“I won’t let that happen to her,” Jess said. “But I can’t deny them the right to try.”
Bran turned the hot water on and busied himself with the dishes. I knew he was dying to say something but it’d be pointless. This was a fight he couldn’t take on for me and he desperately wanted to.
The tea was ready by the time the last wet dish hit the drying tray. Bran sat down next to me. Jess brought over the Brown Betty teapot and put it in the center of the scarred wooden tabletop. She waved Bran down as he started to rise and got three mugs, adding a dash of milk to all of them before placing them in front of each of us.
Bran picked up the teapot and began pouring with a steady hand.
“When they come back you need to stay quiet.” Jess warned Bran. “They’re tolerating you being in the same room and that’s because I’m here. But I can only do so much.”
“I knocked out Carson,” Bran said with a touch of pride. “I can hold my own against them.”
“And they know that. Trust me, everyone knows that.” Jess smiled. “Which is why they’d love to take you on. But this isn’t the time or place for that, it’s Reb’s game and she’s got to play it out.” She poured out the tea and passed him the first mug.
“I won’t let them hurt her,” he said quietly, steel underlying the softness.
“Wasn’t asking you to.” Jess pushed the second cup at me. “Just asking that you think about the bigger picture before you act. Listen to your head before acting on your heart.”
I heard the spin of rubber on gravel.
It was time.
Jess got up and strolled out. Bran didn’t move other than to drain the last of his tea and study the invisible tea leaves in the bottom.
I stayed in the kitchen, listening to the Chandlers and Middlestons file back up on the porch and march through the front door. There was some mutterings but I couldn’t make them out even with my Felis hearing.
I probably didn’t want to.
By the time I’d finished my tea the two groups were back in the living room in their assigned seats.
Jess appeared in the doorway. “It’s time.”
I stood up. My legs were steady and I waved off Bran’s attempt to help me walk.
I couldn’t afford to be seen as anything other than at full strength.
I strode from the kitchen with a jaunt in my step and teeth clenched to the point of almost shattering.
It was a rerun of the previous meeting with everyone in the same place. Jake Middleston on one side, Mary Chandler on the other. Nathan McCallister glared at Eddie Longstrand from across the circular table but he didn’t say anything.
The Chandler kit’s nose was swollen but not broken. He whistled through it as I strode to the bottom of the stairs, Bran at my side.
Jess took up her position. Both family heads watched her like a hawk, waiting for her to make the first move. I suspected if she’d been a lesser woman one or both families would have challenged her position on the Board already.
But they knew Jess and her reputation.
Jake cleared his throat. “I think we’re ready to begin.”
I glanced at Mary. She sat there with her legs crossed and a prissy grin. That couldn’t be good.
“I’m prepared to discuss Evan and Lisa returning to their families under certain conditions,” I started.
Mary put up her hand, stopping me.
“I’d like to bring another option to the table.”
Nathan stood beside her pale and wheezing son, grinning like a Cheshire Cat.
My stomach churned.
“You bring my boy home to me, right now.” She didn’t look at Jake other than to nod in his general direction. “This is between you and me. What he arranges with you is his business. I just want my Evan safe and sound and out of that bitch’s arms.”
Jake sucked in his breath hard but stayed seated. Jess gave him an approving nod of her head.
“I’m negotiating for both of them. A package deal.”
“No,” she said, the underlying growls sending a shiver up my spine. “Only my son. Only Evan and you’re going to bring him back to me.”
“And I would do this because—” I said.
“Because of this.” She reached up behind her, eyes locking with mine. Nathan put a photograph into her hand, a glossy eight-by-eleven sized page.
She pulled her arm back and tossed it onto the table in front of her, not breaking eye contact.
Chapter Eleven
I blinked first, pulling away to look down at the image.
Angie.
Gagged and tied to a chair. A copy of the Toronto Star, today’s edition, in her lap. Her eyes wide and scared, reminding me of a deer caught in the headlights.
Bran, God bless him, didn’t react. His breath stuttered but he didn’t move.
Jess did.
She flew toward the table with almost unnatural speed, snatched up the black and white picture and waved it in Mary’s face. “What the fuck is this? What the fuck is this all about?”
Mary stood her ground, staying seated as Jess hovered over her. Her angelic look increased Jess’s fury, her face shifting from pale white to an angry red, the scar on her left cheek becoming more visible with each second.
Bran shifted beside me, the floorboards creaking under his movement.
Mary turned her gaze on Jess. “This is no longer the Board’s business.” She spoke slowly, as if to a child.
I thought I could hear Jess’s blood pressure rise.
“The Board deals with Felis business. This—” Mary tapped a finger against the photo in her face, “—is no Felis. This is a human. For whom we will bargain with another human, leaving the Felis out of the equation.” Her eyes narrowed. “Therefore your presence, and your interference, is unnecessary.” She smiled. “We’ve just decided to change the battlefield.”
“By kidnapping a human,” Jess whispered.
“Not just any human.” Mary looked past Jess to Bran. “Your friend. Your very good friend, from what she told us. You get her back when we get Evan back.”
“I don’t believe you. I think you’re full of shit.” Bran poked a finger at the photograph. “That could be all faked, Photoshopped. I know the business and it’d be damned easy to fake all this.”
Mary smiled and looked over her shoulder at her bloodied son.
The punk stepped out to stand beside his mother. He pulled out his cell phone and tapped in a number before placing it on the table.
“Yeah?” The rough voice shot out of the tiny speaker.
“Give her the phone,” the young man said.
I allowed myself an inside smile at hearing the squeak in his voice.
“Hello? Hello?” Angie screamed. “Who’s there? Police? Is this the police?”
Jess looked at Bran and nodded.
Mary tilted her head to one side and grinned at me.
“Angie,” Bran spoke first, careful to speak slowly and clearly. “Listen to me. It’s okay. You’re going to be fine.”
“Bran?” She sobbed. “Bran, what’s going on? They said they’re going to hurt me if you don’t do something, something—” The words drifted off into more sobs. “They said they’re going to cut me, cut my face.”
A cold ball of fear curdled the remaining food in my belly. I’d seen what Felis claws could do to bare skin.
Bran had as well.
I couldn’t help looking over at Jess and the scar on her face. Delivered by my mother, the deep gash had taken Jess’s eye and marked her forever.
It took a lot to survive that.
I wasn’t sure I wanted to find out if Angela Degas was up to the task.
“I’ll come for you, promise. I’ll come save you—” Bran stopped as Mary’s son reached out and cut the connection.