Page 21 of Whispers of Wisteria (The Garden of Eternal Flowers #5)

What was going on? Darn it, I should have just followed her. The room was growing more crowded, and someone pushed me from the right. My attention wavered as I lost my balance, and by the time I looked back, their truce had ended.

The two shifters began to exchange blows.

I silently screamed and held Maria’s jacket and purse to my chin.

She was glorious. Perfect form, poise, and grace. Her opponent, too, when not being a one-hit-wonder, wasn’t half bad.

I was lost in the splendor of it all, my insides twisting with nerves and excitement, before I realized the crowd—and the ring itself—had quieted. As planned, everyone was now focused on the fight between the two shifters.

They were both going to be so popular; he really should thank us.

But still, they were more evenly matched than I thought. I was confident in Maria’s skills—why else would Titus make her Er Bashou if she wasn’t a deadly warrior—but my pulse still raced. I squeezed Maria’s stuff close to my chest as I watched the scene from between my fingers.

Hopefully, Maria realized this shouldn’t be drawn out much longer.

Clearly, she did, because this time, when she ducked away from the slower man’s powerful punches, she pushed upward, jamming the heel of her hand up from the bottom of his chin.

The room grew still as he staggered back, covering his face with his arm, and fell against the wall.

I let out a long sigh of relief and uncovered my eyes. She waved at me, and I waved in return.

She won! I always had the utmost confidence in her ability.

But the short moment ended, and the room exploded in a torrent of sound and flurry. The crowd pushed around me, trying to capture her attention, and my vision began to waver. I dropped her bag and jacket and covered my ears.

It was too much. There were too many people.

Maria was suddenly beside me, grabbing my arm, but she radiated smooth confidence instead of fear.

Her calm demeanor was contagious, and the tight feeling in my chest evaporated. She pushed back anyone who stood in her way. Then, in another motion, she swooped up her jacket and bag.

Everyone had been drawn into the chaos, so no one noticed as Maria guided me past the crowd as we headed for the unmarked doors that made up the exit.

We stopped, and Maria pushed me against the patchy concrete wall as she positioned herself between the rest of the room and me, as she frowned at her watch.

“I’m not sure what you hoped to accomplish with that.” A thin, pale, snakelike man with slicked-back midnight hair suddenly appeared beside me. “But you’ve certainly started something.”

Maria’s attention whipped around so fast that it made me dizzy, and before I could even blink, she’d pulled me behind her. I could barely make out her question: “What do you want?”

“I’m not talking to you.” His pinched face sharpened as he scowled at the lioness. “I’m addressing the lady fae. I’m assuming you have a plan?”

I gripped Maria’s sleeve. We’d gotten attention, which meant it was working.

I couldn’t screw this up now.

I only had to think about the cashmere sweaters that lay unpurchased in my shopping cart. But only after I paid the boys back for what they’d already gotten me.

“Sorry?” I asked, trying to keep my voice steady.

He rolled his eyes as he reached into the front of his jacket and pulled out a small black card. “Don’t pretend to be dim. It’s annoying. Let’s agree to leave the evasiveness at the courts and deal in real-world terms. Here.”

I ignored Maria’s tense form, reached around her, and took the paper from him. But I didn’t have a chance to look at it before his hand closed over mine.

“When you’re ready to talk business, call me.”

“Are you done?” Maria stepped closer, pushing me more solidly behind her back.

“For now,” the man responded before he stepped back. He moved into the pushing chaos and pressed two fingers to the side of his forehead in a short salute. “I’ll be seeing you both again soon.”

Ernesto Lucciano.

The name gleamed in gold, elegant, swirling script on the thick cardstock. I flipped it over. There was no title, no business, just a single phone number engraved into the back. There was nothing to explain who he was or what he wanted.

I really hoped this number accepted text messages because I would rather gouge out my eyeball with a spoon than call a stranger.

“Who do you think he is?” I wondered. It was a fancy card—it captured the light rather mesmerizingly when held a certain way.

“He’s Ernesto Lucciano,” she repeated the name. “He’s Unseelie.”

Maria’s knuckles were white around the steering wheel, and her focus was pointedly on the road. I wanted to think that this excessive concentration was because she cared for her Mercedes, but she’d already proven the exact opposite on the drive to the fights.

“He’s the second-in-command for a regional gang,” she continued. “He is the patriarch of his house despite being only thirty-two. I didn’t expect to see him there.”

