by J. T. Bock
"Along with my problems." I breathed a shaky sigh and nodded. Parke had a difficult job and I was making it harder. That didn't mean I wanted to go back to the dinner table and pretend nothing happened. "May I see my bedroom now?" I asked, embarrassed by how shaky my voice was.
"I'll show you. It's on the west end, with a nice view of Elliott Bay."
* * *
Parke
I knew I'd hear it from Mom after I concluded my meeting with Daniel. That encounter could wait. "What did you find?" I asked Daniel after closing the door to Dad's study.
"Talked with Barker and Thorne, since Thorne couldn't make the original meeting I scheduled. Thorne had a hand in getting her away. He says your girl was a law student at the University of Alabama. I had somebody go through her school records. She finished the fall semester last year. Never showed up for the spring semester. One year away from graduation with top grades."
"What about her father or her little sister?"
"Found a reward listed on Demonnet—for both girls, no questions asked."
"Put up by her father?"
"Nope. Just a number listed, which connects to voicemail. I figure somebody in Diablo's employ listens to the messages."
"How do you know it's not her father, then?"
"Word has it her old man is in Mexico, living in a beach condo. I guess that's how much he cares about his kids."
"Two mil goes a long way in Mexico, I hear," I growled. "What happened to Cassie's mother?"
"The records say she disappeared ten years ago. No word on her whereabouts."
"Too bad Cassie's father isn't here. I'd ask him a few questions about that."
"Tough to grab him in Mexico."
"I'm sure he knows that. I'll wait to get Cassie's view on this. I don't want to upset her again tonight."
"You think Diablo's aiming for the Prince's seat in Alabama?"
"Could be, although Prince Willis is an idiot if he can't see Diablo's building an army."
"I'll check on that," Daniel dipped his head. "Anything else?"
"You don't have to bow to me. The old man earned it. I haven't."
"Goes with the job," Daniel grinned. "You'll just have to get used to it."
* * *
Cassie
The clothes I'd had at the condo hung in a closet far too big for them. My shoes, set neatly beneath hanging jackets, skirts and slacks, looked sadly insufficient.
Everything else was in drawers built into an island in the closet, which also held a comfortable chair and a small table. If there'd been a minibar, it would have been far too tempting. I didn't drink much or often, but I needed something to calm my unsteady nerves.
Digging through one of the two drawers holding the rest of my things, I found my pajamas. When I left the closet and made my way toward the huge bed, someone knocked on my door.
I expected Kate to be on the other side. I was prepared to hug her if she had a glass of wine for me. Dumping my PJs on the bed, I went to answer the door. Parke stood on the other side, two cups of hot chocolate in his hands.
"Wh-what?" I stuttered. He was the last person I expected.
"Come on, I stole your coffee that first day. Then you offered to buy me Starbucks, even when I didn't deserve it. Let's sit together, hash this out and drink cocoa."
"I'm not comfortable doing that," I hugged myself.
"I know. Just sit with me. We'll talk. The last thing I want to do is upset you and make you uncomfortable. Trust me, your job isn't on the line and won't be."
I had little choice, so I showed him to the sitting area, next to the fireplace in my suite. The house was his, after all.
"Want a fire?" He nodded toward the logs. "I think I can get one going."
"Just set the vent," I said. "I can take care of the rest."
"Will you show me? I've never seen a Fire Demon work." He opened the flue and stepped back.
I'm not sure what he was expecting—perhaps somebody with the control of an infant. Holding up a finger, I allowed the fire to burn from the tip of my nail. Then, leaning over, I touched my finger to the ready pile of logs. They lit immediately. I drew my hand away and held it up, allowing the flame to die. I'd never had a burn my entire life. Fire knows fire. It failed to affect me.
"Outstanding," Parke breathed.
Lifting a cup of cocoa from the small table where he'd left both cups, I sipped. It was good. We sat. Parke drank from his cup. "I'm sorry," he said. "Sometimes I don't realize that I'm grilling somebody. It's habit, I guess."
I wanted to ask why he did it, then. I didn't. We were back to employee and boss, again. Cassie, I see the pain in your eyes, his voice whispered in my mind. I hate that I'm the one responsible.
"I thought telepathy was a myth." I rose and wiped moisture from my cheeks.
"There are a few who can do it," Parke sighed. "That's one of my secrets, Cassie."
"Then I'll make sure it stays secret," I snapped.
"Hey." He was behind me before I knew it. "Cassie, please trust me. That's all I'm asking. I swear we'll sort this mess out. I promise."
"I don't know that it can be sorted out," I whispered.
His arms wrapped around me. His lips touched my temple. I promise, he said before dropping his arms and walking swiftly out of my suite.
* * *
Louise knocked on my door the following morning, to tell me breakfast was ready. I'd spent a restless night, worrying about all the complications in my life. I did and didn't appreciate the contact with Parke the night before. I was afraid to read anything into it—that I might come to see it as more than he intended.
Sure, I'd been on a few dates—with humans. I'd read all the information on demon/human sex. It generally isn't a good idea to get too involved, so I'd held back—and held any seriously-interested humans at arm's length.
