Bitter Bite (Elemental Assassin #14)(25)

side, smiling and chatting while he dabbed at her minor wound with another

cocktail napkin, even though he had a much more serious, oozing cut and a

purple knot on his forehead from where he’d hit the floor.

Bria was standing right next to him, dabbing at Finn’s wound the same way he

was dabbing at Deirdre’s. Owen was there too, a thoughtful expression on his

face as he watched Bria watch Finn watch Deirdre.

Hugh Tucker had resumed his previous seat on Deirdre’s other side. He eyed

her wound for a moment, then started texting on his phone, probably trying to

find an Air elemental to heal his boss. That’s what Silvio would have been

doing.

I stopped long enough to find my stilettos and slip them back on so I wouldn’

t cut my feet on the shattered crystal and broken glass, then headed in their

direction. Bria sopped up another bit of blood from Finn’s face, tossed her

dirty napkin aside, and hurried over to me, making sure we were out of earshot

of the others.

“Did you get him?” she asked in a low, hopeful voice.

“Sadly, no, but I’ll sic Silvio on him. Santos won’t be able to hide for

long. If he’s smart, he’ll leave town.”

“Well, here’s hoping that he’s not so smart.” Bria jerked her head at Finn

and Deirdre. “And what do you want to do about that?”

“I have no idea,” I muttered.

Finn realized that I had come back into the lobby, and he waved at me. I let

out a breath and walked over to him. Owen stepped up beside me, hugging me to

his chest. I gave him a quick kiss before turning to Finn.

“Gin, there you are. I was just finishing up with Deirdre’s wound.” He shot

her a grin. “Just a graze. Nothing to worry about. Why, you don’t even need

stitches. A few minutes with one of those Air elementals I told Tucker about,

and you won’t even have a scar.”

Deirdre drew in a deep breath and let it out, pushing away her shock and

steadying herself. Then she winked back at him. “I’ll take your word for it.

”

“You were lucky,” Finn said.

“Yeah,” I muttered. “Lucky.”

His eyebrows drew together in puzzlement, as he wondered why I was being so

snarky to the woman who had just saved his life, but I wasn’t about to

explain the irony to him.

“Oh, don’t mind her,” he said in a cheery voice. “She’s just upset that

the bad guy got away, and she couldn’t give him the smackdown she wanted to.

Right, Gin?”

I ground my teeth, but Finn didn’t notice that I didn’t answer him. Instead,

he fixed his green gaze on Deirdre, curiosity filling his face.

“Although I have to ask you something, Dee-Dee,” he said. “Why did you

shove me out of the way of that bullet? Not that I’m complaining, mind you.

But it was a really brave and heroic thing to do, especially for someone you’

ve only known a few weeks.”

“Well, good investment bankers are hard to find. I didn’t want my favorite

asset to get hurt.” She winked again, then let out a loud laugh, trying to

play it off as a joke, trying to charm him the same way he’d done to

countless other people over the years.

But Finn wasn’t that easily swayed. “No, seriously,” he said. “I really

want to know. Why did you risk your life to save mine? Why did you think to

protect me like that?”

Deirdre froze, her smile slowly slipping away, her expression turning serious,

until she was staring at Finn like he was the only thing that mattered. She

clamped her lips shut, then opened her mouth, then clamped her lips shut

again, as if she was having trouble getting out the words.

My stomach twisted with dread. I knew exactly what she was going to say, but

there was nothing I could do to stop her.

“I’m your mother.”





8

Everyone had a different reaction to Deirdre Shaw’s bombshell.

Bria bit her lip and stared down at the floor. Owen blinked and blinked,

trying to process Deirdre’s words. Tucker glanced at his boss, his black

eyebrows arching a bit, then went back to his phone, still searching for a

healer. My hands clenched into fists so tight that my nails dug into the

spider rune scars in my palms.

And then there was Finn.

He stared at Deirdre for several seconds. Then his eyes crinkled, his lips

twitched, and he burst out laughing.

He just . . . laughed.

And laughed . . . and laughed some more . . .

Maybe he’d hit his head harder than I’d thought.

“Oh, Dee-Dee, you’re a hoot, all right,” Finn said between deep belly

laughs. “But my mother died in a car accident when I was just a baby. You

know that. We’ve talked about it several times now.”

My jaw clenched, and my hands fisted together even tighter. I wondered exactly

what Finn and Deirdre had talked about. How long had she been pumping him for