GraceinMoonlight (18 page)

His gaze narrowed. “Help you how?”

“Will you take me to see someone who may be able to help me
fix this mess with Ettore and get the
Mal
off our backs?”

* * * * *

“What do you mean she’s gone?”

“She and John and two
praetorians
left an hour ago,”
Kaine said. “I promised I’d give them a head start before I called you. I think
it’s been long enough.”

Kaisie swore until he figured the phone lines had blistered.
He and Duke and Nic were waiting at a private airfield outside Tampa for the
chartered plane to be refueled so they could follow Marrucini to New York City.

Kaisie had picked up the bastard’s scent not far from the
house, just the faintest trace but enough for Kaisie to follow. At first, he’d
thought the bastard had been playing with him, laying down a false trail. But
the longer they followed, the more he became convinced that the man was injured
pretty badly and not in any shape to be screwing with them.

“Where were they headed?”

“New York City. She’s going to talk to her grandmother.”

“What? Why the hell would she do that?”

“Grace said she can get her grandmother to rein in Marrucini
somehow.”

Son-of-a-fucking-bitch.

“Get in touch with John.” He motioned for Nic to come
closer. “Tell him Marrucini’s on his way to New York and he can’t take Grace
anywhere near the
Mal
.”

“Shi—”

The phone clicked in his ear as Kaine hung up.

Shit was right. “Duke. We gotta go now.”

Duke’s dark eyes narrowed and he stood. The guy did nothing
fast but at least he was moving. “What’s up? Marrucini—”

“Is in New York and so is Grace. I don’t want him anywhere
near her.”

Duke’s eyebrows lifted. “She went alone?”

“John’s with her and two
praetorian
guards.”

Duke visibly relaxed. “He knows what he’s doing. She’s in
good hands.”

“I know that but I need to be there with her.”

Duke shrugged. “So you’ll be there.”

Kaisie felt his anxiety levels rise as Duke didn’t seem to
see the seriousness of the situation. “I’m gonna call John and tell him to
stall. Tell the pilot to get us in the air as soon as possible and fly us
straight to NY.”

Duke’s raised eyebrow made those levels skyrocket. “Damn,
Kaisie. Maybe you need to have a drink and chill out.”

Okay. Duke was a dead man.

Kaisie shot out with a right hook before he even realized
he’d done it. And when he connected with Duke’s chin, he immediately realized
Duke had let him land that punch.

“Feel better?” Nic asked from somewhere behind him. “I know
I always feel better after I hit Duke.”

As Kaisie shook out his throbbing fist—damn Duke’s fucking
rock-hard chin—he shot Duke the finger with the other then turned to Nic.

“We better be fucking ready to take off.”

Nic’s smile spread. “Yeah, we’re ready. Course correction
already logged.”

“How the hell did you— She called you first, didn’t she?”
Damn, he loved his daughter but they’d be having a very frank conversation when
he and Grace got back to the den.

“Yeah, she did, but only because she knew you’d want to be
in the air as soon as possible and she knew I’d get it done fast.”

Kaisie looked at first Duke then Nic. They knew how he felt
about Grace. They didn’t have to ask and he didn’t have to say anything. They
had a mate they loved. Who they’d die for, if it came to that.

He sighed as he started toward the plane. “I reserve the
right to kick your asses at a later date.”

Duke actually smiled. “Must be getting weak in your old age,
man.”

“I can still take you down, Duke. Don’t piss me off.”

Nic started to cough though Kaisie knew the bastard was
laughing at him. “I’m cutting you some slack since you actually did something
useful and got the plane in the air faster. But don’t push it.”

“She’ll be fine, man.” Duke caught up to him just inside the
cabin on the eight-passenger jet. “Don’t get yourself worked up about a
situation that may never happen. It won’t help.”

As Kaisie buckled himself in, Duke and Nic did the same
across the aisle and the pilot started the engine.

He knew what Duke was saying but that didn’t help ease the
sick lump in the pit of his stomach.

* * * * *

Grace hadn’t seen her grandmother in a year and a half, at
least.

