I didn’t have an answer that would appease him. Nothing I could say would make it okay that his daughter had run straight into danger. “Whether Ryder was here for the wedding or to hunt down the killer, there were two places he could’ve be staying. The hotel or my bungalow. I didn’t want whatever he brought with him to disappear in the event it held clues as to the killer’s identity. He must have been getting close, and that was the reason why he was here.”
My father didn’t look convinced. The fine lines of his face deepened in contention. We all understood the threat that was coming. That was why we’d come so prepared. I sat up in the bed with King’s help. My body was still a little bruised, even more than my ego.
“Dad, I’m fine. It was a good thing I went to check if he was squatting there. Otherwise, Ryder’s personal items would’ve been destroyed when my bungalow exploded.”
My house had exploded. The meaning finally registered. All of my things, from all of those years, had gone up in flames and smoke. My heart clenched at the thought that I now had nowhere to call home or even a crazy neighbor nearby. My eyes widened as I turned toward my father.
“Is Birdie okay?”
“Birdie is fine. She called my cell phone to tell me that you and Margo had just vanished out of sight. She needn’t have bothered. You almost gave the lobby staff heart attacks with your entrance.”
There may not be any secret tunnels under the island, but my sister had saved my life—of course after I’d saved her with my protective bubble.
I slid out of the bed, ignoring the aches in my bones. Getting almost blown up hurt. “Where’s Margo?”
“In her room with Andrew. They have the things you took of Ryder’s.”
I nodded as I glanced around the hotel room for shoes ignoring the burning question of when my father had purchased the hospital equipment and who might have played my nurse. I shoved those thoughts aside unsure I wanted those answers and continued searching for my shoes, until I remembered that I’d left them on the beach. I had no idea even what room we were in. When I’d left the hotel, our room was being occupied by police.
I walked over to my bag and pulled out another pair of shoes.
“Where do you think you’re going?” my dad asked.
“I’m going to check on Margo, and I need to look through Ryder’s things.”
“Tess, I almost lost you. Maybe your dad is right. You should stay here and rest,” King said.
I raised my brow at King, a look he would be receiving an awful lot from me. “You knew what you were getting into when you asked me to marry you. This isn’t my first dead body, King.”
King took my hand in his. He knew I was right. He nodded in understanding and opened the door. “If you do this, we’re doing it together.”
Those were the sweetest words I think I’d ever heard. I was absolutely marrying the man that knew me best. The man I loved. He was the type of man that my mother could only have dreamed of me marrying. He would always take care of his family with the same determination that I would.
King and I stepped out of the room and headed toward the elevator with my father following us. The elevator doors opened to reveal Watson standing in the car.
I should have guessed that my father had security hunting for any clues they could find. My brother’s best friend, Watson, and I had dated once. He’d come to the island in his teens when my dad had hired Watson’s dad to work as an onsite handyman. Within the first year, his dad died unexpectedly from a heart attack, and Watson refused to move off the island with his other family members. He’d begged my father for a job, and that was how he’d ended up in security and becoming my brother’s best friend.
Watson held the door open as we approached. “I was coming to look for you.”
“You were?” I asked.
“Well, yeah, I’ve been scouring through security videos since they found Ryder’s body in the suite. I never saw him in the hallways. The only person that entered that room was a handyman pushing a cart from the pool entrance.”
I stepped into the elevator and stabbed the button for my sisters’ floor. “Did you get a good look at his face?”
“Unfortunately no. The worker was wearing a hoodie and kept his face away from the cameras, as though he knew they were there. I think we might be dealing with somebody on the property.”
Masterson’s lips thinned with anger and met my gaze. I knew the stony look in his eyes. He was not happy, and he was about to tell me why.
“Tess, this is exactly why you need to let professionals deal with this. This guy could be a hired hitman, and you would never even see him coming. Whoever is behind this got the drop on Ryder of all people.”
No way was I about to let my father talk me out of this. I wasn’t doing this just for myself. I was doing this for my entire family, new and old. But arguing with him had never gotten me anywhere. He had a knack for making me think he was right, so I didn’t bother to try.
The elevator dinged open on the tenth floor, and I headed toward the last rooms. One was Margo’s, the other Georgia’s. Both doors opened at the same time as if they sensed my approach. They probably had. I stood in the hallway with King behind me as I glanced from one side of the hall to the other. Knowing that Georgia had Livvy, I gestured for King to go into Georgia’s room, where Carson and Livvy were sitting at a table playing cards. Taking Georgia’s hand, I led her into Margo’s room for some more privacy.
“Don’t be making plans that you don’t intend to share,” King called out as he headed into the room where Carson was babysitting.
I wasn’t about to make any promises, not yet. I stepped into Margo’s room to find Andrew pacing in the living room area of the suite. He turned his glare to me as if I had been the cause of everything that had happened.
He was probably right.
“Tess, I should be pissed you almost got Margo killed, but she would have followed you anyway.”
“I’m sorry,” I offered, knowing that he was right.
Margo grinned from ear to ear, crossing the room to kiss his lips. “Why don’t you go devise a plan with King and Carson in Georgia’s room? You know that’s what they’re doing in there.”
