“And don’t worry,” he said as he served himself. “I’ll wash the pan before your dad gets up.”

Laughing, I dug into the “zombelet” with gusto. As I ate, Marcus pushed the newspaper toward me.

“Y’all hit the front page,” he told me.

I peered at the headline over my plate. Riot Halts Filming on Movie Set. Tucking into my brains and eggs, I skimmed the article. No known reason for the fight that broke out between several of the zombie extras. Numerous injuries reported, several arrests. Filming to resume today.

I read to the end. No mention of a death, so apparently Saberton had taken care of the body of the guy Philip killed. I wondered if they would take care of any footage that was shot as well.

“Sucks for the extras who were arrested,” I said with a slight grimace. “None of it was their fault.”

Marcus gave a nod of agreement. “Uncle Pietro will probably take care of that. It’s in everyone’s best interest for this to die down as quickly as possible.”

I finished my breakfast, then jumped into the shower to clean up for my meeting with Pietro. When I got out, Marcus produced jeans, underwear and a couple of shirts that I’d left at his place ages ago, which saved me from meeting Pietro while wearing the same donated clothing I’d worn the day before.

I made sure there was non-brain food available for my dad and, at ten a.m., a black Mercedes pulled into the driveway. The driver wasn’t Brian, so I obediently sat in the back when he held that door open for me and, apart from a few polite pleasantries, rode in silence to Pietro’s house.

To my surprise it wasn’t the same house Marcus and I had gone to months ago for the barbecue but instead a very nice lakefront house only about ten minutes from Tucker Point. Even though it wasn’t secluded in the sense of being far from other properties, it was surrounded on the non-lake sides by a couple of acres of woods, which added a strong feeling of privacy. Pietro was rolling in it, no doubt about that. No telling what he had for resources if he really was hundreds of years old.

We pulled up in front of the house, and I managed to remember to wait for the driver to come around and open the door for me instead of barreling out on my own. I even followed politely as he went up to the house and rang the doorbell for me, though to my relief he stood back once he did so. Apparently I was allowed to speak and act for myself now that the hard part had been done.

I listened to the frogs’ chorus from the lake as I tried to go over what I had to say to Pietro. Dread twisted my gut. I knew damn well Pietro held all the cards, but I needed to make sure I didn’t sell myself out completely.

A tall brunette answered the door, slim and stylish, wearing dark maroon slacks and a conservative white silk blouse, with her hair in a soft updo. She gave me a warm smile. “Ms. Crawford, I’m Alicia Dane, Mr. Ivanov’s personal assistant. It’s so nice to meet you.”

Personal assistant? Yeesh, definitely out of my depth here. I took a deep breath and plastered a smile on for Ms. Dane, reminding myself that I’d survived kidnapping, firefight, and zombie mayhem, so there was no need to be intimidated by the insistent reminders of Pietro’s wealth and power.

Yeah, right.

I managed to respond with a polite greeting and then allowed Ms. Dane to escort me to a room with a huge antique-looking desk, a couple of big wingback chairs, and one wall lined with shelves of old books. A huge window commanded a stunning view of the lake, and French doors led out onto a broad deck.

Pietro sat in one of the wingbacks by the window and stood as I entered. “Angel, good morning.”

“Hi,” I said. “Sorry to bother you.”

“You’re not,” he assured me, then looked past me to Ms. Dane. “That will be all for now, thank you.”

She nodded and withdrew, closing the door behind her. Pietro gestured to the other wingback chair.

“Would you like something to drink?” he asked.

“Oh, no thanks, I’m cool,” I said as I settled into the chair. I expected it to be uncomfortable, but it was far from it. “You probably know why I’m here, right?”

He sat back down, picked up a cup of coffee from the table beside him and took a sip. “I suspect it concerns assistance in your current situation.”

“Right.” I took a deep breath. “Well, I came here to ask if you’d be willing to cosign a loan for me.”

To my shock he didn’t even pretend to consider it before he shook his head. “No, I won’t do a cosign.”

Dismay tightened my chest. “You…won’t?” I fought to keep my voice even, even though it felt a bit as if I’d been kicked in the teeth. Guess all those worries about strings were pointless. What the hell was I supposed to do now? “Look, I know I don’t have anything resembling credit, but I swear I’ll pay it back and won’t miss any payments. I could handle being homeless if it was only me, but I can’t put my dad through that—” I stopped as he held up his hand.

