by April Zyon
“No idea,” he said quietly. “The gods don’t keep us in the loop on much of anything. They show up when they need us for a gig and then bugger off while we’re working unless we start shouting for them. Ares is pretty good. He’ll show up a decent amount of the time. I haven’t tried any of the others yet, but only because I don’t really know them that well.” Mikhail moved to the fridge and pulled out two beers. After opening one, he passed it to her while he opened the second. He took a drink then set it aside to grab up the dish cloth so he could start wiping down the counters.
Kasper watched him wiping down the counters and she sipped her beer. She was about to say something when she heard one of the men calling their names from the back of the house. “Huh. Wonder what’s going on.” She waited for Mikhail to finish with the counter and then walked alongside him to the den where the guys were all gathered around a desk, where Owen was looking at a screen.
Owen shot them a look and sighed. “So, we have ourselves a small problem.”
“What exactly would that be?” Mikhail asked.
“Well, it seems that Kasper’s uncle has been making, and receiving, some calls from a bunch of rather shady gents. I did a little more digging. I didn’t want to take anything on face value and come to the wrong conclusion. He’s known some of them for years, interacted with them off and on, and even gone to some of their family events. But the call traffic has seriously jumped through the roof in the last three days. And don’t even get me started on the texting. For a group of older folks, they text more than a horde of tweens.”
“That’s not right. My uncle doesn’t get technology enough to text. And shady as in how?” She felt her brother’s hand at her back and was comforted he was there. “Can you tell what they’re talking about?”
“Not a clue,” he muttered.
“Well, he may have played it off to everyone around him as not being tech savvy, but I have to tell you, he is. While he’s not genius-level like yours truly, he has a few skills.” Owen turned back to the computer to pull up five pictures. “Your uncle.” He pointed to each of the pictures as he talked. “Went to school with this guy. They fell out during their junior year of high school and then reconnected about four years after college. At which point he met this guy, a friend of the old schoolmate, and who they’ve interacted with off and on through the years. Guys number four and five became associates of your uncle through various business deals and fundraising events. Four and five here have ties to two different mob families who are currently on good standing with one another. School chum got in with one of those families during college, but has been keeping a really low profile of late with them.
“School chum’s friend, image number three for those not paying attention, has numerous ties to mob families, gangs, and other even less savory characters. He’s what we’ll euphemistically term a cleaner. Your uncle has been chatting their ears off and texting enough to set the networks ablaze with these four guys. Given their ties, and what their rumored gigs are for the families, we have some serious shit. Shit not a one of us wants to deal with given the size, and reach, of the two particular families.”
“Which means what?” Mikhail asked.
“Basically, I think it means that her uncle’s called out a contract on her life. Given the way Kasper changed her will recently, it’s his only way to ensure he eventually gets his hands on the money he needs to cover his gambling debts and extravagant lifestyle.” Spinning his chair around, Owen looked at them. “At least that’s my current running theory until I can hack the records for the texts so I can see what they actually say.”
Kasper couldn’t believe her uncle’s gall. The man was an incredible asshole; he was also impossibly stupid if he believed he would gain anything from her death. She knew that logically she should feel some sort of sadness, but she didn’t. Kas had detached herself from her uncle a great long time ago, and now all she felt was anger.
“He wouldn’t get a dime, though,” Kas said with a frown. “At least, he shouldn’t. What makes you think that he would get something? When I changed my will, I specified every single penny of the inheritance would go to various charities. They would sell off every share of the business and the money would all go to charity. The only one who would get anything is Pepper, and all that she gets is her college paid for along with a monthly stipend. She didn’t want anything more than that. She wants to make her own way, and I have to applaud her for that.”
“Or if he has you declared mentally unfit, he then can contest the will. He’s been in talks with someone else outside of these four guys who I’ve yet to identify. It’s all been low key on the phone, and more so on texts, from what I’ve seen so far. Without being able to read everything, I’m not sure how this is playing out. At a guess, he’s been meeting with our mystery guy in person, somewhere out of the way. Places that no one knows him. Like I said, I’m working on the texts now. But you should know he requested a copy of the will to have his lawyers review, from what your lawyer told me on the phone.”
