Payback Princess (Lost Daughter of a Serial Killer Book 2)

by C. M. Stunich

  “Want to meet my parents instead?” Maxx offers up hopefully, giving Lumen’s retreating back a dark look before he drops his attention to me.

  “Introducing her to the parents already? You move quick,” Chasm jokes, but there’s no heat to his quip. He hates being here in this crowd as much as I do. His eyes dart around, searching the faces in the room before he returns them back to me. “They’re much nicer than my dad, so don’t worry too much about that.”

  X gives a snort and snatches my empty champagne glass from my hand, dumping it on a nearby table before he hooks his arm with mine, guiding me over to two men in suits standing beside a table laden with refreshments.

  “Hey,” he says, and both men turn to look at us. One of them smiles brightly while the other has a small crease between his brows. They exchange a quick couple look before turning back to us. “I wanted to introduce you guys to my friend, Kota.”

  “Maxine’s little sister?” the blond man says, slightly shorter and smaller of frame than the other.

  My heart breaks all over again, but I do what I’ve been doing for weeks, cobbling it together and leaving it messy and slightly off-kilter.

  “That’s me,” I say with as pleasant a tone as I can manage.

  “Dakota, these are my dads,” Maxx explains, gesturing at the blond one first. “Laurent and Hamilton Wright.”

  “So lovely to meet you,” Laurent, the blond one says. The other one—the one with the dark hair that very much looks like Maxx—forces a smile. I consider all the things that X told me, about how his parents encouraged him to seek Maxine out, how interested they were in her, how they talked shit about me before ever meeting me. Part of me wants to be upset, but there are just too many unknowns in this situation. Besides, my dad is a goddamn serial killer, so I can’t really fault Maxx’s parents for spreading gossip, now can I? “I hope our son has been a polite houseguest?”

  “We also hear he’s adopted a rabbit,” the other one, Hamilton, says, frowning prettily. They’re both very handsome men actually. To be fair, most everyone in this room is good looking. Money can do that, you know. Plastic surgery (probably through Dr. Paul Vanguard), personal trainers, private chefs, nutritionists, access to the best doctors, fancy clothes, makeup artists, hair stylists, lash extensions, microblading … do I even need to keep going?

  I take all of that pretty in with a very large, very salty grain of reality.

  “Not sure how I feel about that,” Hamilton continues as his husband sighs dramatically, draining a glass of wine. “But I suppose it can live with us when you move back into the dorms next year.” My heart sinks a little at that thought, of X leaving and going back to Eugene. I know we’ll only be five hours apart, but with Maxine, I already know that at times it can feel like an impossible chasm.

  That, however, is future Dakota’s problem.

  “We were sorry to hear about Maxx and your sister,” Laurent adds, giving his husband a look that clearly says let the damn bunny thing go, please. He looks back at me with caramel-colored eyes and smiles again. “She seems like such a nice girl; I can only hope we raised our son well enough that he didn’t do anything to upset her.”

  “Thank you for the vote of confidence,” Maxx interjects as I spot Lumen in the crowd again. She looks a bit flustered, one of her fists clenched tight at her side. “I told you: it was a mutual breakup. Can you let it go, please?”

  I smile slightly at the sound of Maxx talking like a normal teenager.

  “And Kwang-seon, how are you?” Laurent asks as the dark-haired man watches the crowd in a similar fashion to the way Chasm is doing now, like he’s surrounded by predators and is on the defensive.

  “Uh, what?” Chas asks, looking back at Maxx’s parents and blinking rapidly. “Oh, I’m doing well, thank you for asking.” He affects the same polite tone that he uses on Tess when she’s in a bad mood. “I hear Laurent’s managed to land a new job?” he inquires politely as my eyes seek out Lumen once again.

  She’s alone right now. I consider how to make my escape.

  “Hamilton will continue working as Tiffany’s manager for the time being; I’ve just landed myself an incredible new position in Justin’s company.” I look back to see Laurent smiling excitedly as Maxx frowns. I just assume that Tiffany is his sister. That’s how little we really know each other, huh? I didn’t even know his sister’s name until just now.

