If that’s true, why would Lazarus lie about it to Imani? Jared asked me.
No fucking clue.
“That didn’t stop Marco from watching over her,” continued Juliet, confirming what we had already suspected. “He hired vampires to erase her trail and keep her safe from hunters.”
Sam snorted. “He was keeping tabs on her. Be honest.”
Juliet sat on the floor, lotus style. “Yes, he was also keeping himself updated on her whereabouts. But it was her safety that concerned him most. I do not think he has ever given up hope that she would return.” She closed her eyes, her features settling into a calm mask. “Now, if you will excuse me, it is time for my meditation.” We’d been dismissed.
I don’t think there’s anything more she can tell us anyway, said Jared as he gestured for Sam and I to follow him.
“Unlike Tait, she’s very ambivalent toward Imani’s existence,” said Sam. “I get the feeling she wouldn’t care if Imani lived or died. She’s just not on Juliet’s radar.”
I nodded. “If she’s lying, she’s good at it.”
Jared led us past more cells, turning this way and that. Eventually he stopped in front of another cell.
Marco was standing near the glass. He studied us all carefully. Then he smiled. “She’s alive, isn’t she? Good.”
Sam lifted a single brow. “Is it?”
Jaw hard, Marco said, “You can’t think I did this.”
Rolling her eyes, Sam waved a bored hand. “You’d never hurt Imani, yeah, yeah. But you already did.”
“I brought her into this life without her consent, yes,” he allowed.
“Why, Marco? What was it about Imani that made you want to start your own line?”
“Bring her here and I’ll tell you.”
I growled at that. He smirked.
Sam’s nose wrinkled. “Nah, I’ll give that a miss.”
Marco jerked his chin in my direction. “Get him out of here, and summon Imani.”
Fuck that.
“I can’t quite work out why you think you’re in a position to make demands.” Sam turned to her mate. “Can you?”
Jared sighed. “No, I’m stumped here.”
“Why do you want to see her?” Sam asked Marco.
“She’s mine,” he replied simply.
Sam made the sound of a buzzer. “Wrong.” Very fucking wrong.
“She is mine, and I want to see with my own eyes that she’s alive.”
“She doesn’t think she’s yours, does she? She severed all ties with you long ago.”
“You watched over her though, Marco, didn’t you?” said Jared. “You’ve spent all these years keeping her safe from people who would hunt and use her for their own gain. And how does she repay you? By shacking up with another guy.” Jared put a hand to his chest. “Personally, I’d be pissed. Aren’t you?”
When Marco didn’t respond, I said, “You wanted revenge. You wanted to punish Imani for being with me. You wanted to hurt us both. Her death would have achieved that.”
Marco looked at me, upper lip curled back. “I’d happily see you dead. But Imani will always be safe with me.”
Sam snorted. “Considering you’re a bloody psycho, forgive me for not believing that.”
“You’re being blinded by your anger,” insisted Marco. “Think. Why would I use serum to kill someone when I can do that with my bare hands? Why would I go through the trouble of keeping Imani safe all these years just to later kill her?”
“If it wasn’t you, who was it?” I asked.
“If I knew that, they’d be dead by now.”
My gut tells me it’s not him, Jared said. Sam gave her mate an odd look, so I guessed that he’d said the same to her. I don’t think Marco would hurt her. Yes, Turning her against her will hurt her, but I don’t think he sees it that way.
Honestly, I was beginning to think that just maybe the guy wouldn’t physically harm her, but that wasn’t to say that he hadn’t injected her with the serum. Maybe he didn’t want to kill her. Maybe he was hoping the serum would work and he was trying to repay her by giving her back her human life or something.
“Whether you’re guilty of this or not, you deserve to die,” I said. “You stole her human life from her.”
“Perhaps, but you really shouldn’t kill me,” said Marco, smiling. Freak. “I have information you’ll want to hear.”
“Is that so?” Sam snorted. “I think you’ll say anything that you believe will keep you alive.”
“You could be right. But you could be wrong.” He cocked his head. “Would you like to know what the little insignia is on the blog that’s leaking info about our kind?”
Jared stiffened. “How do you know about the blog?”
Marco’s smile widened. “You’re not the only one who keeps a lookout for such things.”
“There is no insignia,” said Sam.
“You didn’t notice the ‘O’ that had a ‘T’ running through it?”
There is a small symbol on the blog, but I didn’t think it meant anything, Jared told me.
“What do you know about it?” Sam asked Marco.
He took a step back. “Can’t say I’m tempted to help you. I don’t like you much. But there is someone I’d like to speak to.”
No prizes for guessing who he was talking about. “Fuck that.”
He ignored me. “Bring my Imani to me. If she wants to hear about the insignia, I’ll tell her.”
“You’ll toy with her,” I corrected.
Again, he ignored me. “It’s a fair deal. You let me live, and I’ll tell Imani what the insignia means.”
“If we let you live,” began Jared, “it would be inside this cell.”
“At least I’d be alive. Bring her to me. Or don’t. The choice is yours.”
Before I could tell him to go fuck himself with a jagged blade, I found myself standing in Sam and Jared’s office.
I immediately began to pace. “He doesn’t know anything. The bastard’s just buying time and playing games. He’d say anything to see Imani. He’s obsessed with her.” Not that I was in a position to judge.