Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd

by Web of Lies (pdf)

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  the face of a much younger man—smooth, clean-shaven, black suits that had probably taken a whole field of cotton and curiously free of wrinkles, even around the corners to construct. No telltale bulges could be seen under their of his brown eyes. My guess? The finest Air elemental arms. At least I wouldn’t have to worry about them shootfacials and skin treatments his hefty retainers could by. ing me, if things went badly here. They’d enjoy beating Debutantes and trophy wives weren’t the only vain folks me to death more anyway. Giants who worked for Elliot in Ashland. He’d left his hair au natural, though. ProbSlater were notorious for that. ably thought the silver color made him look more distinAnd they just might get a chance, the way the hate and guished.

  magic sparked in Jake McAllister’s brown eyes. Still, for all his youthful vigor, the man radiated awJonah McAllister stood in the middle of the Pork Pit. shucks charm the way a snake-oil salesman might. Shake But instead of looking at me or even Sophia, McAllister’s his hand, and you’d be wiping the grease off yours for gaze slid over the blue and pink booths, the faded pig the next ten minutes. And wondering where your waltracks on the floor, the clean tabletops, the ancient cash let went. I recognized him from his many pictures in the register. His eyes resembled his son’s—flat, brown, hard—

  newspaper and Fletcher’s thick file on Mab Monroe and but without the fiery glint of magic. Jake must have gother flunkies. ten his Fire power from his mother. She died several years Jonah McAllister, Ashland’s slickest attorney and perago, from what I remember having read in Fletcher’s file. sonal counsel to Mab herself, had just walked into my Jonah McAllister didn’t say anything. I might as well restaurant.

  not have even been in the same room with the man for And he wasn’t alone.

  all the attention he paid me. His arrogance annoyed me. Jake McAllister strutted in through the door behind If that was the game he wanted to play, I was more than his old man. Rock-star jeans, vintage T-shirt, heavy boots, happy to participate. I sprinkled some more black pepa black leather coat that skirted the floor. Another punk per on top of my coleslaw, dug my fork into the colorgetup. ful mound, and took another bite. Sweet and sour. Yeah, Two giant bodyguards also stepped inside the restauthat’s the way things were going today. rant, taking up all the available space by the front door. Finally, after two minutes of intense perusal, Jonah The goons were probably on loan from Mab Monroe, via McAllister turned his head to me. I got the same treather other number-two man, enforcer Elliot Slater, who ment he’d given the rest of the restaurant. A slow, was a giant himself. Even if I’d had a customer today, she thoughtful gaze that weighed, measured, and calculated wouldn’t have been able to get inside with the two behemy worth down to the last rusty penny. moths blocking the entrance.

  “I assume you’re Gin Blanco, the owner of this fine I stared at the giants, with their big, buglike eyes and establishment,” McAllister said in a rich, deep, sonoEstep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 142-143

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  rous baritone voice that would boom like thunder in the cold, calculating glint in his eyes. Still, he had a presence closed confines of a courtroom.

  about him, a commanding sort of air that probably made I chewed another bite of coleslaw and tilted my head. people promise him their first-born, if only he’d give them

  “I am. Don’t bother introducing yourself. I already know a moment of his time. The hard stare made me want to who you are, Mr. McAllister.”

  chuckle. McAllister was nothing compared to some of the Jonah nodded his head back at me and gestured at the folks I’d been up against as the Spider.

  chair on the opposite side of the table. “May I be so kind

  “Now, Ms. Blanco,” he said in a smooth voice. “Let’s as to take advantage of your hospitality?”

  talk.”

  My lips twitched. My, my, my, he was slathering on the

  “Sure,” I replied. “Let’s chat.”

  charm already, like sweet butter on a hot biscuit. “Sure.”

  “Now, I know about your difficulties with my son the McAllister unbuttoned his suit jacket and sat down. other night, but you have to realize that he just wasn’t Jake made a move to join us, but his father turned a pair of feeling like himself. Were you, Jake?”

  cold eyes in his son’s direction. “In the booth, Jake. Now.”