  But you really get to know both the best and worst of others in the middle of a crisis; Maxx has shown me all his cards, and I really like what I’ve seen so far. A lot. Too much, probably.

  “I didn’t know that,” Maxx interjects, flicking a glance at Chasm. They exchange information silently, in the way that really good friends sometimes do. Or lovers. Yeah, lovers do that, too.

  “Well, I just learned about it tonight,” Laurent continues happily, lifting his glass up toward the crowd. “It pays triple what my last job did, and I can work remotely from Portland. It’s a fantastic opportunity. Kota, if you see your father in this melee, give him my thanks. I doubt I’ll get a chance to talk to him; everyone in town seems to be fighting for his attention.”

  “I absolutely will,” I agree with a pleasant smile. “Pardon me. I need to use the restroom, but it was lovely meeting you both.”

  I slip away before either of the boys can stop me, only to realize that Lumen is headed right for me, her face set in a determined cast. She doesn’t stop when she gets close to me, slamming her shoulder so hard into mine that I actually stumble.

  “Out of my way, bitch,” she snaps, a glittering gold nightmare in a very pretty, very expensive gown. I’m still trying to catch my balance when her left hand—the one that was clenched into a tight first earlier, presses against mine. Something small and square slides into my palm and off she goes.

  “What is your fucking problem?” Chasm snarls, intercepting her. I clutch the item tightly as I turn around to see Lumen facing off against both boys.

  “Problem?” she asks with a breezy laugh as she tosses her hair over one shoulder. “She is my problem. You are my problem. Why don’t you ask Danyella how many nights she stayed up crying because of you two?”

  “Keep harassing Dakota and see what happens when Parrish gets back. What I’ve done to you thus far will seem nice comparatively.”

  “Go fuck yourself, Kwang-seon,” she snarls, turning her vitriol on Maxx. “And what about you, Maxim? I thought you graduated last year. Don’t tell me you’re one of those pathetic college boys who sniffs around high school girls looking for an easy lay?”

  “Don’t pretend like you aren’t afraid of us,” Maxx warns her. “And if you’re not, you should be. Dakota was seriously hurt; she broke several bones. Maybe we should break some of yours as payback?”

  “As if Chasm’s horde of whores didn’t already try,” she quips, shoving between them both and taking off at a quick clip. I let her go, squeezing whatever it is that she put in my hand so tightly that the corners of it hurt my palm.

  “Are you okay?” Maxx asks, and I nod, glancing up at the large plastic ‘bubbles’ near the ceiling. They float around and even shimmer like real bubbles, but I know what they truly are: drones. Seems like something out of a sci-fi romance, but it’s not. My grandmother’s best friend went to Las Vegas last year where they have the world’s largest legal cannabis dispensary; she said she saw these things hovering all over the place for security.

  Disturbing.

  Justin can monitor every single thing happening at his party whenever he wants—and probably have all our faces tagged and catalogued by his stupid Milk Carton app.

  “I just need to use the bathroom—” I start, and then pause when I see Justin press a kiss to a woman’s cheek. She leans back and smiles at him. Something about her expression bothers me, like maybe I’ve seen her somewhere before. She has long brunette hair with blond highlights woven expertly throughout, and her mouth is full and pouty. I swear that we’ve met, even though I can’t place her face.
>
  Then it hits me, and my blood goes cold.

  “Take this, but keep it hidden,” I whisper, letting my hand tangle with Chasm’s as I sweep past. I leave Lumen’s note with him, and he slips it immediately into the pocket of his jacket.

  I’m breathless by the time I arrive at Justin’s side, and he looks over at me in a knowing—and very pleased sort of way—because he knows what I’ve just figured out. He knows that I know who this is, just by looking at her.

  That mouth … I know a pouty mouth just like that on a very intimate level. For as long as I live, even if I never see Parrish Vanguard again, I won’t forget the full lushness of his lips.

  “My darling,” Justin remarks, sweeping an arm around me and drawing me close as the woman turns her attention away from a group of well-dressed businessmen and over toward me. Her smile is poisonous, her gaze sharp. “I’d like you to meet my girlfriend, Caroline Bassett.”

