Marcus’s face turned to stone. “Isabelle, that’s enough.”
She just laughed, pulling a crumpled ball of paper from her pocket and tossing it at his feet. “I found this under her bed this morni-
ng! Probably her little book of scams.”
It was actually a collection of recipes my mother had written for me. Mangled as it was, it could be whatever she claimed it to be.
“Oh, Marcus, Marcus,” she taunted. “Your niece has been missing for three days. Was she taken by one of your enemies? You must
be truly desperate to turn to a fraud like this. Then again, I suppose the great Austin family can’t afford a decent private investigat-
or anymore. Oh, that’s right, you’re on the verge of bankruptcy, aren’t you? Ever since your father’s failed investment last year, you‘ ve practically had to mortgage the family estate!”
“Enough!” Marcus’s voice was as cold as ice.
But Isabelle was reveling in her cruelty. “Did I strike a nerve? It’s pathetic, really. Ignoring the police to hire a psychic who claims she
can find people by sniffing their underwear. The whole city will laugh at you! Your niece would be better off dead than being used
in a scam by this parasite!”
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She raised her foot and stomped down hard on my hand. The sound of bone crunching mixed with my own cry of pain. “Talk! Did you sell my brother off already? Are you trying to scam the Austins now, too? I’m telling you, if you don’t produce my brother today, I‘ Il strip you naked, hang you from the gate, and let every stray dog and homeless man in this city have a taste-”
Her phone began to ring, shrill and insistent.
Her voice trembled as she answered it. “Hello?… What?… No, that’s impossible! You’re mistaken!”
Whatever was said on the other end made her let out a terrified scream. The phone slipped from her grasp and hit the ground, the screen shattering into a spiderweb of cracks.
Isabelle scrambled to her feet and bolted, shoving Marcus hard as she ran past him. “Marcus, you watch this bitch for me! If a sing- le hair on her head is out of place, I’ll gouge out your niece’s eyes and use them as marbles!”
Marcus waved a hand, and his bodyguards immediately moved forward, carefully helping me to my feet. “Ms. Vance, let me get you and your parents to a hospital.”
Meanwhile, Isabelle raced home.
She burst through the living room doors to find Elder Kinsman collapsed on the sofa. On the mahogany table before him sat a black box, its edges dripping with a dark, reddish liquid.
“Grandfather!”
She lunged forward. The box tipped and fell, and a severed hand rolled out onto the floor.
On the inside of the wrist, a lopsided sun tattoo seared itself into her vision. She’d taken Shane to get it two years ago. He had
been so afraid of the pain, he’d cried and squeezed her hand for half an hour, causing the artist to botch the design.
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