Jennifer Estep - Widow's Web

I nodded. I’d faced the same challenges myself, back before Fletcher had taken me in. But I knew it had been even harder on Owen, since he’d had Eva to take care of and she’d been so young at the time. Still, that didn’t excuse the fact that he hadn’t told me about Salina before now, and it didn’t ease the hurt that I felt—or the sudden wariness.

“Anyway, the days went by, and I got more and more desperate. Eventually, I started stealing food from convenience stores, grocery stores, restaurants, anyplace I thought I could and not get caught. Only one day, I did get caught. I grabbed two apples from a bin at a convenience store. Two measly apples, and the owner was going to beat me to death over them. He would have too—if this thin blond kid hadn’t gotten in his way. The kid bumped into the owner, and I managed to break away and run like hell. I went back to the alley where I’d hidden Eva, and to my surprise, that same kid was there—and he had a whole bag of apples with him. Turned out he’d grabbed them while the owner was using my face for a punching bag.”

“So that’s how you met Kincaid,” I murmured.

Owen nodded. “That’s how I met Phillip. He’d seen me and Eva around at some of the shelters where I took her to beg for food. He said we could do a lot better if we started working together. So we did.”

“So the two of you hooked up and then what?” Finn asked. “It was mayhem on the mean streets of Ashland?”

Owen smiled, his violet eyes soft with old memories. “Something like that. We started small, stealing food and clothes, mostly. Some blankets and toys for Eva, things like that. Just enough to keep us from starving and freezing to death.”

I could see them in my mind. Owen already tall and turning into the man he would soon become. Kincaid still a scrawny kid, but one who knew the score better than Owen did. The two of them with seemingly nothing in common but joining forces to survive. Desperation made for strange bedfellows, no matter how old or young you were.

“Eventually, we got bolder, and we moved on to bigger and better things. We started stealing from pawnshops. My elemental talent for metal let me get through most doors, locks, and windows, no matter how many bars they had on them. Phillip would be the lookout and watch Eva while I went inside and took whatever caught my eye. Guns, jewelry, knives, clothes, shoes, whatever. We’d take the stuff we stole to a different shop and pawn it for cash, using that as an excuse to case the place, then go back and hit that shop a week later.”

Finn let out a whistle. “Nice scheme for a couple of teenagers.”

Owen gave him a faint grin. “We thought so too, but it wasn’t just us. There were other kids on the streets or in foster care, boys and girls Phillip knew, and sometimes they helped.”

A thought occurred to me. “Folks like Katarina Arkadi?”

Owen nodded. “And Antonio too, although they were both more Phillip’s friends than mine.”

I wondered if that was why Salina had murdered them—if she’d wanted to hurt the casino boss by taking away the people he cared about before she killed him. That would explain why she’d gone after Antonio first tonight, instead of Kincaid. Cold. Very, very cold.

“Anyway, despite the stealing, it was still tough,” Owen said. “Half the time, the three of us were on the verge of starving. Eventually, though, I got a job with a dwarven blacksmith, thanks to Fletcher.”

Owen looked at Finn, who nodded. I’d told Finn that his father had taken pity on and helped Owen back in the day. Fletcher always had a soft spot in his heart for folks who were down on their luck. You couldn’t get much lower or more desperate than living on the streets with a toddler to take care of.

“Things got better after that,” Owen said. “The blacksmith’s name was Cooper Stills. He was tough on me, but he was a decent, fair man. An Air elemental too. He took all three of us in—me, Phillip, and Eva—even though I was the only one who could work in the forge as long and hard as he did. He gave us food to eat and clothes to wear and put a roof over our heads, but it wasn’t enough for me and Phillip. Not after what we’d been through, so we kept right on stealing and stockpiling our loot and money, just in case Cooper changed his mind and decided he didn’t want us around anymore.”

“I’m sensing a but in there,” Finn said.

Owen drew in a breath. “But Cooper was and still is a renowned blacksmith. The dwarf can forge anything he puts his mind to, and all his pieces are works of art, whether they’re weapons or fountains or sculptures. Back then, Cooper did a lot of work for a lot of rich people in Northtown, and he would take Phillip and me with him when he went out to meet with clients, take space measurements, or deliver commissioned pieces.”

“Naturally, you saw that as an opportunity,” Finn drawled. “I certainly would have.”

Owen shrugged. “You might say that. So Phillip and I moved up to a higher clientele, as far as the stealing went. Jewelry, artwork, silverware. We took anything we could get our hands on—small things mostly, things we didn’t think anyone would miss, at least for a few days. Then, when it was safe, we’d sell the items to someone who wouldn’t ask too many questions about where they’d come from. For two years, everything was great.”

“And then what happened?” I asked.

“And then he met Salina,” Eva muttered in a dark tone.

Owen stared at his sister, but he didn’t contradict her words. “And then I met Salina. By that point, Cooper was letting me make my own pieces, my own weapons and sculptures. Benedict, Salina’s father, saw one of my designs for a knife and commissioned a similar piece. When it was finished, I delivered it to the Dubois house. That’s how I met Salina.”

He didn’t say anything else, and I didn’t ask what had happened next. Even now, it was obvious Owen had cared deeply about her.

That he had loved her.

Jealousy seeped through my body, venom poisoning me from the inside out, and a bitter taste filled my mouth, but I sat perfectly still, not betraying any of the turmoil I felt.

The Owen Grayson I knew wasn’t the type of man who would propose to a woman if he didn’t believe he was going to spend the rest of his life with her. His dedication to the people he cared about was one of the things I admired most about him, even as much pain as it was causing me right now to think about him being with someone else— loving someone else.

Owen cleared his throat. “Salina was . . . captivating. Beautiful, mysterious, charming, playful, whimsical, everything I thought I’d ever wanted in a woman. She had a wild streak, and it suited her just fine to take up with a poor blacksmith, even though her father didn’t approve of me.”

“Wait a minute,” Finn interrupted. “Her father—you’re talking about Benedict Dubois, right? The old mob boss? The one that Mab made such an example out of?”

Owen nodded. “Salina was his only daughter. She was there the night it happened, and so was I.”

His words were like a key opening a lock in my head. Benedict Dubois. I’d thought the name had sounded familiar when Kincaid had mentioned it, just like I’d thought I’d seen Salina’s mermaid rune before I’d met her at Underwood’s. Now I remembered exactly where I knew the name and the symbol from—a scouting job Fletcher had taken me on years ago.

“Salina . . . changed after that,” Owen said. “Witnessing her father’s murder—it did something to her.”

“Yeah,” Eva piped up. “It made her even more of a heartless bitch than she already was.”

Owen ignored her and looked at me. “After Mab killed her father, I felt even more of a connection to Salina. She had ended up just like the three of us—with nothing. Mab took everything that Benedict had—all his money, all his businesses, everything—and then she left his mansion to just sit there and rot. I’d been saving up enough money to get my own place, so I did, and Salina moved in with me, Eva, and Phillip. For a while, everything was perfect.”