“My little sister does her homework,” Eva cheered garishly. “Did you discover that for some the stuff is no better than a hit of crack? Highly addictive, it turned some of those kids into little more than zombies-others it turned into superheroes...but it was the only thing that worked, until it didn’t.”
“I don’t need it anymore,” Maeva finally entered the conversation. Her voice maintained its childlike softness.
Evangela didn’t welcome the news. “Is that what they told you?”
“That’s what’s true and you know it,” Persephone said. “You knew it all those years ago back on the island- it’s why you didn’t want me helping her when she’d have a headache. Her pain doesn’t require anything as damaging as Re-Gen but then you wouldn’t have been able to control her as easily as you did. When her system found a way to resist its effects, she became like a sick pet you considered putting down.”
“This bitch separated us at birth,” Eva aimed the gun at Tammy. “Later, she sent me to befriend my own sister-never telling me who she was. I was the only one to look after her when she shipped us off like garbage!”
“Jasper was to watch you! Carmen promised-”
“But Aunty Carmen wasn’t there, was she?” Eva lowered the gun a fraction. “The old man left us to our own devices most of the time. He did, when it came to me. Mae, he tried to nurture-tried to take her from me like you’re trying to do now. Mae didn’t complain,” Eva shook her head, something akin to pity was alive in her eyes then.
“She was content learning how to be a soldier. Perjas ended up deserting us both anyway when he got more interested in his own sick research and his crisis of conscience regretting his even sicker decision to recruit more girls to the island.”
Her laughter emerged more robustly. “Now that was an idea I cheered! Even though it came from the slime Humphrey Tesano. Finally, there was a chance to level the field.”
“With innocent girls?” Persephone accused. “A move that benefitted no one but yourself.”
“Yeah, some sick benefit, Perry,” Eva’s laughter was nastier then. She took no notice of Maeva whose expression was transitioning to one of emerging awareness.
“On the run, properties blown to shit,” she raved, “I guess I know who I have to thank for that. But it’s okay,” she hefted the gun, using the weapon’s shoulder strap. “Regardless of what happens to me, they’ll remember. I only wish I could be here to see the mighty Ramseys and Tesanos devastated by what I’ll leave behind.”
“We’re all one big family now, you know?” Persephone piped up and took a chance on standing. She could read the signs well enough and knew Eva was winding down. When she was done hearing the sound of her own voice, she’d start shooting.
“Your nieces,” Persephone continued, spotting the approval flash in Eva’s eyes over the topic shift. She began a slow walk forward, “In case you forgot, they’re Tesanos.”
“No matter.” Eva’s voice was imperceptibly matter-of-fact. “By the time I’m done, they’ll hate the word Tesano as much as they’ll loathe one in the flesh.” She angled her head as though she were listening for a particular sound. “Where are the little darlings?”
“With their grandparents.”
Eva at first responded with more laughter that clipped off into edgy silence. “Looks like I’ll have another stop to make before leaving this godforsaken country after all.”
At last, Eva wound down. Turning then, she
aimed the gun at Persephone.
CHAPTER
THIRTY-SEVEN
“Did you loathe Sondrio Tesano when you slept with him?” Persephone worked doggedly to hold onto her courage and show it to her sister.
Eva, looking appalled, lowered the gun. “Did he tell you that? Self-righteous jackass,” she rolled her eyes. “I shouldn’t be surprised. He and the entire male population of his family think they only have to step into a room to get a woman’s panties wet.”
Eva sent Persephone a friendly smile and then shifted an equally chummy one to Marcella. “I guess you two know about that already, huh?” She slanted a wink toward Marci then. “My little sister here, has already proven she’s got no willpower against holding out. What else did he tell you, Perry?”
“Not what I went there to find out,” Persephone lifted her chin, “but then you knew he wouldn’t tell me anything because he hadn’t planned to tell you. If you’re interested in this part, he didn’t even know Shannon’s true location. He was relying on information from his uncles and they never really knew either.”
Eva gave a flip shrug. “I figured as much, but it was worth it to try. Besides…” she observed Persephone with an almost sultry intensity then. “I knew he had a thing about taking what belonged to his cousins and Hill was at the top of that list. Once he found out I could send him Hill’s prize and for that perverts weekend no less, well...he was all for it.
I figured you’d be enough of a diversion until I got there to demand what he promised. I knew he’d never tell you-just like I knew you wouldn’t be able to stay away once you found out what was really going on in Shannon’s labs. My plan was to show up at an...opportune moment-for me anyway-catch you and Son with your pants down, demand he tell me what he knew lest I fill Hill in on all the brazen details,” she snorted.
“Sondrio is gorgeous and built, but he’s a wimp when it comes to pain. He’d have done anything to avoid Hill coming after him with murder on the brain.”
Persephone took another cautious step forward and shook her head. “You took an awful risk telling me all that you did just to get me curious enough to seek Sondrio out.”
“Means to an end, Perry. It all equals out. I would’ve killed you there, so he’d know I meant business, killed him after his info checked out or-didn’t. All that, and I’d have shattered Hill in the process,” she gave a woeful sigh. “Too bad circumstances played against me and my travel plans fell through.”
“Did you really not want anyone else to have it if you couldn’t?” Persephone worked hastily to keep Evangela talking while she used a snail’s pace to make her way across the room. She was getting closer to where her mother sat with Maeva. Persephone could only hope to get Tammy out of harm’s way before bullets were in motion.
“Of course I didn’t want anyone else to have it! Shannon was brewing some nasty stuff out there. Game Changing, but nasty.”
“How’d you find all this out-what was going on in his labs? Not Sondrio?” Persephone asked, genuinely curious.
“You have your sources, P. I have mine.” Disappointment shadowed Eva’s face then. “I still can’t believe they destroyed it all. The Tesanos made billions off that island and Shannon’s inventions. Whether he likes it or not, Hill leads that family now. I hate his fucking guts, but I never took him for an idiot.”
“He’s not what you think.”
“They raped me.”
“And you had every right to want to see them pay, but in doing so you went after people who had nothing to do with this. Fernando’s and Kraven’s wives, me, your nieces.” Persephone took a few more bold steps closer to where her mother sat and she cursed the vastness of the den.
“Don’t worry your pretty head, lil ‘sis. I won’t make the same mistakes again. There’re only three left, I’ll get them.”
“Four. Brogue’s alive.”
Eva shuddered noticeably. “You lie.”
“I just talked to him a few days ago. He was quite the hero during the Shelanon take down.”
“Rain-”