  I almost choke. Chasm does choke. Maxx maintains his calm through some sort of miracle.

  “You’re Parrish’s bio mom,” I blurt before I can stop myself. That causes her pretty smile to falter, but she regains her composure well. Also … Justin Prior has a girlfriend?! After all the fawning and obsessing over Tess that he’s been doing?

  I smell a plot.

  Justin Prior just doesn’t do coincidences.

  “I gave birth to him, yes,” Caroline remarks, which is a really weird way to respond to my statement. Particularly, it’s even weirder because Parrish is missing. I think about Tess and how she was shouting at this woman over the phone the other day. Caroline doesn’t seem particularly perturbed that her son has been gone for over two weeks. “And you must be Dakota Banks, Justin’s beautiful daughter. It’s so lovely to meet you. I’ve been after Justin all week to arrange a meeting between us.” She gives him a look, but he just chuckles good-naturedly.

  “I’ve only just met my own child, Caroline. Don’t be greedy.”

  Her eyes sweep past me to land on Chasm first and then Maxx. She takes note of them, catalogues their appearances, and then dismisses them just as quickly. Whatever she’s here for, it isn’t love and family, that’s for damn sure. My attention slides over to Justin, but he’s smiling at his girlfriend in that charming way of his.

  If she’s a monster, fine. Doesn’t matter. So is he. They deserve each other.

  This is clearly the person he was so eager to introduce me to. Figures that he’d pick Parrish’s bio mom to date after kidnapping and imprisoning her son. Or before? I wonder when they met and how long they’ve been together, how long Justin Prior has been plotting all of this.

  Milk Carton’s aging software was put in place specifically to locate me, so clearly this has been in the works for a very long time. Probably since shortly after Saffron kidnapped me. It occurs to me that all this time, I’ve been obsessing over that stupid Netflix documentary, about my grandparents calling the hotline, about Tess spiriting me away to live here.

  In retrospect, that was a good thing. I was bound to end up in Medina whether I liked it or not. The only difference here is that I’ve got Chasm and Maxx on my side, that Tess found me first, that I wasn’t dragged straight from my quiet life in the Catskills to this West Coast mess.

  Justin would’ve found me, regardless. But I would’ve been even more blindsided by his entrance into my life, even less prepared. At least that’s something.

  “Well, if she’s a part of your life, honey, then she’s a part of mine.” Caroline smiles at me, her sleek black dress clinging to all of her curves. She’s a beautiful woman, as beautiful as Parrish is handsome. Yet, I can’t get past the fact that she’s at a fancy party fawning all over Justin while her son is missing. “I hope we can get to know each other, Dakota.”

  “There’ll be plenty of time for that,” a redheaded man booms out, breaking away from the other well-dressed men beside him to clamp a hand on Justin’s shoulder. I feel my bio dad tense up beside me, his arm still wrapped firmly around my shoulders. “I hear you just put an offer in on a house?”

  “Mm,” Justin agrees, releasing me finally as I study Caroline further. I let my gaze drift back to Chasm’s, but he can’t seem to break his glare. The hatred roiling in his face matches my own. When I look to Maxx, he returns my stare, reaching down to give my hand a quick squeeze. “I have actually. The elderly owner passed away from a chronic health condition. I managed to get my offer in before the place even hit the market.”

  That intrigues me for more than one reason. First off, I wonder if the owner wasn’t also a victim of the Slayer. Second … could this be the house that Tess mentioned, the one that she said Justin bought for her? Then again, she mentioned a family living in that house, not a sick, elderly person. Still, it’s another option, another place for us to check out.

  “In Medina or elsewhere?” the man babbles as Justin drops his arm from my shoulders and plucks yet another glass of alcohol off a passing tray; the drone bubbles flutter above our heads as the orchestra continues to play.

  “Here in town, of course. Anything less would be obscene.” He sips his drink as I debate the best way to escape this conversation so that I can find a spot to examine whatever it was that Lumen slipped into my hand. I didn’t dare glance at it with the drones overhead.

