Bled Dry (Vegas Vampires #3)(44)
Author: Erin McCarthy

She reminded Alexis of a delicate bird, a white crane, or a tiny hummingbird. As they stared at her, she shifted uncomfortably, her movements self-conscious.

“I haven’t done anything to invoke his ire—not in several hundred years. I was surprised to feel that kind of anger. I thought we were past that, so I listened. It seems he had someone tell him that I was having, well, a love affair with the Frenchman. Which is ridiculous, of course,” she added in a rush. “And I think he knows that, but it still made him jealous. While I was gleaning this from him, I heard that he knows Atelier has impregnated an Impure, that there will be a three-quarter vampire child. As I said, he’s here to see how that information can serve him.”

“Why didn’t you tell me you can still hear his thoughts?” Ethan asked through gritted teeth.

That’s what he took from that extraordinary revelation? Alexis almost rolled her eyes. “Who cares? The point is, she can, and what she heard sucks. That impregnated Impure happens to be my sister.”

“Who told him?” Ethan put his hand in his hair and closed his eyes, like he was gathering his thoughts or his patience, maybe both.

The answer came to Alexis out of nowhere. “Ringo. Ringo and Kelsey. They left right after we found out Brittany was pregnant. And Ringo was there, in the apartment, with them when Brittany told Corbin. He must have overheard.” Even as she spoke, she became more and more convinced that was what had happened. Who else could have known?

“But how did Ringo contact Donatelli? He’s in New York. Or was.”

“Maybe they went to New York. They’ve been gone for two months. You should have sent someone to find him.” Like she had told him. Alexis didn’t think it was cool that Ringo had tried to kill her husband, got punished, then walked away and no one bothered to haul his butt back to Vegas. That kind of leniency rubbed her nerves raw as a prosecutor.

“It didn’t seem like a big deal to just let him go. I figured Kelsey would slow him down, peck at his conscience.”

“You’re too nice. Someone breaks the law, lock them up and throw away the key. Otherwise, there’s no point in even having the laws in the first place.”

“She a lawyer,” Ethan told Gwenna. “Don’t let her scare you.”

Alexis smacked him. “I’m serious. You need to reevaluate this with your cabinet after the reelection is behind you. This is the first step to lawlessness, if vampire crime isn’t cracked down on.”

Ethan studied her. “Maybe you’d like a job?”

“Are you serious?” Alexis thought that through.

“Yes, I’m serious. I have no experience with that, and the Nation has a criminal tribunal, but perhaps we need to clean house.”

“Sweet. I’d love to do that.” It was the only way she liked to clean—firing useless bureaucrats sounded much better than dusting. “But what do we do now about Donatelli and my sister?”

“He won’t hurt your sister,” Gwenna said. “I’m sure of it.”

Alexis was not reassured. “Maybe not until the baby is born, but what about afterward?”

Gwenna smoothed her hands down the front of her jeans. It amazed Alexis how thin and petite Gwenna was. That khaki blazer had to have come from BabyGap.

“Roberto is out for money and power. He won’t kill anyone.”

Um, someone needed to give up the delusions. “He broke my arm the last time I saw him. He had a knife in Kelsey’s chest. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him, Gwenna.”

“You’re still protecting him,” Ethan accused.

Face turning a mottled pink, Gwenna frowned at him. “I am not! I just know him. And he is capable of a lot, but hurting a pregnant woman or a baby is not his style.” She turned to Alexis. “You have to believe me, Alexis. I have my eyes open wide when it comes to Roberto, but I think we should discuss this with him. Pay him off. Money talks with him, and if he already knows the truth, it’s better to go on the offensive than the defensive. He can be reasonable.”

Alexis had spent too many years in criminal justice to think that someone capable of one crime wasn’t capable of an even bigger one. It wasn’t as big of a leap for a morally bankrupt person as most people thought. “If you trust him, why did you hide your daughter from him?”

Gwenna gasped, all color leeching from her cheeks.

Way to foster a relationship with the in-laws. But Alexis thought it was a legitimate question.

Ethan’s cell phone rang and he dug it out of his pocket. “It’s Seamus. Let me grab this.”

As he moved across the room, Alexis sighed. “Look, that didn’t sound right… ”

“It’s a legitimate question. And the truth is that I was young and foolish, and did whatever my brother thought was the right action to take because I had never made any decisions on my own. I was heartbroken and convinced Roberto had seduced and abandoned me, that I was nothing but a momentary diversion to him. I didn’t even know how to get in touch with him at the time the babe was born, and Ethan assured me he was missing. My daughter only lived twenty-five years, during which time I never saw Roberto. When I met him again hundreds of years later, he remembered me, professed love for me. And he did, in his way. I married him, but I never told him about our daughter, because it hurt to speak of her, and there are some things you don’t say to Roberto, do you understand? He would never have forgiven me, so I kept quiet. It was fear, yes, but not the fear you imagine.”

“I’m sorry.” Alexis didn’t know what else to say. Her social skills basically sucked. Brittany would know how to be comforting, but Alexis was better at kicking ass. “You don’t have to say anything else; it’s none of my business.”

Gwenna smiled. “It’s not for you to be sorry. I want to be honest, and I want you to understand. I left him because I know that he is lacking in morals, that he has flaws that cannot be ignored, that he can be cruel and violent. I don’t kid myself. But he does have lines he will not cross, and trust me, he won’t hurt the baby.”

“We have a spot of trouble,” Ethan said, returning his phone to his pocket, expression grim.

“Wonderful. What now?”

“The opposition has just announced their candidate for president. It is Gregor Chechikov.”

“Gregor?” Gwenna started. “I thought he never left Russia anymore.”