“Their servant,” I said.

He nodded, not bothering to deny it. “Everyone treated me that way, except for your mother. Eira was always kind to me, even when we were kids. She was the only one of them who ever treated me like an equal.” He paused, as if he was having difficulty getting his next words out. “I loved her for that and so many other things.”

I asked the question that had been bothering me for days now. “And did she love you back?”

He gave me a sad smile. “She actually did, once upon a time. But my Circle duties took me away from Ashland. I wanted to stay, to be with her, but of course, I couldn’t exactly say no in my position. And by the time I came back, she had married your father.”

“So you missed your chance with her.”

“I did. I regretted it, of course, but she seemed happy, so I moved on.”

He waved his hand, but I could hear the lie in his voice. He hadn’t moved on any more than I had from her murder.

“So you wished my mother well in her marriage, and then, years later, you let Mab Monroe burn her to death. Some love story.”

Tucker actually flinched at my words, but he quickly smoothed out his features. “Once I realized what was going to happen, I tried to persuade Eira to leave Ashland, to flee, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She thought that she could take on the Circle and win. She was wrong about that. And so are you.”

He leaned forward, his black eyes glittering in his face. “You asked me why I came here. Well, consider this a warning, the only one you will ever get from me. You’re right. I wanted Damian and Porter dead, and you helped me make that happen. So I covered up your involvement in this whole messy affair. Think of it as a quid pro quo.”

So that’s why he’d gone to all the trouble to write Porter’s fake suicide note. He almost made it sound like he was protecting me. But I knew better. He was protecting his own ass.

“But?” I asked the inevitable question.

“But if you continue your investigation into the Circle, the other members will eventually notice, and they will take appropriate steps to deal with you. And not just you but your friends and family too. Owen Grayson, Finnegan Lane, the Deveraux sisters, Bria. Everyone you love and care about.” He snapped his fingers. “They will kill them all, just like that, just like they killed your mother and sister.”

“And will you be the one leading the charge, Tuck?” I asked in a soft voice.

“Of course. That’s my job.” His mouth twisted. “And a good pet always obeys his master’s orders.”

This time, I leaned forward, letting him see the cold, hard determination in my wintry gray eyes. “I’m not going to stop. I will never stop until I find out who every single member of your cursed Circle is. I will kill them all, one by one, until I find your boss. And then I’ll kill him too. Consider that my warning to you.”

He stared at me, a sad smile tugging at his lips. “You really do have your mother’s stubbornness. It’s going to be the death of you, little Genevieve. Just as it was the death of her.”

“Genevieve Snow died the night my mother and sister did,” I snarled.

He gave me another sad smile. “And so did I.”

Tucker slid out of the booth, got to his feet, and buttoned his suit jacket, putting his armor back on in more ways than one. He gave me a deep, respectful nod before striding over to the front door, opening it, and stepping out into the cold winter sunshine.

31

I sat in the booth and watched the vampire walk down the sidewalk and out of sight. The second Tucker was gone, Silvio left his stool at the counter and hurried over to me.

“Do you want me to follow him?” he asked. “Try to track him or his car? I can still catch him.”

I shook my head. “No. He’s not my problem, and he’s not my enemy. Not today, anyway.”

Silvio looked at me. “I heard what he said about your mother. About his . . . feelings for her. Does Bria know?”

I shook my head again. “No. Owen knows, but I haven’t told Bria yet. But I will. Tomorrow. Tucker, the Circle, searching for Mason. Everything will go back to normal tomorrow.”

“And what about today?” Silvio asked in a quiet tone.

I looked out over the restaurant, my gaze going from one person to another. Sophia standing by one of the stoves, stirring a pot of baked beans. Mosley finishing up his meal. Jade and Ryan with their heads close together, talking and laughing. Elissa, Eva, Violet, and Catalina chatting away in their booth. All the other customers enjoying their barbecue.

“Today? I’m going to enjoy what I have.”

Silvio nodded and went back over to his stool. I got to my feet, walked over to the counter, and stepped behind it.

I needed to make one more vat of Fletcher’s secret barbecue sauce today, among other things, and I quickly lost myself in the comforting rhythms of cooking, cleaning, and cashing out customers. All the while, though, I kept thinking about everything that I had to do next, my mind spinning one strand after another, stringing them all together into a web of certainty.

I’d told Silvio the truth. Today I would enjoy and be grateful for everything that I had. The restaurant, my friends, my family, Owen.

But I’d also told Tucker the truth too. I would never give up my quest to find out more about my mother and what had led to her murder, and I wouldn’t back down from the powerful people who’d taken her away from me.

So tomorrow I would start figuring out a way to keep my friends and family safe during my upcoming war with the Circle.