Widow's Web (Elemental Assassin) (16 page)

I could see them in my mind. Owen already tall and turning into the man he would soon become. Kincaid still a scrawny kid, but one who knew the score better than Owen did. The two of them with seemingly nothing in common but joining forces to survive. Desperation made for strange bedfellows, no matter how old or young you were.

“Eventually, we got bolder, and we moved on to bigger and better things. We started stealing from pawnshops. My elemental talent for metal let me get through most doors, locks, and windows, no matter how many bars they had on them. Phillip would be the lookout and watch Eva while I went inside and took whatever caught
my eye. Guns, jewelry, knives, clothes, shoes, whatever. We’d take the stuff we stole to a different shop and pawn it for cash, using that as an excuse to case the place, then go back and hit that shop a week later.”

Finn let out a whistle. “Nice scheme for a couple of teenagers.”

Owen gave him a faint grin. “We thought so too, but it wasn’t just us. There were other kids on the streets or in foster care, boys and girls Phillip knew, and sometimes they helped.”

A thought occurred to me. “Folks like Katarina Arkadi?”

Owen nodded. “And Antonio too, although they were both more Phillip’s friends than mine.”

I wondered if that was why Salina had murdered them—if she’d wanted to hurt the casino boss by taking away the people he cared about before she killed him. That would explain why she’d gone after Antonio first tonight, instead of Kincaid. Cold. Very, very cold.

“Anyway, despite the stealing, it was still tough,” Owen said. “Half the time, the three of us were on the verge of starving. Eventually, though, I got a job with a dwarven blacksmith, thanks to Fletcher.”

Owen looked at Finn, who nodded. I’d told Finn that his father had taken pity on and helped Owen back in the day. Fletcher always had a soft spot in his heart for folks who were down on their luck. You couldn’t get much lower or more desperate than living on the streets with a toddler to take care of.

“Things got better after that,” Owen said. “The blacksmith’s name was Cooper Stills. He was tough on me, but
he was a decent, fair man. An Air elemental too. He took all three of us in—me, Phillip, and Eva—even though I was the only one who could work in the forge as long and hard as he did. He gave us food to eat and clothes to wear and put a roof over our heads, but it wasn’t enough for me and Phillip. Not after what we’d been through, so we kept right on stealing and stockpiling our loot and money, just in case Cooper changed his mind and decided he didn’t want us around anymore.”

“I’m sensing a
but
in there,” Finn said.

Owen drew in a breath. “But Cooper was and still is a renowned blacksmith. The dwarf can forge anything he puts his mind to, and all his pieces are works of art, whether they’re weapons or fountains or sculptures. Back then, Cooper did a lot of work for a lot of rich people in Northtown, and he would take Phillip and me with him when he went out to meet with clients, take space measurements, or deliver commissioned pieces.”

“Naturally, you saw that as an opportunity,” Finn drawled. “I certainly would have.”

Owen shrugged. “You might say that. So Phillip and I moved up to a higher clientele, as far as the stealing went. Jewelry, artwork, silverware. We took anything we could get our hands on—small things mostly, things we didn’t think anyone would miss, at least for a few days. Then, when it was safe, we’d sell the items to someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions about where they’d come from. For two years, everything was great.”

“And then what happened?” I asked.

“And then he met Salina,” Eva muttered in a dark tone.

Owen stared at his sister, but he didn’t contradict her
words. “And then I met Salina. By that point, Cooper was letting me make my own pieces, my own weapons and sculptures. Benedict, Salina’s father, saw one of my designs for a knife and commissioned a similar piece. When it was finished, I delivered it to the Dubois house. That’s how I met Salina.”

He didn’t say anything else, and I didn’t ask what had happened next. Even now, it was obvious Owen had cared deeply about her.

That he had loved her.

Jealousy seeped through my body, venom poisoning me from the inside out, and a bitter taste filled my mouth, but I sat perfectly still, not betraying any of the turmoil I felt.

The Owen Grayson I knew wasn’t the type of man who would propose to a woman if he didn’t believe he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. His dedication to the people he cared about was one of the things I admired most about him, even as much pain as it was causing me right now to think about him being with someone else—
loving
someone else.

Owen cleared his throat. “Salina was . . . captivating. Beautiful, mysterious, charming, playful, whimsical, everything I thought I’d ever wanted in a woman. She had a wild streak, and it suited her just fine to take up with a poor blacksmith, even though her father didn’t approve of me.”

“Wait a minute,” Finn interrupted. “Her father—you’re talking about Benedict Dubois, right? The old mob boss? The one that Mab made such an example out of?”

Owen nodded. “Salina was his only daughter. She was there the night it happened, and so was I.”

His words were like a key opening a lock in my head. Benedict Dubois. I’d thought the name had sounded familiar when Kincaid had mentioned it, just like I’d thought I’d seen Salina’s mermaid rune before I’d met her at Underwood’s. Now I remembered exactly where I knew the name and the symbol from—a scouting job Fletcher had taken me on years ago.

“Salina . . . changed after that,” Owen said. “Witnessing her father’s murder—it did something to her.”

“Yeah,” Eva piped up. “It made her even more of a heartless bitch than she already was.”

Owen ignored her and looked at me. “After Mab killed her father, I felt even more of a connection to Salina. She had ended up just like the three of us—with nothing. Mab took everything that Benedict had—all his money, all his businesses, everything—and then she left his mansion to just sit there and rot. I’d been saving up enough money to get my own place, so I did, and Salina moved in with me, Eva, and Phillip. For a while, everything was perfect.”

