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In the alley, Knox had stepped aside and given his demon supremacy, knowing it needed to be the one to punish the practitioners if it had any chance of calming. Its anger had already subsided. Although its rage was always cold, it was also always fleeting.
“The more I think about everything, the more I believe this isn’t a case of different camps of people targeting her,” said Levi. “I think the dark practitioners were put up to this by the same person that sent Silas.”
“You think it’s Isla,” sensed Knox.
“I think it’s very likely her,” confirmed Levi. “She’s got more reason to target Harper than anyone else. To her, Harper’s trying to take a place that rightfully belongs to Isla.”
“But she didn’t know about Harper until the Manhattan conference,” Knox pointed out. “Silas visited her studio before that.”
“How are we sure that she didn’t know before the conference? She looked shocked, but Isla’s always been a good actress. The news of Harper’s connection to you spread far and wide. It’s extremely possible that Isla heard. Maybe she believed it, maybe she didn’t. We know Silas was sent to test your reaction. But what if the real reason someone was interested in that reaction was because it would tell them whether the rumors were true? I think Isla heard and she sent Silas to confirm it.” Levi leaned back in his seat. “The only other enemies Harper has are Kendra and Carla.”
“The practitioners said that someone wanted rid of Harper. What reason would her mother have to do that?”
“Carla got rid of her once before,” Levi pointed out.
“Abandoning your child and killing your child are two different things.”
“Stop thinking of them as mother and daughter. From what I can tell, the only thing Carla Hayden ever did for Harper was give birth to her. She didn’t want her, she dumped her onto someone else, and she didn’t look back. Yes, there are many parents out there who’ve given up their children for one reason or another. But Carla did it coldly. She’s had no relationship at all with Harper since then, despite them not living all that far away from each other. And didn’t Harper tell you that whenever they’ve crossed paths Carla dismissed her?”
The more Knox considered Levi’s words, the more his theory sounded very, very plausible. “Carla got rid of a baby she viewed as a mistake and then built a new life in which she pretended Harper didn’t exist; then she could forget what a fool she’d been to believe she could trap Lucian,” he mused aloud. “But now she can’t pretend Harper doesn’t exist any longer. Harper now has a certain fame among our kind.”
“Yes. People are curious about her. Carla could worry that someone will find out she’s her mother. Other than for Kendra and Carla, our lair feels naturally protective toward Harper because of who she is to you. They were seriously pissed with Kendra for what she did. So imagine how they’d feel about Carla. I don’t think her mate and sons know about Harper. Bray loves kids; he has two from a previous relationship and he’s been a constant, steady presence in their lives.”
“It still seems farfetched for Carla to try to kill Harper. It’s not as if Harper wants Carla’s recognition, is it?”
“It doesn’t matter. Carla’s carefully constructed world could very well fall apart if people find out the truth. Bray might be unable to understand and forgive her. Carla might feel it’s a lot easier to get rid of the threat to her world than to risk it. She dumped Harper coldly. Why couldn’t she end her life just as coldly? Some people are just callous through and through.”
Knox knew that well. “The day Carla came to my office, she painted the picture of a woman who made a mistake, regrets it, and would love nothing more than to fix it. But it’s possible that what she was really doing was making herself seem the least likely person to cause Harper harm so that no one would suspect her.”
“Yes. And that’s why she needs monitoring closely.”
“Get some of the Force on it.”
“As for Harper’s other enemy…” Levi sighed. “I don’t think Kendra would put herself through all the trouble of compulsions and hiring practitioners. She’s too lazy.”
“But she’s jealous of Harper. And it’s not just because Harper’s my anchor.”
Levi narrowed his eyes. “What don’t I know?”
Glancing down at his anchor, he lowered his voice. “It’s possible that she and Kendra are sisters.”
Levi gaped. He wasn’t a man who was easily shocked. “Are you shitting me?”
“You know I always do a background check on demons who request to join my lair. So when Kendra joined two years ago, I had one done on her. She comes from a high profile family in a lair in Alabama, though she very quickly shed that accent when she came here. It turns out that there was a scandal many years ago; her mother, Beatrice, got pregnant with Kendra by a demon who later left her for a much younger female, a sphinx. That female sphinx turned out to be Carla. It would explain why Kendra seemed to dislike Carla on sight.”
“How can you be sure Lucian is the demon who got Beatrice pregnant?”
“I wasn’t sure, I hadn’t originally asked Tanner to dig that deep. But when I realized Harper’s father was Lucian, I had him do some more digging. He confirmed it was Lucian.” Knox paused as Levi cursed. “If Kendra knows Carla lured her father away, she knows who her father is – a father that also played no part in her life. Yet, in his way, he raised his other daughter and, in fact, Harper’s the only living being he seems to have any true regard for. That can’t make Kendra feel good.”
