Widow's Web

thought.

“Oh, yes, I do,” Eva snapped. “He never could think straight when it came to her. Kind of like you and Donovan Caine. Owen told me you ran into him while you guys were on vacation in Blue Marsh—he said that Donovan wanted to get back together with you, and he could practically see the sparks between you—and this is just like that.”

I winced. Seeing Donovan had brought up a lot of memories about our often-strained relationship—just like what seeing Salina had done for Owen. But I’d dealt with my unresolved feelings for Donovan, and Owen and I had grown closer because of that. I just hoped he could do the same when it came to Salina.

“I’m over Donovan, and I have been for quite some time now, thanks to your brother,” I said. “What makes you think Owen isn’t over Salina?”

Eva let out a breath. “I don’t know that he isn’t, but Salina always gets what she wants— always. She did back then, and she will now too. She’ll blindside Owen, and he’ll believe all her lies again, just like before. And I don’t want to take that chance. Do you, Gin?”

No, I didn’t, but Owen wouldn’t like me agreeing to kill someone for his baby sister much either—especially when that someone was his former fiancee. Despite the fact that she was practically grown, Owen still tried to shield Eva from all the bad things in the world—including my activities as the Spider. Although thanks to Salina, Eva had seen and endured more troubles than I would have ever imagined.

Eva sensed my hesitation, so she decided to play her trump card.

“Salina Dubois is my Mab Monroe,” she said in a cold, flat voice. “I was four years old, four years old, and she tortured me for weeks, Gin, and not for any more reason than that she was jealous of the attention Owen paid me—that and because it amused her to hurt me. I want her dead. Simple as that. She deserves it for what she did to me, and even more so for lying and saying that Philly tried to rape her. Owen almost beat him to death for that, and she just stood there and watched it happen, knowing it was a damn lie the whole time.”

Eva looked at me, but I still didn’t answer her.

“Fine,” she snapped. “If you won’t help me, then I’ll do it myself—I’ll kill Salina myself.”

“And how will you do that?”

A stubborn look filled her face, and her hands clenched into fists. “I don’t know, but I’ll find a way. Just like you always do. I’ll buy a gun or something. Shouldn’t be too hard to find one over in Southtown. I’ll just walk over there after classes one day.”

It was bad enough Eva wanted to hire me to off Salina. Her planning a trek into Southtown and trying to take out the water elemental herself would be disastrous all the way around. Eva would be dead on those mean streets long before she ever had a chance to get close to Salina. Owen would never forgive me if I let her do something so dangerous—and I wouldn’t be able to forgive myself either.

Between a rock and a hard place. A spot I always seemed to find myself in.

I sighed. “All right, all right. You win. Leave Salina to me.”

“So you’ll kill her then?”

“I don’t know,” I said. “It depends on what she’s really doing in Ashland besides murdering people with her water magic. But I promise you this: if she lifts so much as a finger in your or Owen’s direction, I will take her out.”

“No matter what Owen thinks?”

I paused. Once again, I wondered if she realized what she was asking of me, the position she was putting me in—and if I’d be able to go through with it in the end.

“Gin?”

But try as I might, I couldn’t say no to the soft plea in her voice. I couldn’t say no to the tremulous hope shining in her eyes. I couldn’t say no to the chance to quiet her nightmares.

“No matter what Owen thinks,” I agreed in a grim tone.

“And Philly?” Eva pressed her advantage. “Will you protect him from Salina too?”

“Phillip Kincaid is more than capable of protecting himself,” I said. “Or at least putting enough of his giants in between him and Salina to make things interesting.”

“Please, Gin,” she said, a pleading note creeping into her voice. “I care about Philly too. He’s my friend.”

I thought he was a little more than a friend, given the adoring way Eva had been looking at him earlier on the Delta Queen, but I didn’t mention that. I couldn’t do anything about Eva’s crush on Kincaid. No matter what I thought of the casino boss, he had tried to protect her tonight, by hiring me to cater the fund-raiser. In his own way, Kincaid cared about Eva just as much as she did about him. It was a big point in his favor.

“We don’t have a deal if Philly isn’t a part of it,” she said.

Despite the situation, I smiled. When she put her mind to it, Eva Grayson was just as tough a negotiator as her big brother was.

“I’ll do what I can for Kincaid, providing he decides to play nice with me, but you and Owen come first, agreed?”

“Agreed,” Eva said, somewhat mollified. “Thank you, Gin.”

“Now go back to bed,” I said, sidestepping her thanks. “Try to get some sleep.”

Eva nodded, slipped out of my bedroom, and closed the door behind her. Through the walls, I heard the floor creak and the bed frame squeak as she walked down the hall and crawled back under the covers in the bed in the guest room.

I let out a breath and lay down. As much as I would have liked to, I couldn’t fall asleep. Too much had happened, and I’d learned too many things for my thoughts to quiet down. So instead, I stared at the ceiling, wondering just how much the devil’s bargain I’d made with Eva was going to cost me in the end.

17

Breakfast the next morning was a tense, quiet affair.

I made chocolate chip pancakes, smoked maple bacon, cheesy scrambled eggs, whole wheat toast with homemade apple butter, and a sparkling grapefruit punch for Eva and Owen. We gathered around the wooden table in the nook that branched off the kitchen.

The three of us ate in silence, except for the rattle of our dishes and polite mutters to ask someone to please pass the bacon. For the most part, Eva ignored Owen’s attempts to talk to her. I kept my thoughts to myself, not wanting to sink any deeper into the sibling quicksand. I was already up to my neck in it.

We finished breakfast and split up. Owen had to get to his office, Eva had to get to class, and I had to get to the Pork Pit.

“I’ll come by for a late lunch today, and we can talk some more. Okay?” Owen asked as we stood on the front porch. The morning sunlight highlighted the faint bruise around his eye from his fight with Kincaid.

I nodded, not sure what to say to him, not sure what I could say without making things worse. We kissed goodbye; then he got into his car, with Eva already sulking in the passenger seat. She gave me a pointed look through the window, and I knew she was thinking about the promise I’d made to her last night. That look did not make me feel better about anything.

I waved at Owen as he put the car in gear and steered it down the driveway, but my hand dropped to my side the second the vehicle was out of sight, and I started brooding once more. I was just about to go back inside and finish getting ready for work when I heard a car churning through the gravel at the bottom of the ridge.

I paused, wondering if Owen had forgotten something and returned, but instead, a familiar sedan appeared at the top of the driveway. The car stopped, and Bria slid out of the driver’s seat. She was wearing sensible black boots and a pair of dark jeans topped by a white, button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up to her elbows. Her gun was clipped to her belt, along with her gold detective’s badge. Her hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and the silverstone primrose rune around her throat glinted in the sun as she walked across the yard.