The Cruel Ever After (34 page)

Jane laid the little girl down on the couch in the living room. She sat down next to her, brushed the hair away from her forehead.

“She’ll wake up soon.”

She checked her breathing, looked for cuts or bruises, felt for a fever.

“She’s fine,” said Lee.

“She’s not fine!” She stood, coming face to face with him. “She was kidnapped. We thought she was dead. Do you have any idea what this has done to my family? What it’s done to her? To me?”

“I brought her back. All I ask is that you let me go. If you can’t do that, at least give me a few hours. A day if possible. Please,” he said. “Twenty-four hours.”

“Get out of here.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Get out.”

She walked with him to the front door. After he’d gone, she threw the bolt and turned the security system back on. Returning to the living room, she eased down next to Mia, gazing at her niece’s impossibly young face. Her fury at Lee was white hot, and yet she knew he could easily have taken off and never looked back. Instead, he’d saved Mia, brought her back. Right then and there she made a decision to give him his twenty-four hours. She owed him that much.

“You’re home,” she whispered, pulling Mia into her arms, feeling her strong, steady heartbeat. Holding her tight, she stroked her hair and rocked her until the reality of her return fully sank in. “You’re going to be okay. Everything’s going to be okay now that you’re back.” She prayed with all her might that those words were true.

Holding her for a moment more, Jane finally relaxed and released Mia, laying her back down against the pillow. Then, with a heart fairly bursting, she opened her cell phone to call her family.

ALSO BY ELLEN HART

The Mirror and the Mask

Sweet Poison

The Mortal Groove

Night Vision

The Iron Girl

An Intimate Ghost

Immaculate Midnight

No Reservations Required

Death on a Silver Platter

The Merchant of Venus

Slice and Dice

Hunting the Witch

Wicked Games

Murder in the Air

Robber’s Wine

The Oldest Sin

Faint Praise

A Small Sacrifice

For Every Evil

The Little Piggy Went to Murder

A Killing Cure

Stage Fright

Vital Lies

Hallowed Murder

This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.

THE CRUEL EVER AFTER.
Copyright © 2010 by Ellen Hart. All rights reserved. For information, address St. Martin’s Press, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010.

www.minotaurbooks.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hart, Ellen.

The cruel ever after/Ellen Hart.—1st ed.

      p. cm.

ISBN 978-0-312-61476-8

1.   Lawless, Jane (Fictitious character)—Fiction.    2.   Art—Collectors and collecting—Fiction.    3.   Theft of relics—Fiction.    4.   Lesbians— Fiction.    5.   Minneapolis (Minn.)—Fiction.    I.   Title.

PS3558.A6775C78 2010

813'.54—dc22

2010035813

First Edition: December 2010

eISBN 978-1-4299-2710-9

First Minotaur Books eBook Edition: December 2010