"How are you doing?" Elvi asked after a moment. "Finding out all of that stuff about your mother, your conception, and your father . . ." She shrugged. "Are you okay?"
"I don't know," Sherry admitted. "The truth is I don't even know how I should feel."
"There is no 'should,'" Elvi said quietly. "You feel how you feel."
Sherry nodded solemnly.
"I imagine you're feeling all sorts of things right now. Anger at what he did to your mother, yet confused because it's the reason you were born."
"My poor mother," Sherry said unhappily.
"He didn't rape her," Elvi said soothingly. "At least not in the violent, violated way. She was attracted to him and he just mentally veiled her reasons for not sleeping with him, and subdued her conscience. And," Elvi pointed out, "she got you out of the deal. And while your mother apparently wouldn't have had an affair with him without his influence, I'm sure she was glad to have you as a daughter, Sherry. Any mother would be. Especially after your brother died."
"Yes, but maybe if I had really been my dad's daughter, maybe they wouldn't have divorced. I mean, that could have been part of it. Maybe he sensed I wasn't his. If I had been his, maybe they would have worked harder to stay together."
"Sherry, you could never have been his daughter. There is no way for you to exist but as the daughter of Alexander and your mother," she pointed out gently, and then added, "And that isn't a guarantee the marriage would have worked anyway. From what I understand, a lot of couples don't survive the death of a child. Especially when the couple blame each other for the death, and it sounds like your parents did that."
"They did," she admitted, and then added resentfully, "But Alexander also controlled me. Made me do things I didn't want to do."
"Isn't that kind of the job of a parent?" Elvi asked, and then said, "Not the controlling part, but making the kid do things they don't want to do. Although," she said thoughtfully, "even the controlling part is something parents have to do too, only it's usually done with rewards, grounding, and threats of punishment rather than straight-up taking control."
Elvi let that sink in and then asked, "Do you really resent that you're now a self-made, successful businesswoman and not smoking dope in a little hovel with someone who thought monogamy and work were both for idiots and dupes?"
"No, but--"
"I'm sorry, sweetie," Elvi interrupted. "But I don't know many parents who wouldn't wish they could control their child when they saw they were making a huge mistake. And in Alexander's defense, he had your best interests at heart."
"Okay," she allowed. "But how self-made am I if he was taking control and making me do what he thought I should?"
"You told me your friend Lex, who is your father Alexander, offered you the money to start your own store when you graduated, but you refused," she reminded her.
"Yes."
"And he allowed you to do that rather than take control of you, and make you think it was a good idea to accept it," she pointed out. "Then you saved the money yourself to open the store."
"My mother's insurance money helped," Sherry pointed out.
"It allowed you to open it a couple years earlier than your plan," she acknowledged. "But you still saved the rest of it yourself. And I'm guessing you designed and stocked the store yourself."
"I did," Sherry admitted with a faint smile. "Lex had flown off to his supposed job in Africa and I hadn't hired Zander yet."
"Then your success is all your own," Elvi assured her. "You did an amazing job. No wonder Marguerite loves it so much."
"Marguerite?" Sherry asked, recognizing the name from her first night at the Enforcer house. "Lucian's sister-in-law? I thought I recognized her."
Elvi nodded. "She was going on about this store and how lovely you and everything in it were the last time I saw her. She said it was bright and airy and welcoming and . . . how did she put it? 'Even in the middle of winter it feels like a warm spring day when you walk into the store,'" she recounted, and then smiled. "She was right. I love it."
Sherry smiled. That was exactly the effect she'd been hoping to produce, and it appeared she'd succeeded.
"I'm quite sure your father had nothing to do with that," Elvi said solemnly, and then grinned. "Men are rather useless when it comes to decorating and kitchen stuff." She considered it briefly and then added, "That's probably why your father felt he could leave you alone so soon after your mother's death. He knew he would be no help with preparing and opening the store, and knew it would keep you occupied."
"If he even actually left town," Sherry said.
