Page 2 of The Devil's Daughter

Obviously they both made it home okay, but in the wake of that trip, both my newly discovered half-sister and I have been forced to endure increased security measures to make sure we can’t be used as leverage against our father again. Our other sister, Celeste, lives with our father in Los Angeles, at a huge estate with the most advanced security in existence. But when Toni and I refused to move, Arturo was forced to make accommodations for us.

I reluctantly release my brother and turn to Toni. “Hi, sis!” I chirp in an almosttooperky tone. Her scowl at her brothers breaks into a smile when she looks at me and spreads her arms.

“Elle,” she croons huskily as she enfolds me in her embrace. “God, I never knew how much I’d love having a sister, but after growing up with those two, I have to say it’s a nice change. If you ever need to commiserate about my lunkhead brothers, call me.”

“Amen to that. And thank you, I may just take you up on it.” I pull back with a grin. “So… puppies?”

“Hell yes! Let’s do this!” When Ben starts to talk, she holds up a hand, palm out as she walks past. “If it’s not about puppies, I don’t want to hear it.”

The next hour is an exercise in resistance against all the unbelievablecutenesswe’re faced with. There’s a litter of Rottweiler pups that were recently rescued from a hoarding situation. They’re clumsy little goofballs with floppy ears too big for their heads, and lolling tongues made for sloppy, wet kisses. It’s all I can do not to beg to take one home myself. But I don’t exactly have a home of my own to bring one to at the moment, and I have no idea what Drake’s position is on pets in the penthouse.

“Ugh, I want one,” I lament. “Which one are you taking?”

“This little girl, I think,” Toni says, looking deep into the eyes of one of the puppies she’s been playing with. “I’m going to name herMalu.”

“Oh, pretty. What does it mean?”

“It’s a type of tattoo Samoan women get,” Sam says.

“Speaking of which, when do I get to anoint my new sister?” Toni asks, reaching out to squeeze my hand. “I gave Celeste her first tattoo. I’d love to do yours. No pressure, of course.”

I laugh. “I wouldn’t know what to get. I haven’t exactly had a lot of life experiences so far.”

“That’s not true, and you know it,” Sam says. “You found out just a few weeks ago that the man you thought was your father isn’t…” He raises a finger. “…and that Arturo Floresis.” He raises a second.

“Well, I traded up, if you ask me.”

“True enough,” he agrees. “Dad always kept you at a distance. We all noticed it.”

“Probably because he knew I wasn’t his.”

The man I grew up believing was my dad barely paid attention to me; Julian Santos seemed to care more about berating and punishing my older brothers for their shortcomings. There I was, a model of perfect grades and manners, the kind of girl a fathershouldhave loved, yet I got barely more than dismissive acknowledgment. Or he’d use my successes as yet another excuse to belittle Sam, the brother closest in age to me. It’s terrible of me to suggest, but I’d have been satisfied with criticism, if that was all he had to offer—anything to show he gave a shit about his youngest child.

“Was it that bad?” Toni asks, brows furrowed.

“It was worse,” I say. “From my perspective, anyway. He didn’t touch me, but he didn’t care if I saw him beat my brothers. We never saw him actually hit Mom, but we heard their fights and saw the aftermath, so we knew he did. God, I amsoglad he’s dead.”

“Well, that counts as experience. It’s not nothing,” Toni says. “And the bio-dad revelation is something we both share.”

Sam still holds up his hand, counting my supposed life experiences. “And now, thanks to that bio-dad, you’re under guard for your own protection from someone even scarier than he is—which is saying a lot.” With four fingers raised, he now lifts his thumb. “And didn’t you just tell me last week that you learned he’d probably asked Drake to take care of youmonthsago?”

Toni’s eyes widen and the twins perk up. Baz takes a few steps out of the shadows where he and Ben have been standing guard, though for what, I couldn’t imagine.

“What the fuck, Elle? Is this true?” Baz asks.

I shrug and my cheeks heat. I was kind of snooping around when I discovered the detail. “I might have hacked the Typhon servers looking for dirt on Drake and Arturo. I didn’t trust that their association was strictly business. And I was right—I found out that Typhon was holding a precious work of art for Arturo called theSanto Niña.That in and of itself isn’t odd; Arturo is a high-profile antiquities dealer, among his other business ventures…”

I don’t elaborate that they’re black market antiquities, mostly, but I think Ben and Baz already know this, and I’m pretty sure Toni and Sam guess as much.

“Typhon is evidently Arturo’s preferred shipping company,” I continued. “Except there wasn’t actually an object in any of the Typhon warehouses that matches that name.”

“So, what was it?” Toni asks, hanging on my every word.

“It wasn’t until I accidentally saw the record side by side with my employee ID that I realized the catalog numbers matched.I’mSanto Niña. But why in the world would Arturo ask Drake Stavros to take care of me? There has to be a deeper connection between them. I want to find out what it is.”

“You amaze me sometimes, Ellie,” Baz says. “But be careful. Drake probably wouldn’t be too keen on you digging around in his business.”

“Even if that business isme?” He doesn’t answer, and I sigh. “I just needed to understand why I was so special. Why I got that internship and why I saw Arturo hanging around the Typhon tower lobby the same day I started. They looked like friends. It was all too big a coincidence, but so far, I haven’t figured out why Drake would go to such lengths. Giving me a job is one thing, but taking me under his wing like this? I mean, all three of uslivewith him now.He’sthe one paying you two.”

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