Page 80 of Wicked Deeds

“Most of it is falls under the category of confidential,” Damon said.

Gwen’s chin jutted out. The defiant expression on her face made me suck in a breath. For the first time, I saw a resemblance. My sister was as stubborn as me. It almost mademe smile. Almost. I stifled the urge. Gwen probably wouldn’t see the funny side.

“You don’t think I have a right to know if you think he’s going to try to find me?” Gwen asked.

Cassandra matched her chin tilt, folding her arms across her chest for good measure. “You said you didn’t want to be involved with magic. So we can’t tell you about Cestis investigations. That information is need-to-know only.”

“So is the Riley Arts investigation,” Damon added.

Gwen didn’t back down. “Don’t I fall under the category of need to know? If he’s my father?”

Cassandra shook her head. “We don’t know that for sure. And I’m sorry, Gwen, but we don’t know you very well either.”

“What, you think I’m working for him?” Now she looked mad, not stubborn. Her eyes burned almost silvery. Curious, I peeked at her energy field. Brighter. But not like she was actively using magic. Interesting.

“Well, you have turned up here at a very coincidental time,” Cassandra pointed out.

“Because I wanted to get away from this kind of thing, not because my evil father sent me.” Gwen’s voice was sharp.

“Couldn’t she sign an NDA?” I interrupted. Provoking Gwen into a rage didn’t seem like a sensible plan if we wanted to avoid accidental magical outbursts. “Or whatever the Cestis equivalent is?” Or both, if necessary. “It’s not unreasonable for her to want to know.”

Damon and Cassandra gave me identical ‘you’re on her side?’ expressions.

I raised my eyebrows at them, adding my own chin tilt to let them know I was, indeed, on her side. “Well?”

“Is that a good—” Cassandra started

“I understand what an NDA is,” Gwen interrupted. “I’m not an idiot.”

“If I bind you to Cestis confidentially,” Cassandra said sternly, “you’ll most likely end up in jail if you break it.”

“Same if you break a Riley Arts NDA,” Damon added. “I have the best lawyers in the country, and I pay them well. Plus, I can get you blackballed in the industry. Which won’t matter if you’re in jail.”

Sheesh. Talk about bad cop, bad cop. “Back off,” I mouthed at him.

He ignored me, keeping his attention on Gwen. “So, if we tell you, you don’t get to tellanyoneelse. No matter what you find out. You talk to one of us, you talk to Maggie. A few others we okay. Anybody else and the consequences will be unpleasant.”

Gwen threw up her hands. “Who am I going to tell? I don’t have any friends here on the outside. I spent my teen years in a boarding school full of girls I didn’t have much in common with. I never really had a best friend. Even the ones I was friendly with have probably forgotten who I am now. My mother is unknown. My ‘aunt’ dropped me the second her legal agreement was over and, as far as Aubrey knows, left the country for parts unknown. There’s just me.”

I tapped her foot under the table, nudging it with mine, hoping she’d take it as a ‘not just you now’ gesture of support. For a few seconds she ignored me, then gave a tentative tap back. Her posture eased a little.

“What about Fae?” Cassandra asked. “Do you have friends in the realm?”

“Does it matter if I’m never going back there?”

“You think that now. But things change.”

“Well, in the unlikely circumstance I change my mind, I’m sure you could get Lady Cerridwen to put a binding even more effective than yours on me. The Fae have ways of making people stay silent, too. The kind you probably don’t want to know about.I want to know the truth. I’m sick of lies and being kept in the dark.”

Understandable.

Cassandra gave her a hard stare before turning to Damon. He nodded sharply.

“Very well. Give us a moment to talk,” Cassandra said.

“We can go to my office,” Damon suggested.

The two of them hurried out, leaving Gwen and I sitting in silence.

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