  Jake McAllister stared at the floor. “No,” he muttered Jake jerked like a dog who’d been whipped so many and kicked the underside of the booth opposite him. times all it took to make him cower was the faintest whisJonah nodded his head at the expected answer, no per of its owner’s voice. But he did as his father asked and matter how sullen, fake, and reluctant it had been. “As slid into a booth by the front window—the same one Eva you can see, my son feels terrible about his part in the Grayson and her friend Cassidy had sat in two nights ago. incident on Monday night. I came here today hoping we The two giant guards remained where they were by could resolve this situation without any further interferthe front door. Hands loose by their sides, chests puffed ence by the police or the court system. What do you say?”

  out, spines as tall and straight as flagpoles on the Fourth For a moment, I just stared at him. The man had a set of July. They could have been statues for all the emotion of silverstone balls, I’d give him that. Jonah McAllister or interest they showed, although their pale, bulging eyes had nerve to spare, coming into my place of business and never left me, not even for an instant. Still, sloppy, sloppy trying to talk his psychopathic son out of a lengthy jail of them standing so far away. I could have easily palmed term. I thought about stringing him along, pretending to one of my silverstone knives and cut Jonah McAllister’s be the weak, country bumpkin he so obviously thought I throat before the guards took two steps.

  was. Letting him try to manipulate me the same way he Jonah McAllister turned his full attention to me. A did all those juries, all those people who tried to stand thin smile pulled up his lips, although his face had been up to Mab Monroe. It’d be a hell of a show, if nothing so sandblasted by Air elemental magic, no lines appeared else. But I had other things to do today, other problems anywhere. The curve of his lips did little to disguise the to take care of, namely finding out why Tobias Dawson Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 144-145

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  wanted Violet Fox dead. I didn’t have the time or more

  “I’m just trying to get this mess taken care of, Ms. importantly the inclination to go along quietly. Besides, Blanco,” McAllister replied in a smooth tone. “It’s not the I’d never been good at playing the victim. first one I’ve cleaned up for my son, and I’m sure it won’t

  “Let’s be clear,” I replied. “You’re asking me to drop be the last, no matter how many reformatory schools I’ve the charges against your son, right? Recant my statement shipped him off to over the years. So why don’t you just to the police, refuse to testify, et cetera, et cetera, et ceanswer my question, and we can be done with this little tera. That’s what all the eye contact, oily words, and fake charade.”

  charm are about, yes?”

  I raised an eyebrow. “And what charade would that be?”

  Jonah McAllister frowned, taken aback by my blunt McAllister allowed himself a brief chuckle. Low, thick, tone. His eyes narrowed, and I met his gaze with a level black, just like mine had been. “The ludicrous idea you’re one of my own. Something in my gray eyes must have going to testify against my son in any court of law in Ashregistered with him, because the smile dropped from his land or anywhere else. The absurd notion I’d ever allow face. Time to change tactics.

  such a thing to happen.”

  “All right,” Jonah McAllister said. “You want to be

  “It’s not a charade, Mr. McAllister,” I said. “I
fully incompensated for your trouble. I can certainly understand tend to testify against your son—and there’s nothing you that.”

  can offer me to get me to change my mind. Certainly not He reached into his suit and pulled out a slim black money.”

  checkbook and a matching Mont Blanc fountain pen. Jonah McAllister leaned forward. His brown eyes

  “How much do you want?”

  burned now, though not with Fire elemental magic. InI laughed. stead, the lawyer put the full force of his charm into his The chuckles rumbled out of my throat like motorgaze. “Come, come now, Ms. Blanco. There’s no need to cycle exhaust. Low, thick, black. once more, McAllister’s play the upstanding citizen with me. I’ve researched you. lips tightened into a thin, hard line, even if the rest of You’re an orphan, aimless, a drifter who lucked into runhis face couldn’t follow suit. The attorney didn’t apprecining this restaurant after the owner, the distant cousin ate being laughed at. Too bad. Because he’d just tickled who took you in, was murdered a few months ago. Hell, my funny bone with his blatant bribery attempt, whether you can’t even decide on a major so you can graduate from he’d intended to or not.

  the community college you take so many classes from.”