And she hadn’t missed the woman, she thought as John drove
through the Lincoln Tunnel.

Graziella Bellasario would rather ruin or destroy your
reputation and career than bake cookies on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Graziella ran a successful, diversified company, parts of
which spread throughout the United States and Italy. Her husband had died
shortly after the birth of their son. Car accident.

Grace didn’t think it’d been much of an accident. There were
no accidents around her grandmother. Everything went according to plan. Her
plan.

The only thing that hadn’t was Grace being born without a
caul. And Graziella had never let Grace forget it.

As a child, Grace had been terrified of her grandmother. Her
cold eyes, her too-calm voice, her expressionless face. Frankly, the woman
creeped her out.

Graziella had that effect on a lot of people. Business
rivals had been known to call her the Serpent Woman behind her back. Grace
thought her grandmother secretly liked it because no one who’d ever used the
nickname had turned up missing.

The same couldn’t be said about business associates who failed
her. Some of them were never seen again.

Grace knew her grandmother wouldn’t hesitate to get rid of
her own flesh and blood if she disappointed her. Especially since she’d already
done her duty and produced a
Mal
heir to a respected
Mal
family.

She was expendable. At least, that’s what her grandmother
had considered her.

But she didn’t know Grace. She’d never taken the time to get
to know her. Graziella had always considered her a pawn without much of a brain
for business.

Well, Grace had learned.

She just hoped she’d learned enough to bargain with her
grandmother so she, John and the two
lucani
following them in another
car would walk out of Graziella’s office with their hearts still beating.

The woman may be closing in on ninety but her power had strengthened
instead of waned over the years.

Doubt wanted to derail her.

Why had she ever thought this would work?

And why had Cole agreed to let her try? Maybe he’d known she
would fail and her grandmother would kill her and he wouldn’t have to worry
about her anymore.

He couldn’t honestly believe she’d have any hope in hell of
making this work.

Then again, why would he have sent John and two other
lucani
to keep her safe?

No time to second-guess herself now as John made his way
through the madness of Midtown traffic to get to Sixth Avenue.

She directed him to a parking garage not far from her
grandmother’s building, followed closely by Cole’s
praetorians
. They
parked then made their way back to street level.

Turning automatically toward her grandmother’s building, she
started to walk until John laid a hand on her arm as he put his phone to his
ear.

“Hey, Kaine, what’s—”

He fell silent, his eyes narrowing and she knew whatever
Kaine was telling him, it wasn’t good.

“The kids?” she forced herself to ask as the
praetorians
stopped at her back.

John shook his head and her chest loosened the slightest
bit. “Kaisie?”

John held up his index finger and she nearly had to bite her
tongue off to stay quiet.

After at least a minute of one-sided conversation on the
other end of the phone, John said, “Okay,” and hung up.

“Kaisie will be here in half an hour. We wait for him before
we do anything.”

Her mouth hung open for a second before she got her brain to
work. “What? Why?”

John put his arm around her shoulders and started walking
again, as if they were a couple out of a stroll. “He’s pretty sure Marrucini’s
here in the city. Kaisie thinks Marrucini’s damaged pretty badly.”

“And he thinks Ettore has gone to my grandmother for help?”
She shook her head. “No. No way. My grandmother would tell him to clean up his
own mess. She’d think him weak if he came to her for help.”

“Then it won’t matter if we just hang out for a while and
wait for Kaisie.”

She wanted to stomp her foot and insist that John take her
immediately to her grandmother’s. She wanted to get this over with now.

“And when Kaisie gets here, he’s going to demand that I go
back to the den without talking to her. No, we have to do this before he gets
here. Cole okayed this, John. He believes I have a shot. Kaisie will want to
hustle me back to the den and hide me away. I believe he means well but—”

“You don’t know that. The man loves you, Grace, whether he’s
said the words or not. He’s worried about you. He doesn’t want anything to
happen to you.”

“I understand that. I do. But I’m not a soldier. I don’t
take orders. I’m old enough to make my own decisions and I have you and two
highly trained soldiers at my back. If Kaisie’s here…” She paused and released
a heavy sigh. “If he’s here, I may listen to him. I may tuck my tail between my
legs and run home. I’m sick of running.”

