Page 32 of Lust
Liza was about to make a sassy retort, but a sharp, keening twinge in her gut meant only one thing. Her fingers wrapped around the grip of her gun in the holster.
Sloan stiffened. “What is it? Someone getting lucky?”
Liza crept back toward the restaurant. Alarm prickled her senses. “No. It’s the other kind of lust. And it’s getting closer.”
It was the type of lust when someone wanted something deeply, perhaps even enough to kill for it. It hurt more like a sharp twinge in her gut than a slow ache. Liza took two steps past the private room and then came face to face with the reason for her caution.
Standing two feet away, dressed casually in jeans and a white hoodie, was their eldest sister. The one who’d been working for the enemy. Long silver-white hair draped down her shoulders and hid the faint burn scars on half her face. Vibrant violet eyes blinked at them from an ethereally beautiful face.
“Holy fuck,” Sloan whispered. “Daisy.”
Every time Liza saw Daisy, it was a shock to her system. She was as stunning as Liza remembered, but her eyes were empty. They used to be so full of life.
“Daisy,” Liza said, and waited to be corrected.
Every time they’d met, Daisy had preferred to be called Despair. But naming each other by their sin was something the Syndicate did. It dehumanized them, and the Lazarus family had made the choice long ago to be better.
Daisy held her palms out in surrender. “I want to talk.”
* * *
Anticipation buzzeddown Liza’s spine as she walked toward a recently vacated booth in the main part of the restaurant. The window to the street was to one side, and on the other, the main bulk of the restaurant.
Daisy was unarmed and alone. She claimed she only wanted to talk. Liza couldn’t risk Joe finding out about the sister they’d thought dead but had been left behind and now worked for the enemy. It would be too much for him to take. He held no loyalty to Liza’s family, and she knew, without a doubt, that Joe would arrest Daisy, right there and then if he knew the crimes she’d committed.
Liza motioned for Daisy to get into the horseshoe-shaped booth before sliding in herself. Sloan took the other side of the booth, essentially blocking Daisy’s exit. They were at the opposite end of Heaven from the private room. A myriad of people dined between them and Joe, but Liza couldn’t help feeling nervous. Daisy had spurned their previous offers for her to come back to the family. What had changed?
“Make a wrong move,” Sloan warned, “And you’ll regret it.”
“Sloan. Liza.” Daisy tested the names as though learning them. A slight frown marred her pale forehead. “I want to talk. Just us girls.”
“Then Mama should be here.” Liza pulled out her cell, intending to send a quick text message.
“You mean theSinner,” Daisy replied. “She’s not our mother.”
“Maybe not in blood, but she is in every other way that matters.” Sloan scowled at her.
“If it’s all the same, she is the one who left me behind. I’d prefer not to have her here.”
Sloan and Liza studied their sister. There was no way to decipher her true intentions, but Liza couldn’t argue with her point. It was Mary who’d made the tough decision to leave Daisy after she’d run back into the burning building to save their biological mother, a futile feat. Gloria had died anyway.
“Speak,” Sloan ordered.
“I… I want to…” Daisy shook her head. “You don’t want me here. I’ll leave.”
Sloan pushed her back down. “You tortured my fiancé. Of course, I don’t want you here.”
“Sloan,” Liza said. “We’ve all done bad things. Let’s hear her out.”
“Easy for you to say, she hasn’t tortured your mate. But there’s still time for that, isn’t there Daisy?”
Daisy’s eyes crossed to Liza’s. “You’ve found your mate?”
Idiot, Sloan!Liza glared at her younger sister. Now Daisy knew that Liza’s genetic makeup had been unlocked. The Syndicate had been after a sample of their blood as soon as their powers hit. They wanted to replicate the genetic experiments, this time growing powered clones in tanks, ones that could be controlled and manipulated.
The Deadly Seven were meant to be weapons of mass destruction. Julius wanted a new world, and he’d wanted the Lazarus siblings to help him. But when Mary and Flint helped them escape from the lab that created them, Julius’s plans were temporarily foiled.
Liza could see the contemplation in Daisy’s eyes, but she made no move, despite Liza tugging her gloves off beneath the table.
