Chapter 14
Sylvia
“This isn’t real,” Cliff murmured woodenly. Even as he turned and found me beside him, his gaze was unfocused. “It has to be another shapeshifter. Tell me you can sense it, Sylv.”
My heart ached at the desperation on his face, the pleading hidden beneath the flatness of his tone. The soulless nightmare of a man we had come to kill couldn’t possibly be…
“I’m sorry,” I whispered near his ear. “I don’t feel anything. He’s as human as you are.”
“You got tall,” Eros said, but he didn’t look at Cliff the way fathers were meant to look at their sons.
That pleased, eager expression was more akin to someone coveting gold and precious stones.
“Please, have a seat. We don’t have much time, but I’d prefer you to be comfortable while we talk.
Do you drink?” He took a decanter from the bar cart.
Silence. Cliff gave him absolutely nothing.
Eros sighed. “Sit,” he said, and though he waved casually toward the sofa, his tone was cold and clipped—a command now. “And leave the gun while you’re at it.”
Graham and the other guards lifted their weapons, trained on Delilah—and me.
The silence was a damning, unspoken threat that if any of us so much as cast a spell, blood would be spilled in reply.
Cliff’s eyes flicked between each of us, his jaw feathering.
It wasn’t really a choice at all when he set the handgun near the glass tank and stepped forward, sitting on the sofa across from his father.
I stayed hovering in the air beside Ben, three feet from the seating area.
Close enough range to cast a spell, but that was too dangerous to risk when the guards were still aiming weapons at Delilah and Cliff.
I swallowed, my heart hammering. I stared hard at Cliff.
Surely he’d signal me when it was an opportune moment to attack.
Eros poured himself a tumbler of liquor, the amber liquid trickling over a perfectly spherical ice cube.
Despite Cliff’s declination, he poured a second glass and set it on the table between the sofas.
Eros' narrowed green eyes flickered to me, but he set his curiosity aside for now.
He took a long pull from his drink, and the room seemed to hold its breath, awaiting him.
“Mmm—absolutely exquisite. Aged twenty-five years in sherry barrels,” Eros said.
He remained standing, his free hand resting on the back of the other sofa.
“I actually know the fellow who owns this distillery. You might remember him, too. Ray used to stay in the guest house every few years when he and the missus were on the rocks.”
“What the fuck are you doing here?” Cliff asked. I’d never heard his voice quite like this, every syllable dripping with icy, barely-contained restraint. “You… You’ve known about the supernatural all this time? You knew, and you still drove me away.”
“No, it’s not like that,” Eros said. “It’s…
Well, it’s pretty funny, actually. A few years after you ran off with that Nowak kid, I had my own encounter with something sinister in the night.
A djinn, intent on draining me and my secretary dry.
” He waved a hand as he took another sip.
“A story I’m happy to regale you with another time.
After that, I realized maybe you weren’t as batshit insane as we’d pegged you.
I tried to find you, to talk. But you turned out to be incredibly good at melting into thin air. ”
“Because I had to be,” Cliff gritted out.
“No, you chose this life,” Eros corrected, a cold laugh catching around the words. “No one forced your hand to use family resources to jailbreak your lowlife friend out of that psychiatric ward. I had to fire my best attorney because of what you had him do. Really a pity.”
“Talk about Jon again, and we’re done here,” Cliff growled.
Eros held up his hands in a mock-truce, though his lopsided smile didn’t fully sober. Stars, it broke my heart how much Cliff looked like him.
“The point is, I tried to find you, son. I need you to know that. I had my best people on the hunt. We’d find traces, got close a few times, like when you and Nowak got arrested in Sacramento.
But in the end, I pivoted. We got hold of her, instead.
” Eros nodded toward Tammy, who was staring at the ground.
She looked catatonic, like she wasn’t processing the scene before her.
Eros smiled, gaze sliding back to Cliff.
“Turns out, my vanishing boy had a teacher. Tamara refused to give up your location, but we found a partnership mutually beneficial in other ways. She opened my eyes to this world—and how very untapped the potential truly was. I’m Columbus discovering the new world, offering coordinated distribution and attainment for things that can change the world. ”
The implications alone made me want to retch. Cliff whipped his head toward Tammy. I saw his jaw work, the shock hitting him in waves.
His mentor. The architect behind his betrayal.
“Evercor,” Cliff breathed, and I knew he was thinking of the evidence we’d seen scattered through the outpost, in Lee’s hands in the hotel room. “I should have smelled the reeking narcissism at first glance.”
