“Found Liliana.”
The younger woman released an unholy whoop as she rushed forward, her eagerness clear. “Where?”
“Rhode Island. Providence, to be more specific.”
The other woman’s glee was apparent.
“Who’s Liliana?” I asked, not wanting to be out of the loop.
“She is, what you call, madam?” Amara said thickly. “I hate her. I want her dead.”
Heaving a sigh, I muttered, “Amara, you can’t go around killing people—”
“I can. Rex told me I can.” She sniffed. “You are not Rex. I do not need to listen to you.”
Annoyed, I grumbled, “You do if you get caught and I have to defend you.”
“I will go to jail to make sure she dies a horrendous death.”
“I think there’s something in the water.” And I wasn’t talking about Kevin’s body either. Although, technically, his corpse was in the morgue now, wasn’t it?
Lodestar frowned. “What?”
“I think there’s something in the water,” I said again, but I didn’t clarify.
I’d been around more death threats this past month than I had in my whole life.
I grunted when I realized the conversation with Rex had made me perspire. Reaching for a tissue I had tucked in my pocket, I raised my ponytail and patted my nape.
Feeling somewhat better, I moved over to the fridge. “Do you think Lily will mind if I get a water?”
Lodestar snorted. “Yeah, she charges by the fluid ounce.”
I squinted at her. “You have an attitude problem.”
“You only just figured this out?”
“Talk less, explain more,” Amara growled. “Where is Liliana?”
“I’m not gonna tell you where she is yet,” Lodestar countered. “We’ve got enough heat right now, and we don’t need you to go all Nurse Ratched on us just yet.”
“Who is this nurse?” was Amara’s suspicious retort.
“Never mind.” Lodestar huffed. “Those guys of yours need to work on your cultural references. Don’t you watch Netflix together?”
Amara hitched a shoulder. “Yes, but I watch with subtitles otherwise is no fun.”
Having retrieved a glass from one of several cupboards I’d opened—neither woman had clued me into the location of Lily’s glassware—I retreated to the refrigerator and collected some ice and water that I raised to my forehead.
I wasn’t sure why I was so hot, but I really goddamn was.
“Anyone else feel like we’re standing in a sauna?” I muttered, but neither were listening. Lodestar and Amara were in the throes of an argument that—
Lodestar spoke Ukrainian?
I blinked at the realization then decided to leave them to it so I could get some fresh air. Neither stopped me from making my departure, and I took the moment to peer around the downstairs’ space which was, admittedly, massive.
I’d never seen as much marble in my entire life, and I’d gone to Athens and Rome after senior year in college, for Christ’s sake.
Everything was opulent, to a ridiculous degree, and it was really hard to imagine Link living here.
Link who existed in jeans and Henleys, who washed his hands ten thousand times a day because he hated getting engine oil on his fingers but there was always some still remaining in the cracks of his nails. Link who wore boots and rarely shaved and whose cut probably had more pussy juice on it than cologne.
“It’s horrendous, isn’t it?”
Hearing Lily’s sheepish voice, but not seeing her, I twisted around until I found her standing on the upper mezzanine floor, her elbows on the mahogany railing.
“I wouldn’t say it’s horrendous,” I argued uncomfortably. “More like ostentatious?”
She grinned. “You’re too kind.”
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude.”
“You’re not. I’ve said worse about the place, but I never seem to change it.”
As she moved down the staircase, I watched her graceful form in a sunshine yellow tailored dress come closer.
She walked with a poise that spoke of finishing school. I recognized it from college where a lot of my fellow female students were aiming more for a marriage license than a major.
Her graceful walk, how she tucked her hair behind her ears, the neat way she placed each foot on the step… all of it spoke of class. Expensive class. Sometimes, that could be purchased.
When Link made an appearance, storming down the stairs, I jerked in surprise but that was nothing to Lily who yelped when he hauled her by the waist, loaded her over his shoulder, and carried her down the rest of the steps in a fireman’s hold.
“Link! You jackass! Put me down!” Lily yowled, but she was giggling as she cried it.
Link grinned at me, his joy clear as he patted Lily’s tush, simultaneously keeping her skirt covering her thighs.
When he planted his feet on the hallway steps, I muttered, “You know how dangerous that was, don’t you?”
Link shrugged. “Lily’s always safe with me.” He shot me an incorrigible wink as he swung her around. “Which room today, my lady?”
“Now is not the time to pretend to be my chauffeur.”
I arched a brow. “I think I’m too young for this conversation.”
“Trust me, you are,” Tiffany said with a soft laugh that had me twisting around to face her.
Goddamn, where was she hiding? This place was far too big.
A sniff sounded from overhead, one that wasn’t from Lily, but the woman’s voice was loaded with disdain. “Disgusting behavior. Have you no decency?”
“Mother!” Tiffany snapped, clueing me in to who’d made the snide comment.
Taking a drink of my water, I found the older woman peering over the bannister much as Lily had been, but her sneer set my teeth on edge.
Link was a good man. He didn’t deserve that kind of disdain.
“Leave it, Tiff,” Link said good-naturedly. “Your mother can’t help that she needs something shoved up her ass.”
A shocked gasp escaped the woman who immediately stormed off.
“God, I’m so sorry, Link,” Tiff said, her tone miserable.
“You can’t control your parents,” I said, knowing that more than anyone.
Link pulled a face. “God, your mother was a real piece of work, Rach. Remember that time she smacked Rene at Carly’s wake and then pretended to be pregnant afterward?”
“How could I forget?”
“And she walked around with a pillow under her shirt? And kept fainting whenever anyone mentioned Rene kicking her out?”
“Trust me, Link,” I groaned. “I remember.
“I’m surprised Axel didn’t throw her out.”
“He was a fool in love,” was my grim reply. “Piece of work—that was definitely my mom. I used to wish Axel would throw her out, but if he had then I wouldn’t have Rain. He’s worth ten of her.”
Tiffany stepped out from wherever she’d been standing, and her hand came to my arm. “Rachel, that’s a lovely thing to say.”
“I only speak the truth.”
I stared down into the earnest expression of a woman I didn’t know very well, as I peered at Lily and a couple other faces I knew but also not well.