John stared down at her, his expression torn but resigned.

“You know Kaisie will have my ass for this,” he finally
said.

She shook her head, trying to look much more confident than
she felt and probably failing miserably. “No, he won’t because this will be
over before he can do anything about it. And everything will be fine.”

And it would have been. If only her grandmother hadn’t been
a little too sure of herself.

Grace walked into her grandmother’s building as if she owned
it. Which wasn’t far from the truth. She was Graziella’s only grandchild. One
day, she would own it.

Of course, after today, her grandmother would probably
disown her, so…

Stepping up to the reception desk just inside the doors, she
stared directly at the receptionist. “I’m here to see Graziella Bellasario.
Please tell her personal secretary Grace Bellasario is here.”

The young woman’s expression changed from haughty to
wide-eyed in two seconds flat as she reached for the keyboard. “It will only
take me a second, Ms. Bellasario. Why don’t you have a seat while you—”

“I don’t expect to be kept waiting long enough to need a
seat.”

The receptionist’s eyes got even wider. “I’ll just—” She
pressed a few buttons then spoke into the slim microphone attached to the
earpiece. “Ms. Conacelli? Grace Bellasario is here to see Mrs. Bellasario.
Should I— Yes. Of course. Of course.”

The young woman turned back to Grace with a trembling smile.
“Please take elevator five to the top floor. I’m afraid your men—”

“Will be coming with me.” Grace smiled at the girl, who
couldn’t be much older than twenty-three or -four. She’d been told, though
she’d never really seen the resemblance before, that she looked like her
grandmother. When the girl’s smile died and actual fear made her blanch, Grace
figured the resemblance had only gotten stronger with age.

At least her grandmother didn’t look like the Wicked Witch
of the West.

As Grace turned toward the bank of elevators beyond the
reception desk, John and the two
praetorian
guards followed. They played
the role of bodyguards perfectly, staying a few steps behind her and not
talking to her.

The guard at the elevators pressed the button for her, never
making eye contact.

Grace sensed no magic at all from the man and had a brief
second to wonder at that before the mirrored doors opened.

John stepped around her to check out the interior of the
elevator before he nodded at her, and she and her other two guards entered.

The ride up was silent, though she exchanged a meaningful
glance with John.

That’d been too easy.

Her grandmother never would have allowed Grace to bring
three unknown men with her into Graziella’s inner sanctum.

Which meant they were either heading into a trap or her
grandmother didn’t think Grace represented any kind of threat.

True, John had no magic at all but the
praetorians
reeked of it. They were powerful
lucani
.

When the elevator dinged to mark their destination, Grace
knew something was horribly wrong.

Which proved to be true when the doors slid open and Ettore
Marrucini stood there.

“Hello, Grace. Nice of you to join us.”

* * * * *

Kaisie had never much cared for cities but he’d spent a lot
more time in them than either Duke or Nic had.

He knew the fastest way to get to where they were going from
Newark, where their plane had landed. He knew where to park the car and how to
navigate the midmorning crowds on Sixth Avenue.

Duke and Nic kept up with him only because they knew if they
lost him, Cole and Kaine would have their asses. But he wasn’t about to make
allowances for them.

Not when Grace was in danger.

By the time he pushed through the doors of the Bell
building, he knew Marrucini was already there, as was Grace, and he was in no
mood to tap dance with the receptionist who looked as if she’d just stepped off
a photo shoot for a fashion magazine.

“Send me where you sent Grace Bellasario. Right now.”

The girl, who looked younger than his daughter, barely
blinked as she fake-smiled at him. “I’m sorry, sir. Do you have an
appointment?”

Her expression changed fast enough when he growled at her.
“No, I don’t. And I don’t need one because you really don’t want to mess with
me right now, little girl. There’s an injured, possibly unbalanced
Mal
with low impulse control on the loose in your building and, if you don’t open
the damn elevator and let us go find him, my associates and I are going to
change into wolves right here and tear through the guards and anyone else who
tries to get in my way. Do you understand?”