“That’s very odd, because the man has no money. They blew it all trying to contest my parents will and partying. So how he came up with the cash is beyond me. Although he does owe money to some people that could afford to pay for that, I’m sure.” She sighed and shook her head. “That’s likely where the attempts on my life have been coming from, isn’t it?” It angered her that such a petty man was making the attempts on her life, and for such greedy reasons.
“At a guess, I’m going to say yes,” Owen told her. “I’ll know more hopefully in a couple of hours. I have a shitload of searches going right now, but they do take time.”
“Leave your computers doing their thing, get up, and get outside for some fresh air. We’ll be having the dessert in about a half hour, so you have time to grab a beer, and unwind a little.”
“Good plan. I’ll come join you guys in a few. I want to get a couple more search parameters set before I let them do their thing.”
Kasper watched Owen turn back to his computers and then looked up at Mikhail with a bit of a frown. “Is he always this serious?” She was glad he was, because honestly, this was her life they were talking about.
“When it comes to digging up dirt, always. Five minutes, Owen, or I’ll send one of the guys in with explicit orders for an atomic wedgie.”
Owen flipped Mikhail the bird but kept typing with his other hand.
Snorting at him, Mik headed out of the room. “If it’s out there to be found, he’ll find it. And if that fails, we’ll sic the gods on your uncle to find out what’s going on.”
“Aunty A would likely kill him,” she admitted with a sigh. “I love her to death, but the woman can be very blood thirsty. Are they all like that?” she wanted to know as she walked along by Mikhail’s side toward the back yard.
“Yes,” he said. “You get used to it after a while. Most of it is just hot air. If they truly mean it, you’ll know.” Mik retrieved their beer and handed hers to her before holding the back door open for her. “It’s a certain feeling that crawls up your spine that lets you know that they mean it, for real.”
“That’s likely why Aunty A hasn’t been around, isn’t it? She doesn’t want to freak me out.” The woman wasn’t her aunt, although she had always called her that from the moment Artemis had taken her in. Kas loved her, even if Artemis was a bit on the odd side.
“More than likely,” he muttered.
“Love you too, babe. He’s right here, so let me hand you over. Yes, ma’am, you got it.” Gareth waved Mikhail over, leaned in to whisper something, and passed off the phone with a shit-eating grin. Chuckling, he sat down while Mikhail groaned and headed off the deck with the phone. “Camilla,” he said when he caught Kasper staring at him.
Kasper moved away from Mikhail waved and smiled at Gareth then went to James. She smiled and let him wrap his arms around her. “Hey, you,” she said with a smile. “Mikhail was called away to talk to Camilla so I wanted to seek you out while I cou
ld and get some hugs in. How are you doing? I haven’t seen you much today.”
“Good, been hanging around watching the brother sister bonding going on.” He pressed a kiss to her cheek and smiled.
“I have enjoyed my time with him. He and I are a great deal alike, which is pretty scary. It’s funny the number of things we have in common.”
“It makes sense, even if you didn’t grow up together.” James shot a look over to where Mikhail was slowly pacing while talking on the phone. “So, now that you know the secret family recipe of Mik’s BBQ sauce, what’s a guy gotta do to pry it out of you?”
“Sorry, as much as I care about you, I can’t share it. It’s a family secret. I guess you have to marry me to get it,” Kas said before she could stop herself. She felt herself turning red. “Besides, I promised him I wouldn’t tell, so I guess you’ll just have to have it when he makes it for you.”
James was watching her closely. “You’re too adorable when you blush. But how do you know you want to marry me and not Vic? Not that I’d let you out of my life even if you didn’t marry me all official-like. But I guess that’s a worry for the future once you figure out if you can put up with us for the long haul.”
