“What, no one else here works?”

“Everyone here works. But most of that work goes toward accomplishing our higher purpose, rather than actually paying the bills.”

Ian helped me out when he could—the man could make darkness appear in broad daylight—and Kori had taken a couple of Rawlinson’s jobs, but they were both more useful to Kenley’s efforts than I was, so it was my mostly steady, mostly legit income that paid to rent and heat our hideout house while we slowly chipped away at the foundation of Julia Tower’s inherited power.

Sera looked as though she wanted to say something, and as if whatever she wanted to say might not be an insult to my moral fiber; but before she could do more than open her mouth, Ian called out from the hall as the floorboard in front of the empty closet creaked.

“Kori?”

“She went to get Anne,” I said, and a moment later Vanessa appeared in the bedroom doorway, with Ian at her back.

“Kenley?” Van’s forehead was lined in worry. She hardly even glanced at Sera.

“We haven’t found her yet,” I said, and I could see from Van’s wince that she hated hearing the words as badly as I hated saying them. “But we will. They won’t kill her.”

“I’m not worried about them killing her.” Vanessa frowned at our guest. “Who’s this?”

“This is Sera...um...” I shrugged with a glance at her. “That’s all I know so far, except that she almost certainly doesn’t work for the Towers.”

“I don’t,” Sera said.

“And that she may be able to help us find Kenley.”

Sera sighed and slouched in her chair as Van sank onto the bed next to her. “I would if I could, but I honestly know nothing about your sister.”

“What happened?” Ian said with a pointed glance at my arm.

I removed the towel and Vanessa gasped. “Those are going to need stitches. Or a Healer.”

I glanced at the neat line of horizontal scars on her right forearm and I remembered that she spoke from experience.

Sera scowled at my cuts, but she looked more guilty than angry. “I’m sorry, but you brought it on yourself.”

Ian blinked. “You did that?”

She leaned back in her chair and crossed her arms over her chest. “He kidnapped me.”

Ian and Vanessa turned to me with matching arched brows.

I glared at Sera. “It’s not like it sounds.”

She snorted. “It’s exactly like it sounds.”

“It’s complicated,” I insisted.

She shrugged. “He may be right about that.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Van eyed the severed zip tie on the floor, then the blood finally seeping through the towel on my arm. “Did I miss that part?”

“She blocked my aim at Julia Tower when I went looking for Kenni.”

“But I don’t work for Julia,” Sera repeated. “Or for anyone else.”

Ian lifted the towel for another look at my cuts, then dropped it into place again and turned to Sera. “Then why would you stand between her and a well-deserved bullet?”

She blinked, evidently surprised by the question. “He wasn’t really going to shoot her.” Sera turned to me with a frown. “You weren’t, were you?”

“Not before she told me where Kenni is. But you didn’t know that. Why would you shield her from a bullet, if you’re not bound to her?” Nearly everyone who’d worked for Jake Tower had been contractually obligated to take a bullet for him, but I couldn’t think of anyone who would have done that voluntarily.

“Because I’m a decent person,” Sera said, and I believed that. But I also believed there was more to it. “Beyond that, it’s really none of your business.”

I folded the rag and set it on the desk next to me, then met her gaze again. “You’re actually wrong about that, but you’re welcome to wait for Anne before you start answering questions, unless you want to repeat everything.”

Sera groaned. “Why is everything such a pain in the ass here? And who are you two?”

“Oh, sorry.” Ian stepped forward and offered her his hand. “I’m Ian.”

“Kori’s Ian?”

He chuckled. “Um...yeah. You met her?”

Sera paled. “She offered to kill me, for my own good.”

His grin broke into a full-fledged smile. “Well, then, she must like you.”

“Kori’s an acquired taste.” Vanessa offered her hand next. “I’m Van.”

“And how do you fit in here?”

“Kenley and I are...” Vanessa’s eyes watered, and Ian lightly wrapped one arm around her. When she didn’t object—Van usually didn’t like to be touched—he squeezed her shoulders, and her tears fell.

“She’s part of the family,” I finished for her. Van had spilled blood for us in Tower’s basement, just like Kori had, and that would have made her family even if she and Kenni weren’t in love.

“We have a little time. Julia needs Kenley alive,” I reminded Vanessa, and she finally nodded stiffly.

Sera frowned. “Why? Why does Julia need your sister?”

Van turned to me, brows arched in question. “How much are we telling her?”

“Nothing, until Anne’s had a chance to—”

“Motherfucker!” my grandmother shouted from the kitchen, and I was up in an instant, my bloody towel forgotten. I pulled the bedroom door open farther, and the scent of cooking beef rolled over me, eliciting dueling waves of dread and hunger.