"Well, he probably didn't," Elvi acknowledged. "He was probably watching over you even then, just from a distance, as he did when your parents were still married. I think he really does love you and want the best for you, Sherry," she said quietly. "And I hope you'll give him the chance to be a part of your life after everything is settled."
When Sherry remained silent, her thoughts circling, Elvi patted her hand and said, "I don't know about you, but I could do with something to drink after all this talk."
"I have a Keurig," Sherry said, glancing around.
"I'm feeling more like one of those cold cappy frappy things, and I'm pretty sure I saw one of those fancy coffee shops around the corner that sell them."
"Actually, that does sound good," Sherry agreed.
"I'll just go see if I can get one of the boys to get us a couple, then. Be right back!"
Sherry nodded and watched her go, then turned to peer out the window over the store. Basil and Lucian were in a huddle, talking with Decker, Anders, Victor, Basha, and Marcus. As she watched, Elvi rushed to the group. After a couple minutes, Basha and Marcus were the ones who broke away and headed for the door. Sherry supposed they wanted a couple of the drinks themselves. That, or Decker and Anders couldn't leave the store.
Elvi turned to head back, but Victor caught her and swung her back for a kiss. Sherry smiled when Elvi threw her arms around him and kissed back, one foot leaving the ground to hang in the air. Sherry had always thought that only happened in classic movies. Apparently not. It made her wonder if she'd ever done that when Basil kissed her.
"Ah, isn't that sweet? It must be true love, huh?"
Sherry turned with a start to find Leonius standing beside her, watching the people below.
Sixteen
Sherry stumbled back with a gasp, nearly tripping over her own feet in her clumsy effort to get away. But Leo caught her arm, steadying her. His hold also prevented her from escaping.
"Careful, clumsy Cathy," he chided, drawing her to his side. "I wouldn't want you to fall and hurt yourself."
"My name's Sherry not Cathy," she said defiantly.
"Yeah, but clumsy Cathy sounds better than stumbling Sherry, don't you think?"
Glowering, Sherry ignored the question and asked, "How did you get in my office?"
Leo raised his eyebrows and said, "There's this little thing called a door . . ." He tilted his head. "You should really lock yours. I mean I know you have to keep the front door unlocked for customers, but the back door? Into an alley, no less. You really should have locked it behind Justin and your daddy."
"You saw them leave?"
"Yeah. I was hiding in your Dumpster. Fortunately, you don't sell foodstuffs, so I was only crouching amidst cardboard boxes and stuff. Still, it's a pretty undignified thing to have to do," he pointed out. "However, when I heard Bricker say the SUV was in the alley and realized he'd be coming out that door, there was nothing for me to do but jump in your blue bin."
"You heard him?"
"I heard loads of stuff. You people do like to talk, and I've been out there ever since Decker gave up his position watching the back of the store and ran around to the front," he informed her. "In fact, I was about to come in after Basil and Lucian left, but then Elvi--is that her name?--she came in, so I waited. I must confess, though, that I was losing patience and considering taking both of you when she finally left."
&
nbsp; He glanced past her and clucked his tongue. "Speaking of Elvi, I do believe she's about done making out with her husband and is about to come up here. We should go. Otherwise, we'll have to take her with us." Using the hold he still had on her arm, Leo swung her toward the door leading out to the alley. "And you know that old saying, two's company and three's mass murder."
"And here I thought it was three's a crowd," Sherry muttered, pulling uselessly on her arm to distract him as she grabbed the letter opener off her desk in passing and concealed it against her side.
"Only when you're talking Argeneaus. Three of them is definitely three too many," he assured her as he dragged her down the stairs. "Speaking of which, I hear you're a life mate for my mother's uncle Basil."
"Wouldn't that make him your great-uncle?" she asked as he paused to crack the door open and peer warily out into the alley.
"Nah. I am not an Argeneau. At least not by blood. A great disappointment to my mother, I'm sure."
Sherry glanced at him curiously as he pushed the door wide-open now and dragged her out. His voice had gone tight with either pain or anger when he'd said that.
