Chapter 5 #2
Gregory cleared his throat. “I just hired her for tonight’s entertainment, but she could have been killed. Whoever is after me could have killed Raymond also. I owe her.”
“Ah.”
The way Rose said it made him think she was alluding to something more going on between them. “You have been obsessed with Katrina, now Sascha, ever since they entered our world. I know you hired a private investigator to learn what you could about them.”
He shook his head. “That was supposed to be private.”
“I’m your sister, and I want what’s best for you. So I’m not going to ignore what’s going on around us. And between you and Sascha. Mom and Dad might not like that you’re dating someone who doesn’t come from wealth and who has such an ‘interesting’ job, but all I care about is that you are happy.”
“Thanks, Rose.”
They returned to the house when they heard someone pull up in the circular driveway. “Hopefully, that’s just Prescott,” Gregory said, not wanting any other trouble tonight.
One of the staff members answered the door, and Prescott said, “I’m here to take Sascha home.”
Gregory and Rose met him at the door. “She’s sleeping on the sofa.”
They walked into the living area, and Prescott touched her shoulder and said, “Sascha?” He woke her. “Hey, Sascha, do you want to come with me? Or stay here and sleep.”
She turned over on her back. “I’ll go.”
Prescott took her hand and helped her up. “Thanks for taking care of her.”
Gregory felt guilty that she had come to harm because of his own troubles.
“Hey,” Prescott said. “I know what you’re going through.” Then he frowned. “Did Sascha see anything about this happening beforehand?”
Gregory frowned. Prescott believed in all this?
Sascha said, “Gregory doesn’t believe in any of that nonsense. But I didn’t see anything about it anyway, or about anything that might happen to Gregory in the future, or what has happened to him in the past.”
Prescott smiled at Sascha. “He doesn’t know what he’s missing out on.” Then he said goodnight to Gregory and Rose and took Sascha out to his Mercedes-Benz.
“Thanks for coming for me,” Sascha said.
“Katrina insists you stay with us tonight.”
“Sounds good. I’ll make my special fun pancakes for you and Katrina in the morning.”
Gregory wished she were making some of her special fun pancakes for him in the morning as he waved goodbye, reluctant to see her go.
“Lucy wants to meet with you tomorrow at the house,” Prescott warned Sascha.
“Oh, great. I haven’t spoken with her since our Aunt Meg told her she has to marry Damon.”
“I believe Lucy heard Damon came to our party last night to see you.”
Sascha closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and looked out the car window. “Great. I told Damon it’s over between us.”
“Damon seems to be taking this pretty hard.”
“Do you blame him?”
Prescott smiled. “No, I really don’t. I can’t imagine being forced to marry someone you’re not interested in, particularly when Lucy’s scary.”
Sascha laughed. She wasn’t scary to her. Well, most of the time. Her witchy abilities could be frightening at times. But why talk to Sascha? Lucy needed to talk to Damon!
When they finally arrived at Prescott and Kat’s house, Kat hurried out to greet them. “Are you all right?” She hugged Sascha. “Wow, different clothes.”
True. Sascha had to maintain her reputation, so she usually wore bright colors that complemented her red hair. “Yeah, I was muddy from the river. Rose gave me some of her clothes. Not loaned, gave them to me.”
“And a phone?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm.” Kat led her into the house while Prescott parked the car in the garage. “So you didn’t get any premonition of the limo wreck before it happened?”
“Nope. It was a total surprise. So did Lucy say anything about what she wanted to talk to me about?” Sascha thought Kat might know more about what was going on than Prescott would.
“She didn’t say, but I suspect it has to do with Damon being at our party last night. Anyone could have told her.”
“And she would be angry.”
“Yeah, I’m afraid so. Not to change the subject, but I was surprised you agreed to go to Gregory’s house to entertain the people at his party. I didn’t think the two of you were getting along that well.”
“He offered three thousand dollars. Or at least his driver did. I don’t think Raymond was supposed to tell me how much money he had to offer me if I didn’t accept his first offer.”
Kat laughed. “I was surprised he paid you that much.” She took hold of Sascha’s hand and walked her upstairs to one of the guest rooms. “So you still had to work after the accident?”
“No. Gregory sent everyone home. He just wanted me to give Rose a reading and then himself, but he wanted to know about our family. I said no to that.”
“He’s still trying to figure us out.”
“Yep. Prescott told him we were for real, but Gregory doesn’t believe it. I think he believes we’ve got Prescott fooled.”
Kat smiled. “That works for me. If you don’t think you can do the fair this weekend…”
“Oh, absolutely, I’m doing the fair. Being pregnant, you can’t last that long at the booth on your own.”
“Remember, Prescott will be there, and we’re linked forever, it seems, which is fine with us. I can share my visions with him, and he can take over for me.”
“I feel fine.”
“All right, well, if you change your mind, just let me know. Get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll see you in the morning.” Kat hugged Sascha and pointed to the big lavender bed. “I brought over a bag with some things for your stay.”
“Oh, thanks so much.” Sascha was so glad to be home, even if this wasn’t her home. Kat made it so, and she adored Prescott too, glad the two of them had become a mated pair.
She closed the bedroom door on Kat’s departure, changed into pajamas, and climbed into bed.
But shortly after she shut her eyes, the nightmare began. The dark night, the menacing headlights, the screech of metal against metal, the cold water and darkness enveloping them. She and Raymond were trying to swim to shore.
She screamed.