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Rosa gave her daughter a hug. “It can’t be that bad. You know I have to do this, honey. It’s only for a while longer. Julie needs someone to take care of her. Her parents have a lot of work to do. You can visit again soon, and next time you do we’ll all go to the beach and have fun. How does that sound?”
“You promise? You won’t forget about me again?”
Rosa placed her hands around the little girl’s face. “I never forgot.”
“But you haven’t been home in a long time. I don’t want you to leave again.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
Julie gasped and shook her head. “Corina. Her name is Corina. She was my nanny’s daughter. Oh, God. I only saw her once. Just once. I think we were like six, maybe. But she looked so different. Her eyes were brown, and she had brown hair.”
“I’ve talked to Channing. She’s a vampire, Julie. You know more than anyone how a person’s looks can change.”
A pen was writing the whole time Julie was talking. She looked up at Ayden. “My nanny was with me until I graduated high school. She never brought Corina back. She promised her she would.” Julie kept seeing the scene play before her. “The fear on the girl’s face. She was so scared to leave her mother.”
Ayden cleared his throat, bringing Julie’s focus back to the room. “Did she mention anything else?”
“Yes. She mentioned a woman named Lupita. I think maybe it was her aunt or something. I can recall Rosa mentioning she had a sister.”
“Great.” The phone rang and Ayden picked it up. Julie looked over at the window. Why hadn’t Rosa ever allowed her daughter to come back? Why hadn’t she ever mentioned Corina over the years? It was as if she hadn’t existed after that day, so long ago.
“We’re on our way.” Ayden hung up the phone. “Delvicho is with Channing, they have Corinne held up in an apartment downtown. Taylor, Londyn, I need you with me. Any case involving crime with paranormal elements is now your field, newbie. Welcome to the pack.”
Julie grabbed her purse. “Aston and I will follow behind y’all.”
“Oh, no. You’re not coming.” Ayden grabbed his keys and headed for the door.
“Oh yes I am! I deserve to face the woman who shot me. I need to do this, Ayden. I haven’t been able to sleep since my change. Hell, I can’t even go to the store with my mates without constantly looking over my shoulder waiting to see her face in the crowds. Please.”
He stopped at the door and sighed. “Fine, but you are not allowed to say anything. Let her do the talking.”
“Deal.” Julie followed them out in a daze. How was this going to go? She almost felt sorry for this woman. She’d obviously had a hard life without her mother. True, Julie hadn’t had her own mom, but she’d had Rosa all those years to lean on. Who did Corinne have?
As Ayden, Londyn, and Taylor turned the corner to head to the back of the police department, she and Aston raced out of the door and headed for Aston’s new SUV.
“Whatever you do, stay by me at all times. I don’t want you anywhere close to where that crazy woman has access to you without protection.”
Julie opened the passenger door and hopped in. “I don’t think we have anything to worry about. There’s going to be so many people there I doubt she even notices me. I have every intention of staying in the back. I just need to see her locked up and taken away.”
The SUV headed to the back of the police department. “Julie, she’s not going to jail. Could you imagine the world if news got out that there was a vampire in the midst? Her master is going to have to put her down. She committed a crime, and not just any crime. She murdered a human. That breaks every law concerning us. I don’t care if you’re a wolf, a vampire, or even a witch. We all know the code. If you murder another, the sentence is death.”
Suddenly, Julie wasn’t so sure she wanted to go after all. She didn’t think she could bear to see Corinne killed. Whether she deserved it or not was beside the point.
“We can always go home,” Aston said quietly. “I can feel how uneasy you are. I know you don’t want her to die.”
“It’s so weird, isn’t it? When she first shot me and Taylor all I could think about was revenge. Now that they have her and she’s going to die, it just doesn’t feel right.”
Aston pulled up behind the undercover car the men were getting into. He ran his finger down the side of her cheek. “I think it’s because you can actually place her now. Before, she was just a stranger to you. Now that you know she was your nanny’s daughter it makes things harder to accept.”
“I loved Rosa. She was like the mother I wished mine would have been. What went so wrong in her own life? She had a daughter, and yet she never left my side until I went to college. Why is that? Why did she not involve her daughter with her work? My parents would have gladly moved her into the house. I know that for a fact. They uprooted their lives just so Rosa could be closer to her family. They did not want to lose her. Who else would have raised me while they traveled the world together?”
Julie continued talking as Aston followed behind the men. “Plus, it’s not like she didn’t have room or anything. Rosa had her own living quarters behind the house. It doesn’t make any sense and truthfully it kind of pisses me off. I spent my life placing children in the best environments I could.” Julie could feel herself getting flustered. “Do you know how many cases I turned down because I didn’t feel the parent were fit?” She huffed. “Too many! I investigated each person thoroughly. I made sure.”
Aston turned to look at her and she could see the concern on his face. She tried to keep calm as they made their way onto shoreline, but her mind just kept going, like it was trying to tell her something. “Take my last case. The husband came to me because he feared for his children. He was sure his soon-to-be ex-wife wasn’t fit to raise them. I wasn’t going to take his case at first, until I found out the wife was an alcoholic. I know how a person is when they’ve been hitting the bottle. Did she seriously think she could take care of toddlers in her condition? I couldn’t allow that.” The skin on Julie’s neck was on fire as she continued. “And then she goes and hires the best freaking lawyer out of Houston. She almost won her case, but she forgot who she was dealing with. Me! The freaking alcoholic.”
“Are you okay?” Taylor stopped the Tahoe and put it in park. Julie looked at the high-rise they were sitting in front of.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure what I’m doing. I feel flustered. My nerves are all over the place.”