  “Sorry,” I murmured. “I didn’t actually expect you to Good to know the Gin Blanco cover identity I’d bring your checkbook along, much less whip it out. You worked so hard to build over the years had passed the certainly have a style about you, Mr. McAllister, trying to thorough inspection of someone like Jonah McAllister. bribe me in my own restaurant.”

  But that didn’t stop the knife of pain that sliced through Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 146-147

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  me. Because his words were truer than he realized. I had the influence. I can make things very difficult for you, if I been something of a drifter, aimless, until Fletcher’s murso choose. You’ll find standing up and doing the so-called der. That brutal event and its aftermath had made me right thing to be a very trying proposition.”

  take a hard look at my life—and made me start to change. My eyes narrowed, but I didn’t respond.

  I was still a work in progress, but I’d be damned if Jonah

  “Have you wondered why you haven’t had any cusMcAllister was going to threaten anything that was mine. tomers the past two days?” Jonah said in a soft voice. McAllister took my silence to mean I was considering

  “No,” I replied. “I figured it was you, telling people his proposal and decided to up the ante. “Besides, I’m to steer clear of the Pork Pit. Just how long do you think certain there’s something I have you might find of value you can do that?”

  or interest.”

  “As long as it takes for you to realize you can’t win,”

  I shook my head. “You don’t have anything I want, he replied. “I’ll keep people away every day until you go McAllister. Not a thing. Now why don’t you drop the out of business, if I have to. I have the money, time, recharade of a concerned father just trying to do what’s best sources, and motivation to pull it off. Maybe you should for his son? We both know little Jakie is an embarrassthink about that, before you so cavalierly throw away my ment all the way around. Did he tell you he was going to generous offer. I’m trying to be civil about things. Trust kill two girls just for kicks?”

  me when I say you wouldn’t like the alternative.”

  “Shut up, bitch,” Jake growled from his booth. “or I’ll The bastard was actually trying to bully me. Trying to fry your ass.”

  squeeze me the way he had so many other people over I stared at him. “You don’t scare me, Jakie. I would the years. It might have worked, if I’d still been thirteen, have thought our encounter the other night would have living on the streets, and mourning the loss of my family. proven that to you, even if you were high on your own It might have worked, if I’d still been Genevieve Snow. Fire elemental magic at the time.”

  But no matter how much I changed, no matter how I More sparks of hatred flashed to life in Jake’s eyes, and tried to be different and leave my past profession behind, the red, magical rage slowly filled his gaze. Jake opened part of me would always be the Spider, the assassin as his mouth, but his father held up a manicured hand. It sharp as the silverstone knives she carried. I hadn’t been was as free of wrinkles as his ageless face was. small, weak, or frightened in a long time. And I certainly

  “If you know who I am, Ms. Blanco, then you know wasn’t now.

  who I work for,” Jonah said in a smooth voice. Changing

  “Keep it up as long as you like,” I said. “Do whatever tactics again. Bringing out the big guns.

  you want to keep people away from the Pork Pit. I’ll still

  “Mab Monroe,” I replied. “Everyone knows that.”

  be here every single day, doors wide open, food hot and

  “Then you know the connections I have, the power, ready. I’d rather give my food to the rats in the streets Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 148-149

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  than shut down for one fucking hour because of a slimeFor a second, I sat there and considered my options, ball like you. Is that clear enough?”

  something I probably should have done before I opened The charm oozed out of Jonah McAllister’s eyes, like my smart mouth and started antagonizing the McAllissyrup slopping over a pancake. “Crystal clear. Too bad, ters. But somebody needed to wipe that bullying sneer off Ms. Blanco. Too bad for you.”