"Speaking of disappointing your parents." Pausing outside the door as it swung closed, Leo arched an eyebrow at her. "Smoking weed, Sherry? Really? Naughty, naughty.
"I was a kid," she said through her teeth as he turned to start moving again.
"Actually, you were twenty," he corrected. "News flash, it's ridiculous to lie to a man who can read your mind, so don't bother."
"Fine, I was twenty. That's still a kid," she said defensively.
"Only to someone over thirty," he assured her, and then pointed out, "After all, the army thinks eighteen-year-olds are old enough to take a life. Personally, I started killing much younger. So twenty is definitely old enough to know better."
"Whatever," Sherry said wearily, giving up on her tugging. "What does it matter anyway?"
"It doesn't," Leo assured her. "It's just nice to know I'm not the only one who disappointed my parent." Grinning, he added, "The good news is you can do all the drugs you want now that you're with me. I like feeding off stoned women. Much less screaming that way, and as much as I enjoy the terror, the screaming tends to give me a headache. Besides, I do like the buzz I get when their drugged blood hits my system. But drugs are so bad, really. Don't you think?"
Sherry shook her head, finding it too much work to follow his conversation and try to think of a way to get away from him at the same time. "I thought you liked drugs."
"Well, sure, but it always leads to bigger and not always better things. Like for you, it'll start with drugs and move on to finding yourself tied up in a dilapidated building with big nasty me slicing you up and slowly draining away your life." Pausing again, he turned to smile at her and added, "Oh, and don't bother trying to use that pig sticker you grabbed off your desk. I'll stop you, and it wouldn't do much good anyway. I may not have fangs like the others, but I heal just as quickly as any immortal." Leo winked and then added, "Hold onto it, though. I'll get a kick out of using your own letter opener on you."
"You're a sick puppy," Sherry said grimly, trying again to free her arm.
"Surprisingly, you aren't the first woman to say that," Leo told her, and then turned to glance toward the end of the alley, a frown suddenly pulling at his lips. "Speaking of puppies . . . where the hell are the boys?"
Sherry followed his gaze to the mouth of the alley some ten feet ahead of them. Not only were his boys not there, but no one was there, she noted with a frown. The alley opened onto a busy side street. There should have been people passing and--
"Mummy!"
Sherry blinked at that startled cry from Leo as Basha suddenly stepped out in front of them. She then gasped with surprise as she was tugged behind Leo as if she were a chocolate chip cookie and he was trying to prevent Basha from seeing he'd nipped her from the cookie jar.
It was a ridiculous reaction, of course. She wasn't a bloody cookie and Basha could see her, especially when she leaned to the side to look around Leo's arm.
Basha wasn't alone, she saw with relief. Marcus, Bricker, and her father--Alexander--had stepped out behind Leo's mother.
"You killed your own grandsons," Leo said suddenly with dismay.
"Only two of them," Basha said calmly.
"Leos Four and Six," Leo growled. "My oldest and my favorites."
"Eleven and Twenty are still alive," she offered.
"Not for long, I'm sure," he said dryly. "Mortally wounding them and tossing them trussed up into the back of an SUV was very ungrandmotherly of you. Especially when it would have been kinder to just kill then. You know the council will order their deaths. Hell, there's a standing KOS order on all of us now."
"What's a KOS order?" Sherry asked, glancing from Basha to Leo.
"Kill on sight," Leo said with a scowl.
"You have the right to go before the council," Basha said grimly. "If you--"
Basha paused as her son spun back the way he and Sherry had come, but then Leo halted abruptly again and Sherry saw that Decker, Lucian, Basil, Anders, and Victor were spread out across the width of the alley behind them, in that order from left to right. Lucian had a hand on Basil's arm as if he had been holding him back, and Elvi stood a few feet behind them, looking worried.
Cursing, Leo spun back to face Basha, dragging Sherry up beside him. "So what are you waiting for? I'm in your sight. Kill me."
Basha shifted, her hand tightening on the sword she held and raising it slightly before she lowered it and shook her head. "It doesn't have to be like this, Leo. You have the right to go before the council too."
"Over Sherry's dead body," he growled, dragging her in front of him.