That didn't mean I never wanted someone in my life. Far from it. The hard truth was this—who (besides Ross Diablo, who only wanted me to complete his collection and to do his bidding) would want to take on poor Cassie King and all her problems? I'd love to tell (voluntarily) someone all my troubles and have them offer moral and emotional support. To help me find a way to get my baby sister to a safe place where Ross could never touch her. The only safety she had now was that Ross had no idea where to look.
I wanted to weep, too, over the fact that Christmas was coming soon and I couldn't mail her a package without worrying that someone would find me and trace the address. If Mom were still alive, she would have helped us. I knew she was dead—she'd disagreed with Ross when he first offered for me ten years ago. I had no idea where her body lay, but Ross had been more than adept at hiding his tracks.
Dad capitulated after that and became distant from Destiny and me. Destiny was so tiny, then. Was still young. At times, I couldn't help but hate my father. He hadn't even tried to save us. The offer of money and the threats from Ross worked with Dad. We may as well have been dead, too—we could have run wild and he'd never have noticed.
I was fourteen and took over with Destiny, with help from one of Mom's friends, a Water Demon who'd guessed what Ross was up to. She'd take care of Destiny while I was in school; I took care of her after I got home. Between Aunt Shelbie and me, we'd managed to raise Destiny.
Shelbie was the only other person who knew where Destiny was and I knew she'd die before she told anybody that secret. After all, she'd been the one to make the suggestion in the first place. Her friends and her foster-daughter's lives depended upon her silence.
* * *
"Mom and Louise will drop you off at the office," Parke said when I sat down at the kitchen island for breakfast. He was right—it wouldn't do for me to ride to work with the boss. Workplace relationships were frowned upon at Gruber, Taylor and Worth. Everybody would assume a relationship, whether there was one or not, merely because I was driven back and forth by Parke.
"I'll pick you up tonight at six," Louise offered a grin.
"I—thank you," I allowe
d my shoulders to sag. Already I owed Louise and Kate a lot—having me in their home was turning into a huge chore for them.
"It's no bother," Kate said, rubbing my back. "It's easy to get bored, and there's only so much shopping you can do." She offered Louise a smile. Louise laughed.
* * *
Kate and Louise dropped me off at the Starbucks three blocks from work; I grabbed a latte and walked the rest of the way. "Your boss is already in his office," Annabelle snarled as she stepped out of the elevator. "If I were you, I'd try harder to get here before he does."
She was on her way to court; her designer briefcase was in her hand as she brushed past me. I watched her walk through the glass doors of the building as the elevator doors closed, shutting her out. Parke knew exactly when I'd be there, and I was still half an hour early. Annabelle wanted to fuck with Parke by fucking with me, first.
At least nobody else was on the elevator to see me smile before sipping my latte.
"Parke's already in his office," Geoffrey snapped as I walked past him in the hall on the way to my office. That's when I knew Geoffrey and Annabelle had some sort of scheme worked out.
* * *
"Here's the latest on the Hillman case," I dropped a file on Parke's desk. "By the way, Geoffrey and Annabelle are plotting. Do you like fried fish?" I asked.
Parke blinked up at me, confusion showing in his dark eyes. "I love fried fish. Dad always brought home his catch. I learned how to clean them when I was twelve."
"I'll make some for you, sometime. Southern style," I smiled. "Hillman left a message on voicemail. His adversary has offered to buy him out directly."
"Without going through me?" Parke lifted an eyebrow.
"It's a way to avoid punitive damages. We both know one of Hillman's assistants went to work for Fli-Bi-Net. Six months later, they have software eerily similar to Hillman's."
"How much did they offer?"
"Ten million."
"Chump change," Parke snorted. "We can triple that in court and he'll still have his company."
"It's personal for Hillman, now. He loves his company."
"This is a lucrative case," Parke said. "Why did Geoffrey sit on it until the statute of limitations almost ran?"
"I have a theory, but I can't prove anything," I said.
"Bring your coffee, shut the door and we'll discuss it," Parke grinned.
* * *
Parke
"I have deposit records for one of Geoffrey's accounts," Daniel pushed a folder toward me. "Five million, shortly after your father's death, not long after Geoffrey took the Hillman case. Then another five million from the same source one year later. I've traced the money to a subsidiary of Fli-Bi-Net."
"So Geoffrey did take money to hem and haw while the statute of limitations ran. What did he expect to do when Hillman filed a malpractice suit?"
"Word has it the beaches are nice in Mexico."
"Fucker," I growled. The firm would end up paying for Geoffrey's criminal behavior. So far, Cassie had been right all the way about him and Annabelle. All we had to convict him was the deposits Daniel had uncovered, and there were ways of explaining that away.
"At least Hillman will have his day in court. You file charges against Geoffrey, the firm takes a black eye. I'm sure he considered that when he did it," Daniel observed.
"Yeah. Something about this bothers me—a lot more than it should."
"Your dad always said if you can't prove it, it didn't happen," Daniel quoted.
"I remember."
"They'll try to get to you and Cassie," Daniel said.
"I know that, too. Both of them jumped Cassie this morning, telling her she should be in the office ahead of me, even when she was half an hour early. I planned it that way, but that still upset her."
