Page 67 of I Am Salvation

That’s my little sister. A total spitfire who doesn’t take any crap from anyone.

I aim to channel her now.

“Do you want cream and sugar in your coffee?” I ask.

“Yes.”

No please? Not that I’m surprised. I take the lid off one of the cups of coffee, add some cream and a packet of sugar, stir it, and hand it to Mrs. Locke. “Here you go.”

She doesn’t thank me.

I take the lid off my own coffee. The steam rises. I blow on it, swirl it around a bit, and then take a drink.

Damn! I burned my tongue.

“So…” Mrs. Locke prompts.

I place my cup of coffee on a messy side table—normally I’d look for a coaster first, but this table is littered with rings, so I think I’m good. “Like I said, I’m a friend of your son’s. I want to ask you about your daughter.”

“I don’t talk about my children,” she says. “Before he showed up yesterday, I thought of myself as never having children.”

“Then I guess I’ll have to sweeten the pot.” I open my purse and pull out a hundred-dollar bill. “Will this get you talking?”

Her eyes widen at the sight of the money. “Are you for real?”

“Does this look fake to you?”

She shrugs. “Could be counterfeit for all I know.”

“Then I suppose you’ll just have to trust me. My name is Diana Steel, by the way.”

Her eyes widen again. “Why does that name sound familiar?”

“Because I’m the daughter of Talon Steel, one of the owners of Steel Acres Ranch and a principal in all of our other holdings.”

She smirks. “Then you can afford way more than a hundred bucks.”

“I can, but you have to earn it.”

She sighs and plunks down on her threadbare couch. “Fine. What do you want to know?”

“I want to know why, once your daughter disappeared and you knew for sure that Dragon hadn’t had anything to do with her being attacked, you didn’t go rescue him from that fucking group home?”

She takes a sip of her coffee. She doesn’t respond at first, and just when I’m pretty sure I’m barking up the wrong tree?—

“Felix and I thought about it.”

“But all you did was think?”

She glares at me. “You don’t know what it was like, to lose two children.”

I gaze at her coldly. “Seems you only lost one. The other one you gave away.”

She takes another sip of coffee. “I loved both my children.”

“Past tense? Dragon is still alive.”

And Griffin may be too, but I’m not going to clue her into that yet.

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