Chapter Eight #2
Sunglasses concealing his eyes, Carver hopped out of his truck. ‘I’ll be two minutes,’ he told them. He flashed Ripper a charismatic grin that pulled at his wiry beard – like his thick mussed hair, it was brown with little streaks of gray. ‘I was hoping you’d be home.’
Ripper didn’t greet him. He just folded his arms and waited.
Carver strutted toward him. Literally strutted. Like he could take on the world. Which he could not.
Thickset with a bloated stomach that spoke of his fondness for beer, he was a few inches shorter than Ripper and carried a lot less muscle. If a fight ever broke out between them, Carver would be overpowered by Ripper fairly quickly.
‘I meant to come see you yesterday.’ Carver removed his sunglasses and slipped them into the breast pocket of his flannel shirt.
His amiable smile lit his deep-brown eyes, but there was also a glimmer of uncertainty there.
‘I know you hate chitchat and dancing around shit, so I’ll get straight down to it. You know why I’m here.’
Ripper inclined his head. ‘It’s an easy guess.’
‘Reena was so sure the land would end up in her possession.’
‘Yeah, I got that.’
Carver scratched at his sideburns. ‘It never occurred to me that she’d be wrong.
It’s only right that a person’s children inherit their belongings.
Both Dez and Gill were clear to me that the land would be free to build on; that it would be sold to their High Priestess.
A contract was drawn up. Money changed hands. Blueprints were—’
‘Save your speech. I’ve told Reena, and now I’ll tell you: I’m not giving up the land. It’s mine,’ Ripper firmly stated, no ‘give’ in his tone. ‘It’ll stay mine.’
Carver’s lips flattened. ‘You have land. You don’t need more.’
‘Same goes for you and Reena. But neither of you would give it up in my position.’ They were both hypocrites.
‘Maybe, but that don’t matter much when it’s not really yours to keep.
I wasn’t gonna say anything, but . . .’ Trailing off, Carver hooked his thumbs through the waist loops of his jeans, but there was too much tension in his frame for the move to seem casual.
‘Look, I’m gonna give you a friendly heads-up – there’s a good chance you won’t get to keep the land. ’
‘Is that right?’
‘I heard all about Millicent’s will, and I agree with Dez.
The whole thing is weird as hell. She left a person to you, for shit’s sake.
He thinks that Millicent’s sanity was suffering at the end.
Makes sense to me. Her family didn’t notice because they didn’t have enough contact with her.
But yeah, Millicent clearly didn’t have all her faculties. ’
Ripper’s scalp prickled. ‘That’s the angle the coven’s gonna go with, is it? Millicent wasn’t in her right mind and so the conditions of the will should be overruled?’ He ground his teeth, figuring he should have seen this coming.
‘They’re not wrong.’
‘What they are is pissed. They’ll try anything to have that will scrapped. And you’re only supporting their argument because it suits you.’
Carver’s brow creased. ‘You’re honestly telling me that the will didn’t seem at all strange to you?’
‘It was drawn up by Millicent Vautier. Of course it wasn’t conventional. Nothing the woman did ever was. That doesn’t mean her sanity wasn’t intact. I bought potions regularly from her. She was all there, sharp as a tack right until the end.’
‘Someone “sharp as a tack” doesn’t think they can bequeath people in a will,’ Carver countered.
‘She was hinting at me claiming Emberlyn as an ally. Which I have. You’ll have already heard about that.’
‘And you think it’s smart to be allied with the devil’s witch? That’s what the coven call her, you know. They’ve told me all kinds of stories.’
‘Yeah, they do that. Turns out they extract important details first. I learned that for myself on hearing her and Reena talk yesterday.’
Movement in the corner of Ripper’s eye plucked at his attention. He tracked it to see Crew casually striding toward them. He’d no doubt heard that Carver and his sons were on their way here so had come to ensure that Ripper had backup should he need it.
Carver gave the newcomer a quick chin tip before turning back to Ripper. ‘After what happened with Rosemary, I wouldn’t have thought you’d want to closely associate with a witch. Your parents would be alive if it weren’t for Rosemary, and you wouldn’t have spent years of your life Rabid.’
The reminder of what had occurred all those years ago made Ripper’s jaw harden. ‘None of which had anything to do with Emberlyn. Go home, Carver. I already made it clear that I won’t be relinquishing ownership of the land. Continuing the conversation is pointless.’
Frustration rippled across Carver’s face. ‘I need to go ahead with this project, Ripper. I’ll give you a percentage of the profits.’
‘I don’t want a percentage. I don’t want anything except for you to let this go.’ Ripper raised a palm when the wolf would have objected. ‘You don’t come here again, and you stay away from Emberlyn Vautier. We clear?’
Carver’s mouth tightened. ‘You made a mistake throwing your lot in with her. She might say she’s an ally, but she’ll screw you over. She’s a goddamn psycho.’
‘All the more reason for you to leave her alone, wouldn’t you say?’
‘I’m telling you, she’s not right in the head, and neither was her grandmother.
Her family will prove Millicent wasn’t sound of mind when she wrote that will.
They’ll get the conditions overturned, and you’ll lose the land anyway.
You might as well just give it up now so plans can go ahead as they should. ’
‘You’re not listening to me. I don’t like it when people don’t listen to me.’ Dropping his hands back to his sides, Ripper stepped right into his personal space. ‘And I really don’t like hearing you call someone under my protection “not right in the head”.’
Carver’s eyelids fluttered, his Adam’s apple bobbing. ‘I’m only telling you what I was told.’
‘I don’t need to hear anymore. All I need is for you to get into your truck and get the fuck away from here.’
His nostrils flaring, Carver flushed. ‘Dammit, Ripper, things don’t need to be this way.’ But he tromped over to his vehicle and jumped inside. Moments later, he was speeding off.
‘Did I hear right?’ asked Crew. ‘Millicent’s family’s planning to claim that she wasn’t sound of mind and so her will should be declared invalid?’
‘Yeah, you heard right.’ Ripper sighed. ‘Their little plot might even work. The conditions of the will don’t exactly speak of someone whose thought processes were normal. But that was normal for Millicent. Still, it doesn’t mean their lawyer won’t manage to have it overturned.’
‘The coven’s lawyers are good, but so is Millicent’s. He’ll probably handle it.’
Ripper grunted in agreement. ‘I’d hoped that they’d all back off once they realized that neither me nor Emberlyn were going to give in. Like I pointed out to Reena, she doesn’t need the manor or the land. She just wants it.’
‘Maybe Reena isn’t behind this. Maybe it’s Gill or Dez or both.’
‘That’s what I’m thinking. The way they speak about Emberlyn . . . I used to think it was because they disapproved of the types of magick she dabbled in. But you know what I hear in their voices each time they talk to and of her? Resentment.’
‘You think they’re jealous that their niece is more powerful, or that Millicent raised her but not them?’
‘Could be both, but I’m mostly leaning toward the first. It never occurred to them that the manor would end up in her hands, because Millicent told them she didn’t want Emberlyn to inherit anything.
They weren’t prepared for this scenario, and they’re scrambling to come up with a way to get the house from her.
’ He paused. ‘I need to warn Emberlyn what they’re planning. I don’t want her blindsided by it.’
‘I just saw her parking outside the Danvers’ place.’
The Danvers, a mated couple from their clan, lived here in Ashwood. ‘She was probably dropping off laundry.’ She regularly did that for clients.
‘She would be gone by the time you drove over there, but you could call their house now and ask to speak with her. She might not have left yet.’
‘Only one way to find out.’