His head whipped around, hoping to catch sight of her. She could have gone to the ladies’ room, he told himself. Stepped out to make a call to Audra.
But then Con Montgomery stood at his elbow. “Lilly?” the man said. “Are you looking for her?”
The question didn’t assuage Alec’s concern. “You know where she is?”
“She left me a message for you,” he said, and he didn’t look happy about it.
“What?” Did she feel sick? Come down with a migraine?
“She asked that you stick by your promise. That you’ll not go after her.”
Alec stared at the other man, but didn’t see him. He only saw Lilly as she’d looked that morning, fresh from his bed, her cheeks rosy, her mouth swollen from his kisses. Her hand had been on his face and she’d pinned him with her midnight-mystery eyes.
Swear to me you’ll let me go whenever I ask.
Lilly’s fingers dug into her cousin Frank’s forearm as she dragged him along the resort’s serpentine paths. He complained, but she shut her ears to it, trying to get as far as possible from the Thatcher event as fast as possible.
“You had no business coming here,” she spit out, furious. Glancing around, she saw that there weren’t any other guests to be seen, but still lowered her voice. “No business whatsoever.”
“How about that Mom and Dad raised you since you were a crying brat?” Frank said, ever one to win friends and influence people. He stopped short, and he was big enough that she couldn’t budge him. “Where the hell are we going?”
She opened her mouth, glanced around again. Okay. Right. Though the paths were well-lit tonight, as usual she’d gotten herself lost. “I’m going to get you some money and then you’re going away.”
“I caught a ride with a buddy,” Frank said belligerently. “You’ll have to drive me back.”
“Are you drunk?” She supposed she should be glad he hadn’t hit the road while under the influence, but the smell of beer on his breath was turning her stomach.
“It’s been a bad week. I broke a tooth.” He reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a flask. “I lost my job.”
As he swigged, she tried to recall exactly what was his latest occupation. Bouncer? Ticket taker at the swap meet?
She reminded herself that all work was good and honest, then reminded herself that Frank had likely lost his good, honest job by showing up late or not at all. It was a long-time habit of his.
Trying to find a well of calm, she drew in a long breath, let it out. “This has got to stop, Frank.”
“Yeah,” he said, drinking deep again. “The usual amount isn’t going to cut it until I find some work. Mom says to ask you for double our usual this month.”
“Double?” Lilly felt the ends of her hair ignite.
“Yeah.”
“Why should I do that?” Lilly said, nearly screeching, her French temper coming to the fore.
Frank’s eyes went even beadier “We’re blood. We need the dough. It’s gotta be double.”
Blood or not, she’d had it, she decided. They’d tainted her past and ruined a future for her, but she wasn’t going to be bled by them in the present. Nuh-uh.
“No,” she said, her voice clear and firm.
Her cousin blinked at her, as if her refusal had pierced his drunken haze. “No…what?”
“No more money. I’ve shown my ‘gratitude’ for what your mother and father did for me long enough. I’ve subsidized week-long benders, bad gambling debts, and more than one get-rich-quick scheme. No more.”
He was staring at her, his body as still as a statue. “We’re cousins.”
She ignored that. “Never again.”
The last words seemed to animate him. In a blur of movement, he reached out, grabbing her wrist to twist it behind her back. The flask dropped with a metallic clatter to the ground and he cocked his free arm, his meaty palm poised for a strike to her face.
Frozen by the malevolence in his expression, her eyes stayed glued to his menacing hand. Such a big man, Lilly heard her aunt say in her head, the taunting, hateful tone she used when speaking to her husband, just before another knock-down, drag-out. Does it make you feel strong to hit a woman?
“Fuck you,” Frank said, yanking Lilly’s wrist higher along her back, until she bit back a cry. His palm hovered, a continued threat. “You’re gonna give us the money. Say it. Swear it.”
“No,” Lilly said, thinking of Audra, thinking of Jojo and Miranda Thatcher, channeling their spirit. They wouldn’t let themselves be used. They wouldn’t want Lilly to let herself be used.
Alec would expect the woman he wanted as his someone to stand up for herself.
She sucked in a breath, staring up at her cousin. “No fucking way, Frank.”
Expecting the blow, she braced, but then, just as she saw his hand begin to descend, her cousin was wrenched aside. He stumbled a few steps away, where he was caught by a very pissed-looking Con Montgomery.
It was Alec who had seized her cousin and thrown him off. Even as he drew Lilly against him, he glared at the drunken man. “From this moment on, you stay the hell away from Lilly. You stay the hell away or I’ll kill you,” he said, fury in every syllable.
With the back of his jacket in Con’s huge fist, her cousin seemed to shrink. “She’s blood. My cousin. She owes us money.”
“She owes you shit,” Alec said with disgust. He shifted his gaze to Con. “Any idea what to do with a scumbag like him?”
“Sure. I can chuck him into the ocean.”
Frank cowered, spittle appearing at the corner of his mouth.
“He doesn’t swim,” Lilly said.
“All the better,” Con and Alec said together. Then Audra’s brother began
