,” Sydney called as she peered into the refrigerator. “It’s about all we’ve got.”
Thane was in his office, trading e-mails with the powers that be (his words).
“That’s fine, love.”
Sydney let out a squeak and jumped, nearly hitting her head on the fridge door.
Thane chuckled. “Sorry, baby. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“You move like you’re walking on air.” She wrinkled her nose and closed the fridge door, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I need to put a bell on you.”
“As they say, everything can use more cow bell.”
Sydney giggled. “That’s so true.”
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