Page 76 of Absentia Mori

Mordecai lays a protective hand on my thigh. “We don’t want her money. Just her. She’s ours. Mine.”

Draven swirls the olives in his gin martini. “We’ll see if that’s true soon enough.”

What the fuck is he talking about?

Aries opens a manila envelope and pulls out a stack of paperwork. He pushes it over to me with a pen. “I’m sorry, Lib, but this is the only way.”

I don’t bother to look at it. “What is this?”

Draven sighs. “You want me to let you walk into Blackwell Manor and kill my grandmother? You pay a price. All your shares of the poison fields. Sign them over to your brother, and I’ll unlock the front door myself.”

I burst out laughing. Do they think I give a fuck? I rifle through the papers until I find the signature page. Without even blinking, I sign my name on the dotted line and throw the pen onthe table. “Done. I don’t want a cent from my father. It’s all dirty money, anyway.”

Aries looks down, embarrassed and ashamed. “I’m sorry he did that to you.”

“She’s broke now. Still want her?” Draven snarls as he looks at my guys.

I can feel the rage emanating from them. I sink back into my chair, humiliated once again.

Mordecai places his hand below my belly button, stilling it on the spot where he carved his name. “Mine,” he repeats as he looks Draven dead in the eyes.

A warm rush flushes through me at his possessiveness.

Raithe pulls his chair up behind me and drapes an arm across my chest. “And mine.”

“She’s never getting rid of us,” Fabien adds as he grips my other thigh.

“Well, then you better fucking take care of her,” Aries growls.

Bones takes a deep drag from his cigarette. “The blood of the covenant is thicker than the womb,” he says as he exhales.

“Clearly.” Mordecai glares at my brother.

But I’m not angry. He’s freeing me, not punishing me. Now that Aries owns both his shares and mine of the poison fields, he has a bigger stake than our father. And Draven needs control of the poison that flows into Ever Graves. They’re planning something. I can feel it. But all I care about is getting my revenge and then leaving here forever. Ever Graves is the place where dreams die, and nightmares come alive.

Aries tucks the papers back into the envelope. “My apartment in Raven’s Gate is yours. I’ve already transferred it to you. And your trust fund is yours. You fucking earned it.”

I shake my head in protest. “Aries, no. I don’t want his money.”

“Lib, I paid for the apartment with the money I earned from pulling jobs with Bones. And that trust fund money has been passed down through generations. It’s not his money. It’s your birthright. And it will keep you going until you figure out what you want to do.”

I let out a deep sigh. When he words it like that, I’m not so repulsed by it. Aries could sell water to a fucking well. Besides, I knew exactly what I wanted to do with the money. A promise I made before we broke out and one I intend to keep.

Draven claps his hands together. “Then it’s settled. You get one shot at this. Take your revenge tonight, and then get the fuck out of my town.”

It doesn’t even faze me that he thinks he owns Ever Graves. That he thinks he has the right to say who can and cannot stay. Because I don’t want to be here any longer than I have to. “Agreed. The sooner, the better.”

A lethal dose of cyanide is what I’ll kill Penny Blackwell with.

Poison will only trap her soul here, and I don’t want that bitch roaming around. With any luck, the devil will be waiting to greet her at his gates.

Bones hands me two vials of the lethal concoction he crafted. “Draven will bring you in through the servants’ entrance. He’ll relieve the night attendant of her duties and send you up with the after-dinner drink in her place. The rest is up to you. Don’t get your ass kicked by an old lady.”

I snort and stuff the vials into my bag. “Speaking from experience?” I tease.

He winks. “She’s got a mean right hook.”

Aries clasps my hands in his. “Be careful, Lib.”

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