Page 41 of Sugar Coated

Lola stated, sounding confused, “I don’t get it. Who were you trying to kill, then?”

“The mayor’s brother-in-law. I forget his name.”

I took a step back, and then I turned around and fought to keep breathing. The attempt on my life wasn’t on me at all—it was onKieran’s? But why?

I supposed, if someone was playing the long game, a dead brother-in-law would be similar to a dead daughter; it’d garnersympathy across the board. First someone came after me, and then Kieran.

“Shit,” Lola spoke. “So when you failed to kill him, your employer gave you another chance? But instead of murder, he wanted you to kidnap Laina?”

And then the asshole muttered something under his breath I didn’t think either Lola or I expected: “It wasn’t a he.”

Whirling around to stare at him, my breath caught in the back of my throat. “It was a woman?” The question didn’t want to come out. Out of everything I thought I knew… nothing was true. I was wrong on every count, which begged one question.

What was going on here?

“Yeah,” the man spat out the word. “She didn’t give a name, but she had money, and lots of it.”

“Enough to make you not ask questions,” Lola spoke with a nod. “Did she sound young, old, what?”

“I don’t know. The calls were always restricted. We never got ahold of her. She was always the one contacting us.”

Lola set the scalpel down on the cart before taking me by the wrist and dragging me far enough away from the jerk that he wouldn’t hear us. “A woman,” she whispered. “Do you know any woman that would have it out for you and your uncle?”

With a shake of my head, I muttered a confused, “No.”

“And this Devil of yours was definitely a man? You’re sure there wasn’t, like, a strap-on involved or something?”

Flat chest. Strong arms. Equally strong hands. A voice so low behind that mask when he finally spoke to me at that party… the warmth he brought me when he was inside of me; a strap-on was definitely not used. “He’s a man.”

“Shit.” Lola folded her arms over her chest. “This could change things. For one, the shooter wasn’t after you. He was after your uncle, but why? Why kill your uncle and kidnap you? Do you think, maybe, your Devil wasn’t working alone?”

“No, he had nothing to do with this. He’s the reason Mike knew where to find me that night. If he was working with this woman, whoever she is, he wouldn’t have ruined the plan,” I said.

“There’s gotta be more to this story. If it was your dad behind all of this… well, there are easier ways to win votes. There has to be something we’re missing, pieces of this stupid puzzle we don’t have—”

Before she could say anything else, the outer door to the warehouse opened, and someone else walked in; our delivery, if I had to guess. I turned to look at the newcomer and was absolutely delighted when I saw who it was strolling over to us.

Fang.

A smile grew on my face, the seriousness of the situation instantly fading. “Fang,” I said, barely able to stop myself from skipping over to him and throwing my arms around his neck. I waited until he was before us to ask, “What are you doing here? And what’s that?”

Fang wore a smirk—and he held onto a small box. “I told Lola to let me know when you were going to interrogate him together.” His silver stare flicked to the asshole in the center of the warehouse. “Looks like I was a little late.”

“Our girl here is very gung-ho when it comes to torture,” Lola spoke, sounding like a proud momma hen. “She dove right in. It was pretty hot.”

“I’m sad I missed it, but I’m sure you could still find a way to use these. He doesn’t look like he’s bleeding nearly enough.” Fang offered me the box, while Lola clapped and waited for me to lift the lid.

Just because I already knew what was going to be inside the box didn’t mean that the shock was any less when my eyes fell to the item inside. A second set of metal prosthetics, only this time it was a complete gauntlet, similar in design to the one he’dmade his brother—different in that it was made for me. Smaller, more slender, prettier.

But just as sharp.

Fang took the lid from me as I carefully lifted the new gauntlet out of the box. The pinky and ring finger were shaped into mini-knives, while the other fingers simply had blades curling along the top of the metal. Multiple rings for each finger would hold the gauntlet in place, combined with the wrist attachment. A small metal plate was fastened where the outside of my hand would be, and a design of flowers had been carefully molded—or soldered or whatever.

I didn’t know how any of this worked; I only knew the end product was kickass.

“Here, let me help you.” While I held onto the gauntlet with my right hand, Lola went for my left. She unclasped the bracelet and carefully pulled off the original gauntlet, placing it in the box for now. Her blue gaze twinkled with glee as she helped put the new claw on me and said, “Not going to lie, I’m jealous. This thing is wicked sweet.”

Wicked sweet. Now that was something she and I agreed on. I think, deep down, we agreed on a lot of things.

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