“I think that we’ll need to spend more time together than a couple of days. You should both get to know me better before you think about something so permanent. And it would be. I don’t believe in divorce.”
“Good, because neither of us do, either. Actually, no one in our little group does. We’re all the forever sort, so when we find the one, we tend to move on it. You’re right, though—we all need to get to know one another better. After all, you might be one of those weirdos that cuts her toenails in bed. Or, heaven forbid, has a thing about not eating cookies in bed on movie night.”
That had her laughing. “No, the bed is sacred and I refuse to put anything like that in it. Don’t like anything that would bug me in bed. Like crumbs or toenails or whatnot. I prefer having a nice smooth bed. Or having the two of you to cuddle up with.”
“Hmm.” Turning his head, James called out to Victor. “She said no to the cookies, dude. Sorry, I tried.”
“Damn it, you put it in after the toenails, didn’t you? Why?”
“Next time you pose the damn question then.” Grumbling under his breath, James flashed her a grin. “He’ll survive, but don’t expect him to watch a movie without cookies, so you’d better ensure it’s never near the bed. Not that I can prove he’s ever actually gotten crumbs on his sheets.”
“It’s a very good thing then there’s a super-comfy big couch in our bedroom we could watch movies on. That way he can have his cookies and our bed stays crumb-free.” She liked thinking of having them there for the long haul.
“He may pout, but don’t buy it. Throw a blanket over him and he’ll never know the difference,” he advised in a whisper.
“Camilla said to say hello to everyone,” Mikhail said as he rejoined the group. He tossed the cell phone back to Gareth who slipped it into a pocket. “She’ll be here in the morning to check things out.”
“You mean to interrogate the sister,” Lincoln said with a grin Kasper’s way.
“Pretty much,” Mik agreed.
Kasper’s eyes went wide. “What? Me?” She heard the squeak in her voice as she spoke. “Uhm.” She looked from man to man and chewed her lower lip. “Please tell me that she won’t give me all sorts of grief?”
She could have heard a pin drop in the silence that ensued. Finally, Gareth cleared his throat and shifted in his chair. “You’ll be fine. She might seem a little feisty, and she is, but don’t worry about it. She won’t do anything out of line. I can’t promise she won’t say anything out of line, of course, but she’d never do anything.”
Kas began to giggle. She couldn’t help herself. “Great, so I have a future sister-in-law that can’t wait to grill me about everything under the sun. I take it she’s pretty much claimed you guys as her siblings as well, right?”
“For the most part,” Wyatt said with a grin. “Took us a while to worm our way in, but she came to love us in time.”
Mikhail let out a snort at that. “She tolerates you lot on the best of days. You don’t want to know what she tries to talk Ares into doing to you lot on the other days.”
“Don’t listen to him. She adores us. We’re like the annoying older brothers she didn’t ever get blessed with,” Nolan said. “She might come out at you like a Tasmanian Devil, but she’s got a marshmallow heart.”
She hoped that she would be able to handle meeting Camilla. She sounded like she was going to be someone that was going to be a serious talker.
“If all else fails call Mik or Gareth into the room. She goes all gooey with them in an instant. It would be sickening if it wasn’t so damn fascinating,” Thomas said. “It’s kind of like a train wreck in the making. You know you should look away, but you just can’t do it.”
“You get a soft look on your face when you see us. Right before you start grinning like it might go out of fashion. I’m never seen a woman smile as big as you do when we come into a room,” James said.
“I can’t seem to help myself. I happen to really like it, being able to see you and know that I’m smiling because you are here for me and with me. I like being with the two of you.”
She said with a shrug, “Just sayin’.”
“We like having you around too, just sayin’,” he replied. Pressing a kiss to her cheek, he gave her another hug.
“Time for dessert,” Mik said, “so get washed up.”
“Hot damn.” James lifted her off his lap. There was a mad rush for the door as the men shoved one another out of the way to get through it first. Mikhail stood off to the side waiting for the way to clear.
