“My mom did everything she could to give me the best life I could have, but it was a lonely existence. She never once dated, or she did a good job of hiding any relationships from me. All my life, it had just been the two of us. And now, my father dangled a real live sister in front of me. And I swallowed the bait hook, line, and sinker.”
Nick launched himself off the end of the couch and paced again. “Mom found out about my secret dinners with my father and chewed me out. Asked me what she sacrificed her life for if I was going to let my father worm his way back in. A lot of things were said in anger, but my biggest regret is that I listened to my dad. Let him convince me that she didn’t really have my best interests at heart. And that I should show her how successful I could be by returning home with him and becoming a real brother to Lorelei.
“I broke Mom’s heart when I left. It took her several months to die from it.” He drew in stuttered breaths. “I guess I proved your point. I am more bad than good. Because I killed my mother.”
The urge to throw my arms around the broken man overwhelmed me. I ached for his loss and hated his father for manipulating him.
“I know a little about wanting to know who your family is and hoping that they turn out to be better than you’d hoped,” I said, swallowing hard to keep from crying. “You wanting to get to know your sister isn’t a crime.”
“Pssh, it should have been.” Nick rubbed his hand down the tattoos on his arm. “She played nice for a while, all sweet and innocent. Like she adored me as her new big brother. Once I bought into the family business, it didn’t take long for her to show who she really was. A mini clone of my father. Ruthless. Ambitious. And willing to do anything to get what she wanted.”
He walked around his desk and picked up a frame sitting on the front of one of the bookshelves. After touching the picture with care, he handed it to me. A younger Nick smiled at the camera, wearing a dark cap and gown for his high school graduation. He towered over a shorter woman beaming up at him with pride, no doubt his mom. Other than the one picture, his office lacked any personal touches.
“She’s beautiful,” I commented, handing the photo back to him. “And I doubt her death really rests on your shoulders. A mother wouldn’t want that for her son, no matter how you left the relationship.”
“And now I see how your scales tip all the way to the good side. Even when you know I’m the villain, you still try to make me feel better.” Nick held onto the frame a second longer and then put it back in its place. “My mom would have liked you. And she would have liked Honeysuckle Hollow, too. If she’d have known there was a place like this…”
Dash cleared his throat. “You spin a good yarn, and if I believed it all, I might feel a little sorry for you and what you’ve been through. But since we’re talking about our town, let’s get back to all those bottles you’ve got.”
Caught up in the pull of his past, I forgot to hold Nick accountable for the present. “Are there really souls stored in that room?”
“Like I said, it’s pieces of their souls,” he replied.
“That lack of explanation doesn’t give me warm fuzzies.” I shivered and pushed harder. “You’d better start from why you came here and get to what you were doing.”
Nick settled into his chair behind the desk. “We’ve established that my family business is in creating and closing deals with others for the low, low price of one’s soul.”
“Did a deal bring you to Honeysuckle?” I asked.
The left corner of his lip curled up. “You’re catching on. It was a deal that brought me here. But it was my sister’s plan that made me want to stay.”
“I didn’t know your sister was here,” I said, confused.
“I never said she was. I said it was her plan that inspired me to set myself up in Honeysuckle,” he corrected. “Souls are tricky things, full of life force and energy. Some are stronger than others. And a soul that is already imbued with magic? That’s a prize that many in my family would kill for. Especially Lorelei.”
Realization hit me and I rushed over to the door to the secret storage. “You’re collecting souls for your sister? Does that mean everyone who’s got a bottle with their name on it is going to die?”
Dash cracked his knuckles. “You should have let me do this my way.”
“Brute-force threats aren’t that scary, dude.” Nick smirked. “I wasn’t fighting back when you attacked me.”
“And I was barely trying,” the shifter warned.
“Stop flexing your muscles, boys.” I held up my hands between them. “Nick, I need an answer. If you have all those souls stored away, then does that mean everyone’s going to die?”
“No.”
His response eased my tension a tiny fraction. “Okay, then what are you doing with them?”
“Lorelei wanted me to come here and take the souls of every single resident in town. She figured if we could present all of them at once to the family that we would get a big promotion.” Nick ran his finger around the rim of his whiskey glass. “Except I know Lorelei can’t be trusted. She can smile in your face while plunging a dagger into your back better than anyone I’ve ever met.”
I raised an eyebrow at Dash. “Sounds a lot like Aunt Nora.”
Nick laughed at my comparison. “Sweetie, Lorelei makes your aunt look like a cream puff. It’s how she’s risen as high as she has.”
“If she’s
