Page 54 of Her Ghostly Embrace
Marc hadn’t been shocked to hear Salvator had seen a ghost or been burned inexplicably. He must know about magic, too. Did he know about the pills? Was he…
“Was the guy yelling at me outside a witch?” Gia asked.
Nico seemed thrown by the change in topic, but recovered quickly. “No. He was human.”
“You checked?” She had to be sure.
“I did. Was he the one to give you the pills?”
“No. Never mind.” She had to figure out why her father would play games, making her headaches worse, when she already had intense blackouts and memory loss that couldn’t be due to the tainted pills.
Wasn’t her condition bad enough? Or did Franco need her to believe she was even sicker than she was? And if Franco knew about magic…had her mother? She had to talk to the damn lawyer. See what Susan had told him before her death.
“I’ll take the potions, thanks.” Gia pointed to Nico’s selections.
“Of course. Do you have anyone to help you deal with what you’ve learned? Are you safe from whoever gave you these pills?”
It was kind to ask, but Gia wasn’t banking on this random guy’s help. “I know the Lockwood Coven. They’ll help.”
Nico nodded. “They’re good people. If you need somethingelse, I’ll be here.” He explained a few things about the potions and how they worked, then rang her up.
It was time to hear out the Lockwoods.
EIGHTEEN
GIA
After Nico confirmedit would counteract the spell on the tainted pills, Gia took a swig of one of the potions and left the apothecary. Marc seemed to have disappeared from the vicinity, and no one jumped out at her as she waited for a cab and made her escape.
Gia’s headache faded, and by the time the taxi pulled over in front of the lawyer’s building, her pain was gone. Seemed the pill she’d taken earlier was one of the tainted ones.
It was a wonder smoke didn’t billow from her ears. Gia felt like taking a bat to every single one of Franco and Marc’s sports cars, then turning her fury on them, pummeling them until there was nothing left.
They’d been making her sicker. Lying to her about even more than she’d thought. All to some mysterious end she couldn’t fathom. Unless it was nothing more than cruelty. Punishment for being a bastard.
Why not dispose of her like they did her mother? It almost would have been kinder.
Gia climbed out of the cab, holding the door for the invisible Aurora. Whatever was happening, she was getting to the bottomof it and claiming her retribution. Escaping was nowhere near enough. Not anymore.
Would Aurora understand her change of heart?
The cab sped off, and Aurora’s disembodied voice piped up. “Are you okay with me showing myself once we’re inside?”
Gia blinked out of her rage-fog. “Of course.”
“Lilly already told the rest of the coven, so it shouldn’t be a shock for Edward or Grace to see me.”
“Good. I’d rather talk to you openly.”
Soft tingles trailed along Gia’s arm, at odds with the hardness creeping into Aurora’s tone. “Come on, let’s go figure out who we need to smite.” It seemed she understood.
They entered the building, and Gia hiked up the stairs and into the office suite. “I need to speak to Edward Ramirez urgently.”
The receptionist, Grace, glanced up from behind her desk like she’d been caught off guard. Her smile didn’t falter. “Gia, hello.” There was a flicker of light beside Gia, and Grace gasped. “And Aurora.” Her hand fluttered to her chest. “Damnation, hearing what happened and seeing it are two different things.”
“What the hell isthat?” came a shout behind them.
Gia stiffened. She hadn’t noticed anyone else here, and apparently, neither had Aurora. Turning, she faced the small waiting area where Viv, of all damn people, sat on a worn sofa.