“Unseelie?” I stopped turning the card. “Why would they be at a fight club?”

Maria shot me a pointed look.

“Okay…” My face warmed, and I stared at the light tan dashboard. I was being somewhat hypocritical to call out another fae’s involvement in illegal activities when we’d been doing the same thing. “What does that mean then? Why are you upset?”

“Why am I upset?” She sounded incredulous. “Did you not just hear me? He’s a gang leader.”

“Not really,” I rebutted. “He’s only second-in-command. Are you afraid of him?”

She laughed, and I clutched at my seat as her erratic driving returned. “No,” she answered, finally stopping to take a breath. “But he knows you’re fae.”

Well… Most people seemed to know that anyway.

“That means he was probably watching you for a while, long before George and I fought,” she continued, seemingly frustrated. “You’re on his radar, and he knows what you look like.”

“Ah.” I shrugged, picking the card up again. She said this, but I couldn’t help but feel that this worry was a gross overreaction. “Who cares? I think I’m going to contact him.”

“What?” Maria’s high-pitched shout cut through my head, and she jerked at the wheel.

My stomach churned. “Maybe we should pull over,” I muttered.

To my surprise, she did, swerving onto the shoulder and parking the car on the side of the two-lane country highway. “You can’t call him!” she said, facing me.

“I’m not going to call him,” I conceded. “I’m going to text him.”

There was a difference.

“But why?” Maria clasped her hands in front of her in a pleading motion. “What possible reason would you have to be friendly with someone from the Lucciano house?”

“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “He might be the connection we’ll need for The Lone Lioness.”

“Wait, we’re seriously calling it that?”

That had never been in question, so I ignored it. “And he doesn’t seem like a bad person.”

“He’s in a gang, Bianca.” Maria was pinching the bridge of her nose. “An extremely high-ranking member to boot. He’s a bad person.”

Was he, though?

I pressed my finger to my mouth, considering. Sure, he needed to wash his hair and lay off the heavy cologne, but outside of that, “I don’t think he is.”

I couldn’t explain it, but he didn’t give off ‘bad person’ vibes.

If anything, he was more like a sleazy salesperson. I was confident we could reach some understanding that would be of mutual benefit.

“He called me a ‘lady’,” I pointed out. He was well-mannered—like Xavier. It must be only my family that were the uncouth ruffians of the fae world. Bryce, Uncle Gregory, and Uncle Caleb could learn a thing or two about how to treat a girl.

Brayden, however, was perfect the way he was.

Maria was rubbing her hands slowly down her face. “Oh my God…” Her voice sounded pained. “How are you still alive?”

“Don’t worry.” I patted her arm. She had nothing to be concerned about. He was fae, which made him my subordinate anyway. And he wasn’t even an Officer, which meant that everyone in my circle was stronger than him by default. “I’m a very good judge of character.”

She slowly opened her eyes. “It’s Finn,” she said, looking me up and down. “Finn is the reason you haven’t been murdered.”

Well, now that was just demeaning.

“I’ll have you know that I’ve saved his butt far more often than he’s helped me.” I shivered and rubbed my palms over my thighs. “He’s such a drama queen.”

“Is that so?” It didn’t look like she believed me.

“Yes, he’d never have passed Biology without my help.”

Maria’s eyebrow raised, and her expression remained torn. I could tell she was still stuck on whatever she’d been talking about before, but was also very interested in this newest development.

“Okay.” It wasn’t long before her curiosity won out. “I need to hear this.”

“Finn loathes the way formaldehyde smells.” I wrinkled my nose in remembrance. “It makes him nauseous, and he gets grossed out by medical stuff.”

“So, he fainted during dissections?” Maria leaned forward, her brows drawn together in abject interest. “You can’t leave me without details.”

“No.” I shook my head. “We were always lab partners. I let him sleep and did it for him. I filled out the paperwork and everything.”

“That’s…” She seemed torn. “Fascinating. But honestly, we’re getting way off-topic here. You cannot text Ernesto.”

Not this again. “But I need to. For our plan.”

“I’ll tell Titus,” she warned, wagging her finger at me.

And now she was bluffing. “No, you won’t.”

She pulled back, and her hand lowered. “What?”

“If you tell him, he’ll want to know how I connected with Ernesto in the first place. Then you’ll have to admit your part in The Plan and that you took me to an illegal fighting ring.” I shook my head. Did she not think this through? I pointed between the two of us. “This is our little secret.”

Maria stared at me with a mixture of horror and admiration. While I was answering my question, she put her hand on my heart.

