defensively.
“How am I being weird?” Grim’s brow pinches.
“I don’t know; you just are.” I drag my stool back and take the seat next to him, while Calix sits on the other side of me.
“So, how did it go last night?” Calix asks, reaching for a piece of chicken from Gunnar’s plate. Gunnar swats at his hand before he can get there, but Calix pulls back before Gunnar can connect.
“Here.” Gunnar holds up a piece to him instead. “Ask.”
“Thanks.” Calix tears into the chicken.
“We went through the house. Almost everyone was dead or close to it.” Gunnar eyes Grim.
“I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to kill them.” Grim lifts his hands up in a ‘what can you do’ gesture. “Next time tell me, or mark them or something. One human is just like the other.”
I look at Calix and shake my head. “We were able to locate two of my men,” Gunnar continues, as if uninterrupted. “I have an idea on where to find this Antonio, but nothing concrete. He’ll probably run as soon as he hears about Vanessa and her coven, especially if he knows we’re on to him.”
“We should go back to the warehouse.” I sit up straighter as the idea takes root. “We probably should have never left, one of them was bound to come back for Aeson.” I look around to see if they agree.
“I have someone watching the warehouse,” Grim confirms, “but it seems unlikely that anyone will return. I don’t think someone who was able to do these types of rituals for years and not get caught is stupid enough to leave a Brownie completely unattended.”
“What do you mean? Aeson was there alone. We saw her.”
“Vanessa,” Gunnar answers. “Whoever taught her the ritual probably didn’t expect her to start picking off the Charmed on her own.”
“That makes sense, it would explain why they got sloppy all the sudden,” Calix reasons.
“Nothing else fits. It’s the only thing we’ve come up with.” Gunnar leans against the counter, the empty plate abandoned in front of him.
“Well, then, how the hell are we going to find this Antonio guy?” I look to them for an answer. This sleuthing shit is new to me.
“We follow the money.” Gunnar nods his head. “Since this entire thing started to unfold, I’ve been examining everything I can to find out what involvement Vanessa had in this. Nothing seemed out of the norm until about two months ago.” Gunnar pulls his phone out of his pocket and taps on the screen a few times, eventually turning it around so we can see an email account with only a few emails.
“What’s that?” I scoot a little closer to get a better look.
“History of money transfers, set up to look like they were paid to vendors, but I know for a fact there hasn’t been any new vendors at the club and she sure as shit didn’t pay Vega Holdings to do any renovations.” I cast my gaze over Gunnar. How deeply involved in the club and Vanessa’s business is he?
“You sure seem to know an awful lot about someone that you were charged to monitor.” I continue to watch him for a response. “I thought you hated her.”
“I didn’t always.” Gunnar looks down at the ground before raising his head, but he doesn’t meet my eyes.
“So, what? You were fucking her?” My question comes out bitterly.
“A long time ago.” Gunnar glances over at Calix like he might be helpful, but Calix smartly keeps his mouth shut.
“How long ago?”
“Do we really need to get into this, Damiana? I mean, you had someone between your legs less than two months ago,” Gunnar spews defensively.
“You’re right, I did.” I nod and agree with him. “But I didn’t know about any of this shit, so your bringing it up now is a low blow, Gunnar.” I spit his name, and he jerks his head back like I’ve slapped him.
“I—” He starts, but I lift my hand, cutting him off.
“It doesn’t even matter right now.” I shake my head. It’s not like I didn’t expect any of them to have a past, but something about knowing he was with Vanessa makes my blood boil.
“So how do we ‘follow the money,’” I question, mocking his words.
“I have a Pixie looking deeper into her financials and trying to figure out where the money went to,” Gunnar admits, sounding a little defeated.
“Fine, whatever. Aeson should be here soon.” I scoot off the stool and head up to my bedroom, since that’s always where