JUDE
I pulledthe Range Rover onto the long road leading to Daisy’s house and was glad Rafe was in the back seat with Nolan. He’d been surly as fuck since we’d outvoted him about talking to Daisy and the three men who’d killed for her.
Twice. That we knew of.
The fucking Blackwell Beasts.
Rafe hated them as much as he hated the Kings from Aventine, but our interests had converged more than once over the past couple years, almost like the universe wanted us working together.
Rafe would call bullshit on that take — he didn’t believe in the universe or God or fate or anything really — but itwasweird how often our paths had crossed, and I couldn’t help feeling there was something to it.
“Wow,” Lilah said, craning her neck in the passenger seat to get a look at the house.
“Wild, right?” I asked.
“It looks like something out of an old movie,” Lilah said. “It’s Daisy’s?”
“Yep,” I said. “She inherited it from her mom’s side of the family.”
“Put a lot of work into it too, along with the Beasts,” Nolan said from the backseat.
Rafe snorted. “The Beasts.”
“Not their fault the media gave them the name,” I said, pulling next to Daisy’s restored red mustang.
On the other side of the gravel courtyard, a blue Corvette stood next to a bright green BMW SUV and Jace’s bike.
We got out of the car and headed for the house. It was weird seeing it in the light of day. The last time we’d been here, it had been dark. Cold rain had turned everything to mud, casting the old house into something out of a horror movie.
Now it looked more like a storybook mansion, the peaks of its roof piercing the cerulean sky. There were lots of chimneys, which made sense for an old house, and a massive porch that wrapped around one side. Beyond the cliff at the back of the house, the falls crashed into the river below.
It wasn’t my vibe — I liked new construction, energy efficiency, climate control, and lots of windows — but I definitely got the appeal of the old place.
A brass lion hung from the door, probably original to the house. Rafe marched up and banged on it hard enough to sound like the police on a midnight raid instead of the friendly visit we’d called to arrange.
Nolan scowled at him. “Take it easy. Fuck.”
I knew what was behind Rafe’s bad attitude even if he didn’t: Rafe didn’t like asking for help.
Hiring Storm was different, even with Gage’s help. We’d paid for their services. It was a transaction.
Clean.
This was like asking for a favor, and Rafe didn’t do favors.
Well, hedidfavors, because that meant someone owed him a favor, but he didn’t like being the one in debt.
The door opened suddenly and Daisy appeared. Her brown hair was loose around her shoulders, her face free of makeup, her eyes — an interesting shade of blue that was almost violet — warm.
“You made it!” She stepped back and opened it wider so we could enter the house. “Come in.”
We filed inside and I watched as Lilah looked up, taking in the soaring triple-height ceiling in the foyer, the crown moldings, the antique chandelier. A curved wooden staircase — the bannister polished mahogany, the treads covered in what I was sure was an antique carpet — wound to a second-floor landing.
“Wow,” Lilah said, “what an incredible house.”
Daisy smiled and held out her hand. “I don’t think we ever really met in high school, but I remember you. Lilah, right?”
Lilah seemed surprised. “Yeah.”