  Jake McAllister’s face, and I’d wanted to be the one to do

  “I told you we should have just killed the bitch,” Jake it. I’d succeeded too, because now, hot anger filled Jake’s snapped. “Come on, Dad. Let me do her, right here, right eyes. If I let him put his hands on me, I was going to be now. That dwarven bitch behind the counter too.”

  in for a painful beat-down. one that might not stop until Cold rage filled me at his words. It was one thing I was dead, especially with Jonah’s giant bodyguards in to come into my restaurant, Fletcher’s restaurant, and the restaurant. only one thing to do now. Fight back and threaten me. I’d expected nothing less from the fathermake Jake think twice before he messed with me again. It and-son duo. I knew I’d brought it on myself by havwas the only thing I knew how to do anyway. ing Jake McAllister arrested in the first place. But I’d be Just before Jake hit me, I got to my feet, grabbed my damned if the Fire elemental punk was going to talk trash plate off the table, stepped forward, and slammed the about my family—or threaten them in any way. And Sowhole thing into his face as hard as I could. phia Deveraux was family. So were Jo-Jo and Finn. Food splattered into Jake’s eyes, and the cumin, red Fletcher Lane had been murdered five feet from where pepper, and other spices in the barbecue sauce caused him we were sitting. Been horribly, brutally tortured by a sato scream. He stumbled back, flipped over a chair, and distic Air elemental. Nothing like that was ever going landed on his ass—hard. Jake cursed and tried to claw the to happen to my family again. Not as long as I was still mess off his face. He was too busy doing that to hold on breathing. Especially not in here.

  to his magic, and the flames dancing on his fists snuffed It was time to let Jake McAllister know I wasn’t afraid out.

  of him and his petty threats—and exactly what I was caI turned back to Jonah McAllister and the two giant pable of if push came to shove.

  guards. Waiting.

  “You weren’t man enough to take me out by yourself, out of the corner of my eye, I saw Sophia come out Jakie,” I snapped. “So what? Now, you’re going to get from around the counter. The dwarf held a metal spoon Daddy and his guards to help you? Pathetic.”

  in her hand. With her strength, it might as well have been Evidently, Jake McAllister couldn’t take a little critia baseball bat. Sophia would back me up just like she had cism because he surged to his feet. Fire flashed in his eyes, the other n
ight. That’s what family did.

  and orange-red flames spurted out between his clenched Jonah McAllister saw her too and realized the odds had fists. He charged at me.

  slipped to four on two. He looked through the storefront Estep_Web of Lies_1P EP.indd 150-151

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  windows. People moved back and forth on the street outSo Jonah McAllister had decided to stick to his speside, going out to lunch and back to work. More than one cialty—squeezing people through somewhat legal means. glanced inside the Pork Pit as they passed. A few slowed

  “Until then, Mr. McAllister.” My eyes cut to Jake. “Just down long enough to get a good long gawk.

  because you’ve gotten your daddy involved doesn’t negate I could see the wheels turning in the lawyer’s mind, my threat. You come near me or my restaurant again, and as he considered the benefits of ordering his giant bodyI’ll break more than just your wrist. You understand me?”

  guards to kill us now versus the possibility of folks witJake surged against the giant. “You’re dead, bitch!

  nessing it and more people potentially causing problems Dead! Do you hear me? Do you hear me? Dead!”

  for him. His boss, Mab Monroe, might run Ashland, but Jonah gave his son a disgusted look and swept out of I imagined she liked her flunkies to take care of their own the Pork Pit. The giants flanked the still-struggling Jake, business without involving her or being implicated in picked him up by his arms, and hauled him outside. something unseemly themselves.

  His hoarse screams reverberated all the way down the Jake threw aside a glop of coleslaw and scrambled to street—and so did his threats. The other night, I’d just his feet. But before the Fire elemental could charge me insulted Jake by getting the upper hand. Now, I’d huagain, Jonah McAllister shook his head. one of the gimiliated him in front of his father. The Fire elemental ants stepped forward and put a restraining hand on Jake’s couldn’t allow that to slide. Not if he wanted the old man shoulder, holding him in place. His neck almost snapped to at least pretend to respect him.