I quickly searched the fourth floor, but neither man was here, and I didn’t hear any movement on the levels above my head. They had to be downstairs, most likely somewhere close to the library, waiting to see if I’d be stupid enough to fall into their trap. I crept over to a set of stairs and eased down to the third floor.
Lights blazed on this level, which left me few pools of shadows to hide in. Still, I managed it, moving from one hallway and one room to the next.
I checked Sebastian’s bedroom first, but he wasn’t relaxing inside the opulent space. I stared with disgust at the ebony bed with its white silk sheets and perfectly fluffed pillows, thinking about how easily I’d let Sebastian seduce me with his pretty words and lies. A wild urge seized me to palm another knife and use the sharp blades to slice through the sheets, the pillows, and even the mattress, until they were all as torn and tattered as my heart. But I forced myself to focus. Ripping up the bed wouldn’t change what had happened between Sebastian and me, but killing him would.
So I moved on. I went from room to room, searching for him and keeping an eye out for Porter too, but the two men were nowhere to be found. Finally, I came to the last room on this floor, the library.
Just like the windows, the doors were wide open, inviting me to step right on inside and die. If Sebastian had thought to lay a trap with the windows, then he was sure to have left one by the doors too, so I slid up to the wall right beside the opening and stopped. And then I waited—just waited for my enemies to reveal themselves to me.
It didn’t take long. I’d only been in position for about two minutes when a faint creak sounded in the library, like someone shifting in a chair.
“Are you sure she’s here, boss?” Porter’s voice rumbled through the library and out the doors to me. “Because I haven’t seen any sign of her yet. Neither have any of the staff, and they’ve been keeping a watch for her all day long. Plus, she hasn’t tripped any of the alarms on the first-floor doors or windows.”
I grinned. That was another reason I’d climbed up the side of the mansion. Most folks only thought to arm the first floor or two of their homes and businesses. They figured that no one was strong or crazy enough to try to climb any higher than that. But I was both of those—in spades.
“I mean, I can’t believe that she’s not dead in the mausoleum,” Porter continued. “You buried her in there last night. We both saw it. She went inside, and you collapsed the whole thing right on top of her head.”
“True,” Sebastian said. “But why didn’t any of your men come back? Why haven’t we heard anything about them? It’s like they just vanished into thin air. Only an assassin could do something like that. Only someone like her.”
“Maybe it wasn’t her,” Porter countered. “Maybe it was her brother or the old guy she worked for. If she’s an assassin, maybe they are too.”
“No,” Sebastian snapped. “It was her. She killed them all.”
Well, not all of them but a good portion. Enough to restore my confidence that I could do the same to him.
“I know she did it,” Sebastian repeated. “Just like I know that she’s here somewhere right now. The walls are practically humming with her presence.”
Once again, I cursed his Stone magic and my own sloppiness. I’d been so focused on trying to figure out where Sebastian was hiding that I hadn’t considered the fact that the granite and all the other stone of the mansion would soak up my own murderous intentions and whisper them back to Sebastian.
Still, I held my position by the doors. I had no doubt that I could outlast him, at least when it came to this. He might have more magic than I did, but he didn’t have more patience. For the first time, I realized why Fletcher always kept saying how important that was. I was killing Sebastian, and if I had to stand here all night until he got tired of waiting inside the library, then so be it. I would consider it time well spent.
The seconds ticked by and turned into minutes. One, two, five, ten. Porter and Sebastian remained silent in the library, although the storm had gotten closer, and thunder rumbled in the distance.
Finally, Sebastian let out a long, loud, disappointed sigh, as though he was upset that I hadn’t fallen into his trap so easily.
“Well, I guess we’ll have to go to Plan B, then.”
I frowned, wondering what he was talking about, what contingency he might have put into place that I’d missed—
Crack.
The distinctive sound of flesh hitting flesh echoed out of the library, followed by a soft whimper. My heart squeezed tight in my chest, and I remembered something—or, rather, someone—I’d forgotten about.
Charlotte.
“I know you’re here somewhere, Gin.” Sebastian’s voice rang out of the library, as smooth and seductive as ever. “You can either step on into the library, or I can keep hitting Charlotte until you do. Your choice.”
31
I stayed where I was, still and silent, and thought about my options.
I had none, really. I could let Sebastian beat his sister, or I could step into the library, take my chances with his trap, and try to worm my out of his sticky web—
Crack.
Another slap, another soft whimper from Charlotte, made up my mind.
“All right,” I called out. “All right. I’m coming into the library.”
My knife still in my hand, I eased through the open doors, around the fireplace, and into the right half of the library. Porter stood off to the side, a gun clenched in his beefy hand. As soon as I stepped into range, he aimed the weapon at my heart, his finger curling around the trigger. I tensed, wondering if I could throw my knife at him before he got off a shot.
“Easy, Porter,” Sebastian called out. “I want to have a little chat with Gin first. Besides, if you shoot her now, we won’t be able to have any fun with her later.”
The thought of all that fun was enough to make Porter leer at me and slowly lower his gun. I ignored the giant and focused on the real danger, the real threat, my real enemy.
Sebastian stood in front of his father’s desk, one hand on Charlotte’s shoulder to hold her in place in front of him. The girl’s hand was pressed to her cheek and the hot, red welts there. Tears streaked down her face.
“Don’t you worry, sweetheart,” I said in a soft, soothing voice. “He’s never going to hit you again. Not after I get done with him.”
Charlotte stared back at me with big, frightened eyes. I could see the doubt in her gaze—and the faint hope too.