Eros chuckled, polishing off his drink. “It’s a little much, I’ll admit, but enough to allow me a little anonymity. Enough to get me close to your circle of hunters. Took a few of them under my wing personally. All of it to find you, my boy.”
Cliff and I exchanged a look, sharing a realization. He tugged at the bow tie around his neck, loosening it roughly like it was suddenly suffocating him.
“Rhett… That was you,” Cliff said. “Of course you’d try to zip tie and toss a guy into a trunk just to talk to your own son.”
“Well, it’s not like I could give you a call. Even if you weren’t going through burner phones, would you have answered? Don’t be coy—if Iverson had even whispered my name, you would have bolted, Elliot.”
“It’s not Elliot anymore,” Cliff growled. “Hasn’t been since I was fifteen.”
Eros rolled his eyes. “Fine, have it your way. Cliff. Your sister still insists we call you that, too, even now. Disgrace to your grandfather’s name, if you ask me.”
Cliff’s anger vanished briefly, eyes widening. “Anna?” He swallowed, wetting his lips. When he spoke again, his voice lowered into a soft growl. “How is she?”
Eros’ mouth pressed into a thin smile, and I got the sick sense he had been analyzing his own son for weaknesses.
And he had just found it.
“On a trip to Rome right now with friends she made in university, if I’m not mistaken,” Eros said. “I always pictured one of you kids running the empire. Anna’s too soft. It should be you by my side. You could be the gun in my hand—if you’d grow a fucking spine and come back to us.”
“Tell me she’s not involved at all,” Cliff hissed. “She’s still practically a kid. If you’ve forced her to dirty her hands over this, I’ll—”
“Do not raise your voice at me. Anna’s in the dark. She believes this is yet another subdivision of the main company. And I’ll keep it that way if you cooperate. Don’t you want to see your sister again? Your mother?”
The stakes were unraveling at Cliff’s feet. He was being welcomed home—at a staggering cost. His silence made my stomach churn. I’d seen the pain in his eyes so many times, the brokenness hidden behind a charming grin.
Was he seriously considering it?
No, he wouldn’t. He couldn’t leave Jon and me. He wouldn’t betray everything he had fought for through blood and sacrifice for an entire decade.
But I couldn’t find my voice, watching him intently.
Cliff slowly turned, glaring at Tammy. “You did this. All of this is because of you.”
“I told you,” Tammy said thickly, not quite looking at him. “My child was sick. I needed money, not to mention the resources Everett Pharmaceuticals could provide. Your father only wanted information on the hunters’ world in return.”
“It’s an empire built on blood, and you knew that!” Cliff’s voice jumped to a roar.
Eros’ lazy posture melted away in a blink. He stood and took two quick steps forward, closing the distance between him and Cliff. He raised a hand, palm and fingers flattened to strike him across the face.
The blow never came, but Cliff flinched all the same.
“That’s what I thought,” Eros said, all mirth drained so quickly that it startled me—like the jovial, presumptuous pleasure was the true mask. “Watch your mouth, boy. Everything I do, I do for the good of humanity. For my family.”
“Family? You had me declared dead. You buried me—I saw the coverage.”
“Don’t tell me you’re about to cry.” His father searched his face, disgust crawling over his own features. “I didn’t raise a pussy.”
“Says the man who’s too scared to face me without a band of bodyguards,” Cliff said, eyes cutting toward Graham and the two other men.
Eros’ jaw ticked, a vein throbbing hideously in his forehead. For a moment, I thought he really would hit Cliff. Frost writhed up my arms, my own frantic breathing catching my ears. If he laid a hand on Cliff, I would no longer be able to remain passive, even if it risked us all.
My agitation drew Eros’ attention. Sickening intrigue lit his eyes as he observed me, his fury softening. Despite the terror making my head throb, I didn’t look away, but he still only spoke to Cliff. “How did you manage to get this one to be so loyal?”
I sensed how Cliff became even more wired on my behalf—the way his father spoke of me like I was a stray pet that had taken a liking to him. The shock of the assumption didn’t register for me, not after my interactions with Rhett.
A sudden buzz interrupted us. Eros pulled out his phone, his face darkening as he read the screen.
“Hey, Nobody,” he said, jutting his chin at Graham. “Got a report of Nowak and Rhodes on camera, stirring trouble in the east wing. Take care of them.”
“No,” Delilah breathed, her voice strangled.
Eros put a hand up, ignoring her otherwise. “Save the assets that you can. Eliminate any other issues while you’re at it.”