Page 63 of The Vampire Kingpin
I’d gaped at them. “Are you out of your minds?! How could you do this without asking me?”
Mom paused in the act of touching up her scarlet lipstick. Blond and ethereally beautiful, she wrinkled her nose at me in the mirror.
“But he’s never going to have you,” she said, like that made it okay. “We’ll take the money and move to Europe. We can live as humans until things cool down.”
I’d backed away, furious and frightened. “You’re wrong. Jared’s not going to give this up. He wants me, and he’s used to getting whatever he wants. I’ve barely been able to hold him off.”
“We can handle him,” my father said with his typical confidence. The son of a Spanish baron and his mistress from back when being a Spanish nobleman meant something, there was little he didn’t believe he could handle.
I turned on him. “I trusted you. I trusted both of you. I thought we were a team. You have to clear these things with me first. I’m not a-a toy you can wave at a man, then snatch away.”
“Calm down,” said my father.
Calm down? A red haze filled my vision.
“I’m not gonna do it,” I’d said and stomped into my connecting room. Behind me, I could hear Dad telling Mom to give me a little time, I’d come around.
Fuck that.
I’d shoved a few things into a plastic bag and jumped off my balcony. I’d been on my way out of Vegas when Jared and a half-dozen enforcers had stormed into our hotel suite.
My mom had managed to get off a message to me. “Stay low,” she’d said. “We’ll contact you.”
And that was the last thing I’d heard from either of them. I’d wasted a couple of precious nights, dithering about going back, but they would’ve contacted me if they were still alive. And then every bit of money had been transferred out of all five of our joint accounts and I’d known Jared hadn’t just gotten to them, he was after me, too.
I pressed both hands to my belly, still sick at how it had all fallen out.
Turns out, Jared was the kind of dude who held a grudge. He wasn’t going to let this go until he’d had that month from me, and now, he’d apparently put a bounty out on me.
I scrubbed my hands over my face, exhausted clear to my bones. I was so tired of just trying to survive.
Maybe it was time to stop running. I’d lost my parents over this, although that had been due to their damn greed. I didn’t want to lose Spider, too. Already, Velma had been injured because of me.
At least with Jared, I wouldn’t have to worry about falling in love. Because, yeah I was in love with Spider.
And you know what? Being in love sucked.
A thorny ache prickled my throat. I sat back, eyes stinging, chest tight.
Hating Grim and Troll. Hating Jared even more. But most of all, hating that this was the end for me and Spider.
He was the best thing that had happened to me in…well, ever. I refused to take him and his lair down with me.
Because I had to get out of here…and let Jared find me.
A tear slid down my cheek. I dug my fingernails into my thighs, squeezed my eyes shut.
Chill, Lark. It’s just another scam, right? Well, maybe not a scam, but you’ll be playing a part—the vampire prince’s pretty, brainless thrall.
My stomach made a high dive off a board into an empty pool.
Jared Darkman had a worse reputation than Spider. He also had a whole fucking syndicate behind him. We’d poked the bear. Well, my parents had, anyway, and he wanted his revenge. He was going to do his level best to break me.
“Aw, ain’t you sweet?”
My eyes flew open. Troll leaned against the rough stone wall next to the door, a hand clamped over his bloody bicep. He was pale beneath his natural tan, but he managed a sneer.
“Tell me, are you crying over Spider—or what Darkman’s gonna do to you?”
