Page 5

“What about Giovanni?” I ask, feeling something coil in my stomach. “Has anyone heard anything from him since he came after me?”

Sysco’s eyes darken as he looks at me. I can see in his expression the answer he’s settling on as to what Gio’s fate should be for coming after me. “No.”

“There hasn’t been a reason to talk to him,” Harry says, even as he pulls his phone out. He taps on the screen a few times and holds it to his ear. He waits a few moments.

“Gio,” Harry says, and my heart about jumps into my throat. “Just checking.”

Harry immediately hangs up. “He’s alive.”

“He won’t be the second Ares hears what he did to Lana,” Sysco points out.

I might not get the chance to decide what Gio’s fate should be. Ares will indeed go after Gio the moment he knows what Gio did to me.

“Do you know what you want to have happen with Gio?” Harry asks. His tone drops lower, more serious. He fixes me with those dark eyes, and I see an openness there. He, like Sysco, is leaving it up to me.

I shake my head. “I don’t know yet. I really haven’t had two seconds to actually think about it. It’s kind of complicated. But, Sysco, you’re right. When Ares finds out what he did…”

“So, the options are, do we give Giovanni the chance to leave town before Ares gets wind of it?” Harry says. He’s always so logical, so damn smart. “Or do we let nature run its course?”

I nod, agreeing with his presented options. “I need some time to think about it.”

Harry nods. “As little credit I give to the Barons, there is a little bit of a purpose. Big decisions come to a vote. Things that affect our city. If Cliff is dead and Giovanni’s fate uncertain, Ares is off the rails, that leaves just Sysco and myself.

When it comes to things like this, there can’t be just two. ”

“I vote Lana as a Baron,” Sysco immediately catches onto the direction Harry is headed. “Baroness? No, Baron.”

“I second the vote,” Harry says, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Congratulations, Lana. You’re equally one of us, now.”

Holy shit. My head spins. What the hell just happened?

Did… did Harry and Sysco really just make me a New York City Baron? Just like that?

“Are you serious?” I blink. “You want me to be a Baron? I… I don’t own a fucking thing in this city.”

“Not all about ownership, Lana,” Sysco says with a smile. “It’s about doing what’s best for New York. You’re fucking smart.”

“We don’t just want you to be a Baron,” Harry says evenly. “You are one now.”

Ares has always believed in me. Don’t let that crown ever slip. You’re Lana fucking Kincade. Don’t ever let the world forget it. It’s something he’s said to me over and over. There isn’t a chair at any table in this city you don’t belong at. Ares has believed in me and my power from the get-go.

But these other powerful men, these billionaires, these immortals, they believe in me, too.

“Thank you.” The words come out a little breathless and a little shocked and confused. “You two are crazy. But thank you for trusting me.”

“Been too much of a sausage fest for too long anyway,” Sysco smirks. “Welcome to the team.”

I bow my head slightly as I feel my face flush, filled with an overwhelming amount of appreciation. “Thanks. Back to the timeline?”

“I can’t think of anyone else who is dead or missing,” Sysco says, immediately locking back into the task at hand.

Whiplash. I have fucking whiplash. When we started this discussion, I was just Lana, a newly Made vampire. Now, on the other side of it, I’m Lana, New York City Baron.

“I can’t either,” Harry says. “And I feel like Ares was perfectly normal at the meeting we had when he told us about Augustus. Which was…” he taps the marker against his palm while he thinks.

“Three weeks prior. I didn’t see him in between that time.

So, it comes down to you, Lana. When did you notice him starting to act weird? ”

I cross one leg over the other, leaning back into the couch, digging into my brain. Which is so different now. I feel like I have so much more space in my brain now. Everything feels sharper. What Florence has done to me is wild.

“Honestly, that day we found out about Mike and Beth, and even Tom, he seemed fine,” I conclude. “But we know that he’d killed them that day. So… I don’t know. I would almost say that whatever happened to him had to have gone down that day, or maybe the day before.”

“What else did Ares do that day, or who did he talk to or interact with?” Harry asks as he folds his arms over his chest.

I blush as I think back on what happened right before. “He was with me the night before. Earlier than that, he’d been at work. So, he would have seen any of his regular team he saw every day. But I know he was with me for at least part of the night.”

“You can spare us the details,” Harry says flatly.

I blush harder.

“He was gone in the morning, though. He’d left sometime before I even woke up.

Ares went to talk to my former best friend,” I say, shaking my head.

I’d forgotten about that until this moment.

And I realize then that Harry and Sysco know nothing about Ophelia.

So, I give them the rundown of how she was taken by Augustus, how I’d been looking for her.

How Ares found the record, and after he rescued me, Ares and I went looking for her.

I tell them about her absolute freakout when she realized Ares and I were together. How she’d rejected me. How our friendship is utterly ruined and over.

“Sounds like this woman really hates vampires,” Sysco says as he raises an eyebrow.

“But she’s just some woman,” I say as I shake my head. “It doesn’t even make sense that she could do this.”

But something prickles at the back of my scalp. I shove it down, though. There’s just no way. Ophelia is just a person. There’s no way she could be responsible.

“You’re sure?” Sysco asks, staring at me.

“It doesn’t make any sense,” I shake my head, dismissing it. “But I’ll keep thinking about it, see if I can think who else Ares talked to that day.”

Sysco doesn’t seem convinced, but he looks away from me and back to the board.

“I can’t think of anyone else Ares might have taken out.

Seems pretty clear it’s only been a week since whatever it was happened to Ares.

I think, for now, we hire some people to look for him.

Probably not the smartest thing for me or you to go looking for him, Harry. ”

“I know three PIs,” Harry says, raising an eyebrow at Sysco’s idea, like he’s surprised with Sysco’s solution but agrees with the plan. “And two bounty hunters. I’ll give them a call.”

“I only know one PI,” Sysco confirms. “But I know some… other people who tend to be good at tracking down individuals.”

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I’ve always kind of thought Sysco looked like he came from the wrong side of the tracks, but he kind of confirms it a little with that statement.

“Well, I don’t know anyone like that,” I say, rolling my eyes at these ridiculous billionaires and all the money they can throw around.

“But I don’t think I’m the kind of vampire Ares is trying to track down, so I’m going looking for him myself.

Harry, can you text me the address of the vault in case I find him? ”

Harry nods, his arms still crossed over his chest.

“Anything else?” I ask, feeling myself reaching my mental limit with all of this. Even though there’s so much more room in my brain right now, I feel… burned out. Overdone. I need two seconds to breathe by myself.

“Not sure there’s much more we can do at the moment,” Harry concludes. “We just need to find Ares. And keep thinking of how this might have happened to him.”

“I will,” I nod affirmatively. I rise from the couch and take three steps toward the elevator. “Thank you, both of you, for everything you’re doing. Thank you for trusting me, for your understanding.”

“We got you, Lana,” Sysco says with a small smile. “Glad to have you officially on the team.”

“It just makes sense, Lana,” Harry adds, and nothing in his expression says he’s lying.

I give them one nod and step into the elevator.