“Wow,” she said finally.

Did she hate me now? I was only stating a fact. Besides, we’d reached the point of no return. Now, we had no choice but to go all in, sans one exception.

“I’m not sure how to feel,” she continued. “I’m both frightened and proud.”

This was no time to be uncertain. “Do you want to beat things up?” If she said ‘no’—if she’d changed her mind—that would be my only reason to back out. I refused to take advantage. “Are you happy where you are now?”

Maria flinched, glanced out the window, and pursed her lips. A heavy silence fell over the vehicle before she finally sighed and answered, “I hate desk jobs. I boxed in high school and college.”

I tried not to show my elation. But this was somewhere I, Bianca Dubois, could finally assist. After all, there was no better thing than helping people reach their full potential.

It would be my first act of friendship.

“Then trust me.” I touched the card again and ran my thumb over the edge of the paper. “I’ll help you.”

My triumphant moment was short-lived because Maria’s expression twisted with guilt.

“In that case, I need to tell you something,” she said.

“What?” My stomach was already tightening.

Her voice was short when she answered, “We’ve been investigating Eric Richards.” She grabbed the steering wheel. “But we’re reaching the limits of what we can do without more information. Everyone is hesitant to talk to you about it.”

My ears buzzed, and my fingers tingled. But once I got ahold of myself, I’d tell her I was completely over it. Hadn’t I already said so more than once?

“I want to help you too.” She peered at me. “I think you’ll feel a lot better once you get closure. Help with the case, help them find him, and maybe you’ll be free.”

Free?

My stomach sank.

I wanted to argue with her, but I couldn’t. This was a time for bonding. We were supposed to share our worries and traumas while offering uplifting platitudes.

That was how it worked.

I could not mar the sanctity of this moment.

“What do they want from m-me? I can’t h-help with anything.” I pressed my finger firmly against the sharp edge of the card.

I couldn’t even explain why.

Maria was resting her temple on the steering wheel. She watched me with a soft expression, and when she spoke, she seemed to choose her words carefully. “You don’t have to talk if you don’t want to. It’s up to you.”

The understanding in her voice made my head swim.

“Just do what you can,” she said. “Fuck their procedures; it’s only pushed you away. They can tailor the investigation to you. Anything will help, especially when we have almost nothing.”

I didn’t understand. “W-what do you want?”

“We need you at the scene,” Maria answered, and the world fell from under my feet. “There was a fire, and most of the building has been destroyed. If you could do a walk-through—even to explain the house’s layout—it would help tremendously.”

“You w-want me to go back?” My throat was closing up. I couldn’t!

Maria grabbed my hands. “I know it’ll be hard, but it’s over, Bianca. There’s nothing there that can hurt you.”

Yes, there was. He’d been possessive over that land—what if he was watching?

He would know if I helped. They would know.

“Eric Richards cannot hurt you.” Maria shook my hands, her steady voice anchoring my drifting emotions. “You don’t even need to speak. You can spend the entire time walking around and pointing out anything we could use. Something we might not notice.”

Maybe, maybe.

That wasn’t so bad. Finally, I might be able to contribute something.

“It’s… burned?” I whispered through dry lips.

“Mostly,” she nodded. “The building has aged badly due to exposure. We can’t even get to some parts. And”—She gave me a steady look as she squeezed my hands, her confidence steadying me—“the scents are mostly faded. We’re the only ones who’ve been there.”

I felt dizzy with relief. How did she know what I was thinking?

“Okay.”

I didn’t even realize I’d agreed until her face lit up and her mouth widened into a bright smile. “That’s great,” she said, sounding genuinely pleased. “That’s really brave. You’ve come a long way.”

Really? Because I felt like throwing up.

I was not very brave at all.

“Let me tell Titus.” I bit my lip, looking at our joined fingers. If I was going to work on being brave, I should probably start with this.

He hadn’t come to me, which meant he was probably against it.

“Of course,” she said, placing my hands back into my lap. She gave them a comforting pet, then pulled back on the road. “Do you want to keep talking?”

No, although I hoped it wouldn’t offend her. We probably should talk, even if not about this. We still had to develop a believable cover story for our absence all day.

However, I wasn’t sure I could handle any manner of conversation. “Not right now.”

“Okay. I’ll be here if you want to, though.” She didn’t argue or try to make me feel bad about it. Instead, she switched the radio on, and we drove the rest of the way to Titus’s office.