Andrew rested his fists on his hips. “Are you trying to get rid of me?”
“You already know the answer to that,” Margo said.
If I thought it was freaky that my sisters could sense when I was in danger or where I was, it was even weirder to know that Andrew could read Margo’s thoughts. I couldn’t imagine always having somebody in my head.
We waited for him to leave and shut the door behind him. Georgia turned her glare on me. “You were both stupid.”
“You weren’t saying that in the lobby. You thought it was a good idea that we went to go get Ryder’s things.”
Georgia unzipped Ryder’s bag and began to empty the contents. “That was before someone tried to blow you to tiny bits and send your bodies out to the fishes.”
Chapter 6
Margo picked up the computerized tablet that held data on all the family trees with magical ancestry. Ryder had shown it to me the first time he’d been on the island. It was how he proved I was a witch. It was also the same device that Georgia had stolen from him to look up her family line while trying to hunt the voodoo killer. That little gadget from the witch’s council was probably worth a ton of money. It had the name of every witch and wizard and their entire family lines.
Margo punched in some information and turned to show it to us. It was Ryder’s family tree. Similar to the one we found in the Hexford chronicals. They’d called out a voodoo killer and placed a hex on someone in that family line, although next to Ryder’s name was the word, excommunicated. “Looks like the Shields disowned him too.”
“My friend is dead, and you’re out of suspects. Now, where are we supposed to look?” I asked. I’d known my sisters were wrong, but it was one of the things they had to see to believe.
“My mom told me about Masterson.”
Margo glanced up from the device and met our gazes. “She knew a lot about your mother and Georgia’s. It’s how she knew she was next to be killed and why she took off.”
Georgia narrowed her eyes, but whatever she had been thinking she kept to herself. “That still leaves us with the problem that the killer is already on the island. How are we to determine who it might be?”
“We look for somebody who doesn’t belong. My father approved everybody on this island, from the employees to the people who live here. I grew up here, and I would recognize an unfamiliar face.”
“Like your new mommy dearest?” Georgia asked.
“Exactly like Regina, so we hunt, instead of being hunted. I need a list of any additional residents since I left. And that should be easy to get, considering all of those files should be in my old office.”
“Sounds like you have to go be nice to mommy dearest.” Georgia chuckled.
I smirked. “I think we should all go see mommy dearest. Maybe we can determine what line she is from and do a background on her. She is new to the island.”
Leave it to me to throw my new stepmother into the pool of brand-new suspects.
We pulled the hotel door open to find my stepsiblings getting off the elevator. The Halliwells glided down the hall with grace as if they’d practiced that type of walk on the runway. Penny led the way. She was always the quiet one, kind of like Livvy. Penny was smart in an unassuming way. I think she did that to throw people off about how cunning she could be.
Now Pippy, my other stepsister, had no qualms about who and what she didn’t like. I used to be on that list. Judging by their faces, I might have made the list again.
“Just the girls we were looking for,” Pippy said as she approached.
Georgia and Margo and I shared looks. They hadn’t had the opportunity to meet Halliwells, my other family. Even though they were Masterson’s children, and I wasn’t technically related by blood, they were still considered my other family. Vinette Halliwell’s magic ran through my veins, along with my family line.
“Masterson told me you guys were coming.”
“Well, we would have missed all the fun,” Pippy said. “We hear somebody is trying to kill off Hexfords, and seeing how you’re officially a Hexford, we can’t let that happen. Not since our mother’s magic is in your veins. If you were to die, one of us would need to be nearby to collect the powers back.”
And there was the real reason why they had showed up. They might’ve pretended for their father to be interested in my safety, but should I die, they had the chance to get their mother’s abilities back, but only if they were deemed the worthiest witch around. I knew how that worked. It was how I had gotten their mother’s magic to begin with, even if I hadn’t known I was a witch at the time.
“You didn’t have to come all this way,” Georgia said, coming to stand next to me. Her glare was unfriendly with a hint of annoyance. “Nothing’s going to happen to Tess. Her sister and I will make sure of that.”
“You’ll have to forgive my sister,” Penny said. “We don’t wish to see any harm come to Tess. She’s our sibling, too. We came to help in any way we could. Isn’t that right, Pippy?” Penny nudged her sister.
I sidestepped my relatives and headed toward the elevator. I had just pushed the button when the door to Georgia’s hotel suite opened. King poked his head out into the hallway. I should have known that it wouldn’t be this easy.
Everyone else in that room stepped out as well. I had been surprised to find that Peter, the last Halliwell accounted for, was already among the group from Carson’s room.
“And where do you think you’re going?” King asked.
“Don’t worry. I’m not leaving the building, and my sisters are coming with me.”
“Yeah, because that worked out so well the last time you and your sister went somewhere,” King said as he approached.
“I’m just going down to my old office to pull some files.”
Pippy wrapped her arm through mine and smiled up at King. “No, she’s not, but don’t worry, handsome. We’re going to a place where no men are allowed.”
She stared at her sister; baffled. Why wouldn’t men be allowed in the hotel?