“I’m guessing we’re about to get to the part where it all went wrong,” Finn said.

Owen grimaced. “Something like that. Cooper finally found out we were using him to steal. He was a good man, and he really did care about us. He tried to convince me to stop, but I didn’t want to listen to him. For the first time in a long time, I was having fun, and I didn’t want it to stop. So I quit working for him, and I started making weapons and sculptures on my own. Then, when I went to deliver the goods, I would case my clients’ houses and go back later with Phillip. We would take what we wanted just like we’d been doing all along.”

Owen fell silent and paced across the den once more before going on with his story.

“For a while, everything was great, so great that I proposed to Salina, and she said yes. We were planning to get married just as soon as I could get my hands on enough money to pay for the kind of wedding she wanted.”

I knew Owen had been involved with women before me—lots of women, given how rich, handsome, and successful he was. But it still jarred me to hear him talk about someone else, especially about how close he’d been to committing to Salina forever. Owen was really the first serious relationship I’d ever had. I’d opened up my heart to him in a way that I hadn’t to anyone ever before, and I’d wanted to be the same thing for him. But I wasn’t, and it hurt.

It hurt so much, this sharp, aching, bitter jealousy that burned and sputtered like a candle flame right where my heart was.

And that wasn’t the worst part. Because even now, I could see something in his eyes, hear something in his voice, when he talked about Salina. Maybe it was just the fondness of first love or the good times they’d shared, or maybe it was something more serious, but it was there all the same—and it worried the hell out of me.

“So what happened?” Finn asked. “What went wrong with your life of love, loot, and larceny?”

Owen stared into space, not answering him. Eva let out a disgusted snort, which roused my lover out of his memories.

“Owen?” I asked. “What happened?”

He sighed and looked at Eva before finally turning his gaze to me. “Phillip tried to rape and murder Salina.”

14

Nobody spoke. Nobody moved. We were all frozen in place by the ugly, ugly thing Owen had given voice to.

Finn let out another low whistle. “And I thought Gin and I had skeletons in our closets.”

I shot him a warning look, but Finn just grinned at me.

The reaction that surprised me the most was Eva’s. Her blue eyes flashed in her face, angry splotches stained her pale cheeks, and her features pinched together in disgust. She opened her mouth like she wanted to argue with Owen but clamped her lips shut at the last second. I could see her struggling with something, although I had no idea what it could be. Eva noticed me staring at her, and she grew very still, as if a new thought had just occurred to her.

“Not again,” she finally muttered and surged to her feet.

Not the reaction I expected from her—not at all. It made me wonder exactly what Eva knew about Salina—and what she was hiding.

Owen sighed. “Eva, don’t do this. I know you never liked Salina, but you know what Phillip tried to do.”

Once more, Eva pressed her lips into a thin line, as if she was biting her tongue to keep from saying what was really on her mind. Owen started to go over to her, but she backed away from him and shook her head.

“All these years later, and you still have on blinders when it comes to Salina,” Eva snapped. “Well, I’m old enough now that at least I don’t have to listen to it anymore. I’m going to take a shower and go to bed. Is that okay, Gin?”

I nodded. “You do whatever you need to, sweetheart. You know where everything is. Go help yourself to whatever you want, and curl up in whichever guest bed you like.”

Eva nodded, left the den, and stomped up a flight of stairs to the second floor. A minute later, a door slammed, and I heard the water coming on in one of the showers.

Owen sighed and scrubbed his hands over his face, as though the motion could slough all the old, painful memories out of his mind. “I’m sorry about that. Eva might be right about me when it comes to Salina, but she’s the same way about Phillip. She was always tagging after him back then, asking him to play with her. She was only about four when it happened, too young to understand what was really going on.”

“What do you think happened?” I asked, careful to keep my voice calm and neutral.

His whole body tensed, and his hands clenched into fists as though he wanted to lash out and punch someone—Kincaid. “I
know
what happened. The bastard tried to rape Salina, and when she fought back, he decided to beat her to death.”

Finn let out another whistle, but I remained quiet. I’d been an assassin for a long time, and I’d dealt with a lot of bad people. With most, it was easy to tell what their predilections were—gambling, drinking, beating their wives and husbands, abusing kids, hurting people just because they could. I didn’t really know Kincaid, and the tense conversations we’d had these past few days was all the interaction I’d ever had with him, but the casino boss didn’t strike me as a rapist.

Then again, a restaurant owner didn’t strike most people as being the kind of woman who’d moonlight as an assassin either.

But I’d been fooled by people in the past. Maybe Kincaid was just better at hiding his true nature than most folks were.

“Tell me about it,” I said, determined to keep an open mind.

“It was a typical night,” he began. “Phillip and I had scouted a mansion in Northtown. The owners were supposed to be gone, so we figured it would be easy pickings. We left Salina behind to watch Eva, but Phillip said he was feeling sick and went back. I went on to the mansion, but when I got there, the whole place was lit up, and the owners were there. So I turned around and headed home.”

Rage darkened his rugged features. “I heard the screams
and shouts as soon as I went inside. I thought that maybe someone we’d robbed had decided to get some payback, but instead I found the three of them in the bathroom. Salina had been giving Eva her bath for the night, and Eva was still in the tub, dripping wet. But Phillip was on the floor, on top of Salina. Her face was cut and bloody from where he’d been hitting her. He was . . . he was still hitting her when I pulled him off.”