"Fuckers."
"Agreed. Do you have somebody on the Alabama situation?"
"As of this morning. They're digging into any possible ties between the Prince and Ross Diablo."
"I like the way your mind works," I said.
"Your dad taught me to be suspicious of everybody until you know better."
"He told me the same thing."
"What are you going to do about Bridgett?" Daniel asked. "Word has it she may show up at your house if you don't call her soon."
"She needs to recognize the truth when she hears it. There's a reason I haven't talked to her since Dad died; before then it was only over the phone. Yes, I know she was at the funeral," I held up a hand. "I don't have time for her and even less desire to listen to her talk about us as the perfect couple. I'd rather marry a badger—a real one and not the shifter kind."
"Look, I need to go," Daniel stood and stretched. "There's research to do and feet to hold to the fire."
"You do that," I said. "I have some things to take care of, myself."
* * *
Cassie
I set Parke's triple capp on his desk when I got back from lunch. He frowned—I'd left the building on my own.
"I just got off the phone with Bridgett Moss-Murphy," he said, lifting the cup and nodding his thanks. "She thinks I'm kidding when I say we don't have a future together," he added.
"I have no idea who that is," I said.
"Somebody who thinks I'm her property, although we've never gone out or even had a hot dog together. Her Dad knew mine; that's all she has to go on."
"What are you going to do about it?" I asked.
"Get engaged."
"But you just said," I stuttered.
"To you."
I had to mop up my spilled latte before I could demand an answer.
Chapter 5
Cassie
"Look at it this way," Parke grinned. I sat in the guest chair inside his office, trying not to shake. "Even if you signed that paper Ross Diablo has, he can't prevent you from accepting a better offer before the marriage. It's in the Demon law, modified in 1937 to reflect that the female gets to choose her mate, especially if a better offer is put forth. It's her decision to make."
I could see that Parke was looking at this as a challenge—one he was determined to win at any cost. "Then, we'll post the upcoming nuptials on Demonnet, get married and Ross will be left holding the bag."
"But," I tried to interrupt his planning of the rest of my life.
"You'd rather marry Ross?"
"No," I shook my head violently.
"Then this is easy. It gets Bridgett of my back, Ross Diablo off yours, we can bring your sister here—Mom would love to teach a fledgling Ice Demon—and we continue to investigate Ross while he's not looking."
"I don't think he'll give up that easy," I shook my head at Parke. "He hates to lose."
"You think he'll challenge the Chancellor and the Council of Princes?"
"Three of those are Princesses," I pointed out.
"Same thing," Parke shrugged. "Come on—if you can't stand me after the obligatory five years, then we go our separate ways."
So many things were wrong with this picture. "What about," I said.
"There's a suite attached to mine, with its own bath. You can have that. No shagging unless you want to."
"Shagging?"
"Slang for sex. In Britain."
I felt trapped. Smothered. I'd never had a life that was my own. I'd had to earn my scholarships and work weekends and summers to pay for college and law school. The only thing I had was the house in Mobile—Daddy paid for that, at least. It was bad enough that I'd had to give it up just to protect my sister's life.
"Cassie, don't do that—your eyes are going dark. Cassie, sweetheart, come back, okay? My office isn't fireproof."
That brought me out of my panic. I could burn the place down if I wasn't careful. I'd always been careful. Always.
"I want to finish law school," I whispered, once I knew I was back to myself.
"That goes without saying. Your grades are too good to just waste them on a paralegal's certificate."
He'd investigated that. Lovely. Daniel had li
kely done it for him.
"Look, I'll have Louise drive you home. I think you need the rest of the day off."
I rose to leave his office, my legs unsteady beneath me as I walked toward the door. Geoffrey almost fell inside Parke's office the moment I turned the knob.
"What the hell?" Parke almost exploded.
"I just wanted to tell you in person that Annabelle and I have no interest in selling our share in the firm," Geoffrey huffed.
At that moment, I prayed he was telling the truth. I had no desire for him to cause more trouble because Parke intended to marry me.
* * *
An hour later, I settled into Louise's Porsche and shut the door. Too many things threatened to bring on an all-out panic attack and that wouldn't do. Louise didn't bother me with small talk—Parke already told her what he intended. It surprised me that she wore a look of sympathy as she drove me away from Gruber, Taylor and Worth.
We'd just gone past the space needle ten minutes later when a car ran a red light and broadsided us before bursting into flames. Our airbags deployed so we weren't hurt—it takes quite a bit to harm a Demon, after all.
"The driver's still in the car," Louise shouted as she hit the buckle on her seat belt and tumbled from the car. I was out of my seat half a second later. "Let me," I said as we raced toward the driver's door.
Fire knows fire.
Without hesitation, I gripped the door handle and yanked, tossing the door into the street before melting through the seat belt with a touch and hauling the unconscious driver away. Louise, right beside me by that time, pulled both of us along—her strength as a Rock Demon evident.
The car exploded behind us, knocking both of us to our knees. We bent over the driver, though, so he wasn't injured further by the blast. Police sirens sounded nearby as we laid the driver—a young man—on the street and checked for a pulse.