“Every bride-to-be deserves a bachelorette party,” Piper announced. “We’ve been planning it for an entire week.”
I didn’t know what surprised me most, the fact that my siblings from hell had planned a bachelorette party or the fact that my fiancé just kissed me and walked me to the elevator to let me go. I felt like I was in the twilight zone. Margo, Georgia, and I exchanged looks as Pippy hit the button to the roof.
“Ah, you plan to throw me from the roof?”
“Maybe if I thought it would work,” Pippy said.
Penny rolled her eyes. “We would never do that. I promise.”
The elevator door opened onto the top floor. Pippy pulled out a key and stuck into the slot, closing the elevator to take it up to the next level, where only security staff or authorized maintenance staff were allowed. The doors slid open. The fresh ocean breeze caressed my face as we stepped out to hear music floating through the air.
Twinkling lights, strung overhead, danced around the perimeter and met in the middle forming a canopy. The normally unoccupied space was decorated in a way that I could never have dreamed of. Lanterns and flowers sat atop the tables. Music played, and people danced. Female hotel staff workers were socializing. Four bars sat at the edges of the party area. My Aunt Blythe was perched precariously at the one closest. She looked more annoyed than happy.
Regina Thompson, my new stepmother, stood in the middle of the floor. Her white pantsuit glowed beneath the lights. A smile lit her face as she watched us. She opened her arms and gestured. “Welcome to your bachelorette party.”
At her words, bartenders appeared out of seemingly nowhere, thrusting champagne flutes into our hands.
“Well, this is…nice,” Margo said.
“And weird,” Georgia added.
“Having a bachelorette party under a full moon is a witchy tradition in my family. It will bring the bride good luck,” Regina said as she approached. “Penny and Pippy helped me plan it.”
Of course they had, because they liked to see me suffer.
Chapter 7
Hours into the party, the full moon shined above. I had only one glass of champagne and opted to people-watch the rest of the time. My sisters had let their guard down a little bit easier than me. They sat at the table with Pippy and Penny while I stood at the bar waiting on a tonic.
Regina appeared by my side. “We surprised you, didn’t we?”
“You could say that.” I gave her a sideways glance. “You could say that you were a surprise. Why didn’t my father tell me about you?”
“You, of all people, know that Masterson keeps most things to himself. But not you… He told me all about you, Tess. You’re the light in his life. You and your mother both were, God rest her soul.”
Annoyance stirred in my veins. I didn’t know why it struck me as odd this woman would talk about my mother. I felt a perverse violation of my personal space. Speaking about my mother should be off-limits. I was, after all, her only child.
I bit my tongue, refusing to let her bait me into an argument. I hadn’t figured out this woman’s game yet, but I would. If my father hadn’t done a background check on her, I would make it my mission to know everything that there was to know. I recognized most of the faces around me. If I pressed, maybe one of these people could dish the dirt on why Regina was here, assuming it wasn’t just for Masterson’s money. I didn’t begrudge my dad a happily ever after. I only wished it were true.
I glanced at Regina again, letting my gaze slide down her body. I could see how most men would find her attractive. She was pretty, and she exuded witchy power. Maybe she did have my dad under a spell, a spell that I would break while I was here. “God rest my mother’s soul.” A sly smile split my lips. “Speaking of which, do you have a list of everybody that’
s new to the island since my last visit?”
“Your dad told me that you would ask for it. He knows you better than you think he does. You’re going to figure out who killed Ryder and who is after you.” Regina patted my arm. “But you needn’t worry yourself, Tess. I won’t let anything happen to you; you can count on that.”
I wasn’t so sure I believed her.
Regina strolled off toward one of the other bars at the same time Auntie Blythe appeared by my side.
“I can feel the animosity in the air.”
“She’s my new stepmother.” I rolled my eyes, earning a hint of a smile from my aunt.
“You don’t trust her, do you, Tess?”
“You know me so well.” I chuckled as I wrapped my arm through Auntie Blythe’s and guided her toward the table where my sisters and family sat.
It wasn’t that I wished Regina ill, or my father not to be happy, but I just had to know for myself that she was the right one for him. I wasn’t convinced, yet. There are too many unknowns on this island at the moment for my liking. When I ran the place, I knew everything that was going on and all the people coming and going. Heck, I even knew everyone’s first name. But as I looked around at the sea of faces, I realized that was no longer the case. Maybe I was out of my element now. Maybe I’d be smart to trust those around me who knew better. I just wasn’t one for giving up the reins so quickly.
A round of tequila shots arrived at our table. My sisters were practically dancing in their seats to the music as men filed out of the elevator. It didn’t take a genius to realize that they were strippers by the way they were dressed.
Female laughter and cheers bubbled up into the night sky as the men took the stage.
Margo nudged my arm and lifted the shot glass to her lips. “Drink up, Tess. These are your last few nights as a single woman.”
I picked up at my shot glass and tapped mine against hers. Margo drank hers in one gulp, and I took only a sip of mine. No way was I getting drunk twenty floors up in the sky. A railing surrounded the rooftop. It wasn’t as though I would fall over, at least not without help.
Witchy Past Page 3