  “You have great instincts,” Justin’s companion continues, continuing to pat my bio dad on the shoulder. Am I the only one who recognizes how much he hates being touched like that? His smile is still firmly in place, but there are cracks in it. Caroline notices, I think, but then she swings her gaze over to me, and I find myself choking on the pain of missing Parrish.

  She looks so much like him, and she doesn’t even care that he’s gone. He mentioned his mother briefly in passing, but only once. That, and … I flush in shame as I remember how I threw her abandonment of him in his face. It’s not something I was proud of at the time, and it’s even more shameful now that I think back on it.

  “Didn’t she run off when you were a kid? I can see why. Clearly, you drove her away.”

  Ugh.

  “Great instincts in both business and real estate,” the man continues as he prattles along, oblivious to Justin’s distaste for him.

  “Well,” Justin begins, taking in a deep breath and straightening out his jacket. “Instinct is a marvelous thing. It can neither be explained nor ignored.”

  The blood drains from my face, and I feel so dizzy that I actually start to topple over. The boys steady me on either side as Justin flicks a curious glance my way and takes great effort to restore the usual brilliance in his smile.

  “Don’t worry,” Caroline tells me, gliding closer in her floor-length gown. “You’ll get more used to the heels over time. With all these lovely parties your father plans on throwing, I’m sure you’ll have plenty of practice.”

  “I’m certain that I will,” I agree as the big man in the navy suit continues to chatter away and Justin pretends to be interested.

  Meanwhile, I’m reeling. I’m breaking apart. I’m falling to pieces.

  “In the meantime, I’m going to hit the bathroom. Lady troubles.” I give a false smile as Caroline’s brows go up, turning and fleeing the conversation like a house on fire.

  “What’s going on?” Maxx asks, grabbing onto my right arm as Chasm takes my left. It’s the only way to stay so close together in such a large, tightly gathered crowd.

  “Out. I think I might know where we can find our next clue.”

  “Explain,” Chasm demands as soon as we’re inside the garage. It’s going to be difficult to get a car out of here with so many people coming and going in the courtyard, but we’ll figure it out.

  “You know everyone in Medina,” I murmur, pacing briefly across the garage floor in my heels and wringing my hands. I look up at Chasm’s confused expression. “Is there anyone who died around here recently? Someone elderly, with a health condition?” I shake my head as Chas quirks a brow at me. “Or maybe they didn’t even have a health conditio
n. Just … someone who might’ve owned a home. A big one. And in Medina proper.”

  “Uh,” Chasm starts, looking up at the ceiling as he thinks that over. “Armando Vasquez, maybe? He owns the estate two doors down from here. He’s been battling pancreatic cancer for a while; my dad bought his company out from under him on the cheap a few years back. I hadn’t heard about him passing away, but that’s the only person I can think of that might fit your description. Again, why?”

  I’m so excited that I actually stagger back, putting a hand out on the wall to steady myself.

  “Instinct is a marvelous thing. It can neither be explained nor ignored,” I say, pausing to shake out my hands as excitement courses through me. “It’s a quote from Agatha Christie’s book, the one we found in the asylum. Justin just fucking quoted it!”

  The boys exchange another look before turning back to me.

  “They were discussing the house that Justin put an offer in on,” I add, trying not to hyperventilate. “That big dude—”

  “Veronica’s dad,” Chasm explains, and pieces start sliding into place inside my head. I’ve gone over our clues so many times that I have things memorized—including the list of wine aficionados in the area.

  “He mentioned Justin’s instincts for real estate, and then he quoted the book. He quoted the damn book, and Armanda Vasquez’s name was on our list of fucking winos!” I slap the back of one hand into the palm of the other. “We need to get over to that house. Now.”

  “Shit,” Maxx breathes, his eyes widening. He looks at Chasm again. “Could we walk over there from here?”

  “We could,” Chasm agrees, glancing down at my shoes. I’m already kicking them off my feet, so excited that I’m shaking. This could be it. This could really fucking be it. “Let me get you shoes,” he starts, but now he’s shaking, too.