Page 11 of Logan

“Such as?” she asked.

“It would be someone who loved plants and animals. Someone with a kind disposition, no matter what vocation he or she chose. Your magic will only manifest in a female, but the power itself could be passed down through any bloodline.”

The memory of my mother watering her herb garden popped into my mind. She always had a way with plants, even when they lived in the city. She liked natural fibers and had a smile that could make anyone around her join in her laughter. “My mother. She was all those things, and my father loved her so much he actually went straight until she died. I didn’t even know my family were criminals until after her death.”

“She sounds amazing. Will you tell me about her?”

It was strange, but she found she wanted to tell her mother’s story. Weird when she never talked to anyone about her past, not even her family.

“She was Canadian. My dad met her in Whistler. She was skiing, and he was on a job for my uncle. He managed to keep his life separate from her until she got pregnant with me. When she found out what he was, she tried to leave him, and he promised to leave all criminal activity behind. And he did. He worked as a manager at one of my uncle’s legitimate businesses until I was ten.”

“What did your mother do for a living?”

“She was a ski instructor when Dad met her, but she became a kindergarten teacher when we moved here. My parents were in love, and things were amazing until she got sick.”

“How did she die?”

“A rare form of brain cancer. She deteriorated quickly, and things changed the minute she died.”

“Your father returned to his criminal family. His old ways?”

“He began gambling when my mother was still alive. He couldn’t handle the reality that she was going to die. By the time she did, he was in debt for over half a million dollars.”

“So your uncle decided you needed to pay off his debt,” Logan said.

“No, my uncle would never have believed I would be any use to him except in a brothel, but my father was a thief, and he taught me everything I know so he could gamble and use my skills. He was too old to do the kind of jobs that pay the big money, and he had been out of the game too long to get back in.”

“Your own father turned you into a criminal?”

“Yes.”

Logan’s eye flickered, but he nodded. “I assumed you started with lower security acquisitions.”

“Actually, I started as a pickpocket. Most thieves do. But yes, I worked my way up to security systems by the time I was seventeen.”

“And your father sat back and allowed you to support him.”

She grunted. “I didn’t realize it at the time, but he was protecting me. I learned the truth when he died two years ago.”

“What truth?”

“The Liu family hates me. I’m a half-breed, and they only put up with me because of my father. He was well respected and helped put my uncle in power. When he began training me, they figured he put his family first and pretty much left me alone until my father died.”

“What happened after your father died?”

“They made me aware of how they really felt, and how my father forbade them from disrespecting me. After his death, that changed.”

“They hate you for being of mixed blood. That is all?”

He was perceptive. Even her father hadn’t mentioned the other reason why the Liu family hated her. “I’m a female. They value sons. They are fine with having daughters as long as there is a son born as well. My father had only one child because my mother was advised not to have more after me. She had a difficultpregnancy. The Liu family believes my father should have divorced my mother and found a nice Chinese woman to have children with.”

“Your duty to your family has ended. You have a much more important future ahead of you.”

She almost laughed at how easy he made it sound. As if she wouldn’t have walked away years ago if she could. Her temple began to throb, and she rubbed it before taking a seat at the dining room table. That boost of power she had gotten from Logan was wearing off, and she was feeling slightly dizzy.

“Please sit. Allow me to make you some food.”

“I don’t cook. You won’t find much here. I will take a few crackers from the cupboard, though.”

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