"Leo," Basha said, taking a step forward. "Don't do this."
"Do what? Snap her neck like a twig?" he asked, catching Sherry's chin with one hand and turning her head to the right. "Or maybe I'll just rip her throat out with my less than immortal teeth. With no fangs, it would seriously hurt, huh? Or maybe . . ." he said suddenly, with what Sherry was sure was a smile in his voice, "Maybe I'll just turn her right here and now with you all watching, helpless to do anything."
"Crap," Sherry muttered, thinking, Who was the stupid idiot who had refused to let Basil turn her last night to prevent just this kind of thing from happening?
"You," Leo said, and Sherry glanced around, wondering who he was talking to and why he'd stopped.
Leo sighed wearily, gave her chin a jerk to get her attention, and said in an undertone, "I was talking to you, Sherry. You are the stupid idiot who refused to let Basil turn you last night."
"Yes, I am," she whispered in agreement, and in that moment regretted it with all her heart. And not just because it probably would have saved her life, but because in that moment when she didn't know if her neck was going to be snapped, her throat ripped out, or she would be turned by a no-fanger, Sherry saw herself and her life with a clarity she had never before experienced.
She'd had a good childhood . . . even after her brother's death. Her mother and Alexander were always there for her, offering support and love. And yes, Alexander had been controlling and done things she now didn't appreciate, but hadn't he done them to ensure that she didn't make mistakes and fail? Didn't all good parents do what they could to try to help their children have the best life they could?
And then there was Basil. He said they were life mates and wanted to turn her so they could spend the rest of their lives together. But last night he'd offered to turn her just to ensure that she was safe. His giving up his one turn was an even bigger deal than her agreeing to the turn, yet he was ready to do it despite the fact that she hadn't yet agreed to be his life mate. She could have let him turn her and then gone on with her life without him, leaving him high and dry. Yet, he'd been willing to do that to keep her safe. If that wasn't love, she didn't know what was.
She'd been offered love by two wonderful men, welcomed by all the others now standing around her, and sh
e hadn't appreciated any of it until this very moment, when it might be too late to do so. She was more than an idiot, she was a moron, and it was time to stop acting like a helpless idiot and do something.
Clenching her hand around the letter opener, Sherry suddenly jammed it back into Leo's leg. He shouted in pain, and when his hand loosened on her chin and arm, she pulled away and stumbled several steps to the side until she collided with a hard chest.
"Sherry, thank God," Basil gasped, his arms closing around her.
She started to lift her head, but then swung it around to peer back toward Leo as a whizzing sound cut the air behind her. What she saw was Leo, bent forward, clutching at the handle of her letter opener. It hadn't hit him in the leg, as she'd thought, Sherry realized. More like his groin. Basha was taking advantage of his bent position, and as Sherry watched, she brought down the sword she'd just raised, beheading Leo in one clean motion. At least, Sherry suspected she beheaded him. She never really saw. Basil grabbed her head and turned her quickly back to face him and she missed the actual blow.
She wasn't sorry about that. The sounds that accompanied the act, and the blood that rained out over them and across the wall behind her and Basil . . . well, the combination was quite disgusting enough. She was more than grateful when Basil scooped her into his arms and hurried back toward the store's back door with her. She didn't want to see what Leonius Livius's expression was like in death. Was he surprised that his mother actually ended his miserable life? Or grateful for it?
Personally, Sherry was quite sure he'd come looking for his mother to have her kill him. Why else would he be stupid enough to come to Toronto, where the Enforcers' base was situated?
Despite not wanting to see Leo, Sherry found herself shifting her head to peer back at the scene behind her. She was in time to see Basha collapse into Marcus's arms, weeping. Sherry supposed the woman was weeping for the child she'd raised rather than the man he'd become, and knew this was probably the hardest thing Basha Argeneau had ever had to do. She hoped it was, anyway, and felt for the poor woman.
As Sherry watched, Marcus scooped Basha up into his arms just as Basil had done with her. Only he carried the woman out of the alley in the opposite direction.