“Angel, I don’t want to go through a bank,” Pietro told me calmly. “I’ll work out a loan for you myself. Cleaner to draft it directly to you.”

I blinked, sat back. “You will?” The dismay receded, replaced by wariness.

He took another placid sip of coffee. “Of course I will,” he said. “How much do you earn a month?”

I had a feeling he knew exactly how much I earned, but I told him anyway. After that came some questions about my expenses and my dad’s disability income—and again, I couldn’t shake the sense he knew it already but was being polite enough to actually let me volunteer the information.

Unfortunately, by the time we hashed out how much I needed to borrow and what I could afford to pay, even with more than reasonable financing terms, it came down to a loan that would take me over fifteen years to repay, and that was only if I got a shitty trailer, a very used car, and shopped at Goodwill for the next decade and a half. No eating out. Definitely no college classes.

“You need additional income,” Pietro stated, echoing the thoughts that churned in my own head.

I couldn’t hold back the sigh. With my education and skill-set, about all I could hope for would be to pick up some shifts at convenience stores.

“There aren’t many part time jobs that will be worth the effort for the compensation,” he pointed out, then surprised me by adding, “I’d much rather you work for me on occasion, or for Dr. Nikas. I guarantee the pay would be much better.”

Hello, Strings, I thought. I gave him as unwary a look as I could manage. “What kind of work?”

“Dr. Nikas told me you found the lab interesting,” he said, “and also mentioned that he wouldn’t mind your help with some of his projects.”

Okay, now that wouldn’t be a bad string at all. In fact, that would actually kinda rock.

“As for me,” he continued, “though I have nothing definitive in mind at this time, I know that having a smart female zombie can be useful on certain assignments, and you’ve certainly proven more than capable in stress situations.” He set his coffee cup down with a soft clink. “Apart from Alicia and Rachel, I don’t have many who are.”

Now that was the sort of string I’d been braced for. Yet even as he said it, I couldn’t help but think why not? So far I’d been “capable in stress situations” for free. I also couldn’t deny the little glow of pleasure that he thought I was smart.

Yet along with the glow came a creeping apprehension. Pietro operated in a moral grey area. Very dark grey at times. If I took a paycheck from him, I’d basically be saying that I was okay with some of the “less clean” aspects of his operation.

I could walk away right now. It would suck, but I’d find some way to survive.

However, I had my dad to consider. If I stayed on my rickety moral high horse, he’d be homeless.

“Can I say no to assignments I don’t like?”

“Absolutely.”

I didn’t know whether I believed him, but I also knew damn well that working for him would pay a shitload better than working the night shift at the XpressMart. I could give my dad a better life, and right now that was what mattered.

After that we hashed out the details of exactly how much I figured I needed. Pietro gave me the name of someone he knew at Harbor Homes who he said could give me a good deal on some cosmetically damaged properties, as well as the name of a guy who he promised would offer cost pricing on cars for me and my dad. After that he called Ms. Dane back in to have paperwork drawn up, and within half an hour I had a copy of the papers in my hand, and a confirmation that the entire sum would be transferred into my account as soon as the banks opened for business Monday morning.

Pietro stood and moved to the desk, opened a drawer and removed an envelope, then returned to me and held it out. “This isn’t part of the loan,” he said. “Use this to get some necessities—clothing and such. And don’t argue. I’m making small contributions to many of those affected by the flooding.”

He was crazy if he thought I was going to argue over a cash gift. Any pride that might have had me doing so had been destroyed along with my house. But when I peered into the envelope I still felt a jolt of surprise at the sight of what looked like about two grand.

Glancing up, I cocked an eyebrow at Pietro. “I’ll consider this retroactive pay for any assistance I’ve given you over the past week.”

His lips twitched. “Fair enough. But please don’t expect to always be paid at that rate.”

And with that he escorted me to the door, gave me a light kiss on the cheek, and sent me on my way to begin rebuilding my life.

Chapter 27

“You sure this is a good idea?” my dad muttered. He peered into the oven at the fancy hors d’oeuvres which I’d carefully selected from the frozen food aisle of the local warehouse store.

“Nope!” I replied cheerfully. I dumped a bag of chips into a large bowl and set it on the table with the various other foodstuffs. “But I figure we might as well let people see the place while it’s still kinda decent, and then we never have to let anyone in ever again.”