The Mark of Cain Read Online Free

Hara was because she didn’t
get most of the cultural references—or most anything else—that Crystal always
jabbered on about. They just hadn’t exposed her to such things in the
orphanage. They’d always kept her busy with other such things; telling her what
she should do and how she should behave. And for a while she’d let them.
    The priests and nuns had wanted her to remain at the
orphanage forever, telling her that it was dangerous for her outside its walls,
but she was so sick of them controlling everything that she’d finally just up
and fled. It wasn’t that she wasn’t grateful for them taking her in after her
family had all been killed; it was just that they had sheltered her too much,
and she had gotten to the point where she had to live her own life. Besides,
she still kept in touch with them, buying the children gifts and visiting most
every major holiday. She may have left, but the orphanage would always be home.
    “Excuse me. I have a pressing matter that I thought
was taken care of but I just realized wasn’t ,” Mr. Adamson practically
accused, pulling her from her wonderings, his black eyes those of a shark as he
stood up, threw a wad of cash on the table with his thickly tattooed arm, and
stalked off before Vinnie could even stammer another sentence.
    After regaining his composure, Vinnie threw her a
dirty look and ran down the stairs, his stomach bouncing as he tried to catch
up to the rock star. Hara couldn’t even move. What was all that about?
The guy had been smiling until she’d walked up, though it may have been more
out of disdain than actual happiness. And then, when she had, he’d looked so
angry…so dangerous for real . What about her could invoke such a
reaction? She knew she hadn’t wronged him because she’d never seen the guy
before in her life! What about her did he find so repugnant? And, if he still
bought the club, would she be forced to fake smiles to him every night? Or
would she be gone—fired—quicker than he had fled?
     
     
    ***
     
     
    Inac stormed down the stairs of the club and out
into the warm summer night, his mind going back to that day twenty years ago
when he’d ordered the death of Anahara….
     
    …“I’ve found her, sir.”
    Inac could almost smell Micah’s fear, which not even
his relief of finding the girl could dim. He better be scared. Inac was
not a patient man, and his servant had been looking for her for three
years now. Why it had even taken that long in the first place was beyond him.
    “It’s about time, Micah. I was beginning to think
that I couldn’t depend on you any longer. And you know what happens to people I
can’t depend on….” Inac knew that Micah would catch the barely-veiled threat in
his words.
    As always, Inac was right. As his servant gulped in
trepidation, Inac leaned forward from the shadows he’d been thinking in,
letting the meager light from his desk lamp catch his face so the man could see
exactly how close to killing him Inac had been. He didn’t like it when people
didn’t take care of their jobs in a timely manner. And three years, even in his
long life, was too long to wait for something that should have been taken care
of in a day.
    “You can depend on me. I assure you,” the balding
man said as he puffed out his burly chest in an attempt to appear unafraid. But
Inac was a master of detection and easily caught the small quiver Micah was
attempting to stifle. He was probably thinking about what Inac had done to
Micah’s superior when he hadn’t found the girl in a timely manner. Inac
had learned years ago that, to truly rule someone and keep them from betraying
you, you had to make them fear you unconditionally.
    Inac smiled, sending another shiver down Micah’s
broad back from the cruelty and menace he knew was detectable in it. “You’re
lucky I’m in a hospitable mood today. Take care of this and I’ll promote you
past your probationary period. Mess up and you’ll think that your