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That she knew why we were here when Carla hadn’t stuck around to explain our presence only solidified my opinion she was a force to be reckoned with. Since neither Desmond nor Holden had butted in to take charge, I figured they must have sensed her power too.
Great, a sass-mouthed hostess they were willing to deal with, but a pint-sized fae with no teeth was all up to me. Thanks, guys.
I smiled back but had trouble holding the gesture.
“Don’t hurt yourself, dear. That looks frightfully unnatural on you. ” She stepped backwards into her office, leaving the doorway empty. I dusted my jaw off the floor and followed her in with the two men hesitant at my heels. “Close the door,” she continued, “and I’ll tell you all about Kellen Rain. ”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The owner’s name, or at least the one she wanted us to use, was Gia. She got right down to business, which I liked about her. “Your friend was here,” she told us.
I nodded. That much we already knew. “Where did she go after she left here?”
Gia’s smile had a faintly condescending quality to it. “You’re asking the wrong question. ”
I glanced over my shoulder to Holden and Desmond, hoping they might be able to offer me the right question, but both of them looked equally confused.
“You said she was here. ”
“I did, and she was. ”
“What we need to know is where she went. ”
“No,” Gia replied, giving her head a small shake. “What you need to know is where she is. ”
“That’s what I asked. ” I was getting impatient and didn’t want to sit here and argue semantics. This woman had the answers regardless of how I phrased my questions. She knew about Kellen, and that was what I needed her to tell me. When she said nothing, I added, “Where is Kellen?”
“Gone. ”
Desmond gave an exasperated sigh, which told me he was feeling as happy about this game as I was. “Gone where?” I needled, trying to keep the ball rolling.
Gia opened the top drawer of her opulent desk and removed a black ledger. She thumbed through the pages until she found what she’d been searching for and held the book out to me, waiting patiently until I took it from her steady hand.
“The left page is Miss Rain’s debts. ”
Though the items listed were written in Chinese, the numeric value of the debts was written in standard numerals. The numbers were large, and they took up the full left-hand page. The tally at the bottom was a number over seven figures, which I found staggering.
It had also been crossed out with a red pen and the number zero had been added beside the strikeout. “It shows here her debts were paid. ”
“No, my dear. It shows there her debt has been absolved. ”
“I don’t understand. ”
“One does not simply pay debts here. Favors are exchanged, services rendered. These things are often done with promises of great wealth or treasures. ”
“Kellen had the money to pay for this. ” I pointed to the massive number. “Even if she didn’t, her family would have. Why are you making it sound as if she couldn’t live up to her end of the bargain?” A cold chill had set up shop at the base of my spine and was steadily fanning out through my body. I didn’t like where this conversation was going.
I’d never had to deal with the mob or debt collectors—not the kind who broke limbs instead of taking away your television, anyway. My experience was only in movies, and the way Gia was saying Kellen’s debt was absolved sounded a hell of a lot like a euphemism for sleeps with the fishes to me. But killing Kellen would be senseless. She was loaded, and to the Rain family the amount she owed would barely be a drop in the bucket. It might make Lucas mad to pay it, but it certainly wouldn’t ruin them.
“She promised something other than money,” Gia said. “And she couldn’t deliver. ”
“What did she promise?” Holden asked before I had the chance.
“She promised herself. Kellen fell in with a fairy named Brokk who trades in pure happiness. But happiness like that comes at a cost, and Brokk has his requests. The time came where she had to fulfill, whether she liked it or not. ”
I went rigid in my seat, and Gia’s gaze shifted from Holden to me. She smiled again, and this time I didn’t feel any of the friendliness or warmth she’d previously forced into the gesture. Now it was just as cold and empty as the people who frequented her club.
“Who is the fairy she owes a debt to?” My voice squeaked as I spoke.