“Damn, I was thrown over for dessert,” Kas said with a smirk. “You knew that they would do that, didn’t you?” she asked Mikhail. “That is just so many ways of wrong, that they tossed me over the way they did.”
“It was a distinct possibility.” He held the door for her and followed her into the kitchen.
With a shake of her head and a smile on her face, Kasper went into the kitchen to dish up the brownie sundaes. She couldn’t believe she had been tossed over for food. Very good food, but food all the same.
Chapter Ten
“They’ll be here in two minutes,” a voice bellowed. “This is your two-minute warning, people. Run for your lives if you need to, but run now.”
“Shut up, you idiot. Don’t go giving Kasper any ideas,” she heard Victor say. A moment later, he appeared in the doorway to grin at her. “It’s absolutely permissible to ignore, and potentially slap, Stefan for his warped sense of humor. Why are you looking so nervous?”
“Other than the fact that I’m about to meet a woman that’s like a sister to all of you and is my newly found half-brother’s lover?” Kasper asked with a laugh. “Trust me, you would be nervous, too. I mean, hell, you and James still get that nervous look when Mikhail growls at you when he catches us hugging or kissing.”
“We do not get nervous,” he protested. “We’re just cautious. He’s usually armed and way too good for us to not at least consider the possibility he might make a point in some semi-violent manner. He’s accepted you in his life and is working to be the big brother you deserve. Unfortunately, this also means he’s going to bust our balls from time to time. Which is fine.” Pulling her into his arms, Victor kissed her gently. “It’s not like we didn’t give him the gears when he fell head over heels for Camilla.”
“So I’m worth it?” She all but melted against him. “I’m glad that you think so, because I think that you’re well worth anything that they throw my way, even if it is a soon to be sister.”
“You are worth anything he can toss at us.” The one-minute warning was shouted out through the house. “I swear to the gods, I’m going to muzzle him. You’ll do fine. Do you want me to wait with you until she’s here?”
“No, go ahead and do what you need to do. I will
be fine. I promise.” She gave him one more hug. “Go. I’m going to go and wash my face and hands before I come down. See you in a bit?”
“Absolutely.” After pressing another kiss to her lips, he drew back. “If you need rescuing, bellow for your brother. Bastard should come running if he knows what’s good for him.” Stefan shouted out the thirty-second warning. “I’m going to go and strangle him while you meet the future in-law.”
“Don’t worry, if I need saving I know just who to yell for. Hopefully, you will come running,” Kas said with a grin. “Because I’ve got to tell you I would much rather be saved by you than by my brother.”
“Figured you might.” Spinning, he took off into the hallway. A few seconds later, she heard a yelp and heavy footfalls that tore through the house from one end to the other.
“Anybody home?” a voice she recognized as Ares’s called out. “I know you’re all here, so someone better get their ass down here.”
“I guess that means that I need to go.” Kas looked up at the ceiling again. She was hopeful that Camilla would like her. She didn’t have to have the woman’s approval, but it would be nice.
Ares was snooping in her fridge when Kasper made it down to the kitchen. “Hot damn, leftover BBQ. That man of yours knew I’d have a fit if he didn’t leave us some. You want some while we’re here, Camilla?”
“You know it.” Kasper heard the woman as she walked into the kitchen.
“Ares,” Kasper said. “Mikhail said that he knew he had to save some for you guys. He threatened everyone with bodily harm if they touched the leftovers. He said it would taste better because it was the next day.” She looked at the woman with the long curly red hair and grinned. There was something about Camilla that simply screamed happiness and joy; the woman put her at ease in a way that someone like a teacher would—it was kind of surreal. Camilla wasn’t very tall, and her skin was pale and her hair was like living flames around her. She had an aura of peace that settled her. Kasper liked her immediately and could see why all the men spoke so highly of her and liked her so well. “Hi, I’m Kasper. I take it you’re Camilla?”