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Chapter One
Gin
“I’m going to kill Finn,” I growled. “Slowly. Deliberately. Painfully. Really take my time. Really make it hurt.”
A disbelieving snort echoed out of my phone, and the woman on the screen shook her head, making her shaggy blond hair fly around her shoulders. Despite my ominous threat, she laughed, which made her blue eyes sparkle and her rosy skin glow.
Detective Bria Coolidge, my baby sister, smiled at me. “As much as I hate to admit it, Gin, the situation isn’t Finn’s fault,” she said. “Not this time—”
Bria’s voice cut off, and she disappeared from the screen. A moment later, a man popped into view, with Bria hovering behind him. With his walnut-brown hair, green eyes, and tan skin, the man was as handsome as my sister was pretty, and the two of them made a striking couple.
Finnegan Lane, my foster brother, peered at me through the phone screen. “You cannot possibly blame this little snafu on me,” he said in an indignant tone. “Like Bria said, it’s not my fault that some sort of rockslide is blocking the road. Or whatever is holding up traffic.”
“No,” I replied. “But it is your fault that I’m stuck here at the train station by myself. You’re the one who told me to go ahead and leave the hotel and that you, Bria, and Owen would meet me here.”
“Hey, don’t blame me because your significant other just had to have blueberry muffins this morning,” Finn replied. “Why, I would say it’s entirely Owen’s fault that you’re at the train station alone. Not mine—”
His voice cut off, and he too disappeared from view, much like Bria had done a minute ago.
When the phone stilled again, another man was staring through the screen at me. The early-morning sunlight brought out the blue highlights in his black hair, as well as his violet eyes and tan skin. His nose was slightly crooked, and a white scar slashed across his chin, but the tiny imperfections only added to his rough, rugged appeal, and I thought he was the handsomest man I’d ever seen. Then again, love could make anyone biased, even a bitter, jaded assassin like me.
Owen Grayson, my significant other, grimaced with guilt. “Finn’s right. I was the one who wanted to get some blueberry muffins from that great little café we ate at yesterday.”
He held his hand up, revealing a large white paper bag dangling from his fingers before slowly lowering it again.
“On the bright side, I got enough muffins for everyone, along with some whipped cream cheese. I know that’s your favorite, Gin.”
Some of my annoyance faded away, and a smile crept across my lips. Blueberry muffins slathered with cream cheese were one of my favorite breakfast treats, and it warmed my heart that Owen had remembered that small fact and gone out of his way to get me said muffins, even if it was keeping us apart right now.
“What am I supposed to do?” I asked. “The train is leaving in fifteen minutes. There’s no way you all will make it to the station by then—”
The loud shriek of a whistle drowned me out.
Bria, Finn, and Owen might currently be stuck on the side of the road, but I was standing smack dab in the middle of the Pine Crest train station. A few days ago, the four of us had left Ashland to take a much-needed vacation and escape the myriad problems and clever criminals that populated our violent, dangerous city.
Finn had had his heart set on exploring Pine Crest, a charming little town tucked away in the Appalachian Mountains in North Carolina that catered to skiers in the winter and tourists in the summer. Distance-wise, Pine Crest wasn’t all that far from Ashland, but in some ways, it might as well have been a completely different realm.
Instead of run-down, graffiti-covered buildings, colorful storefronts filled the downtown area, which boasted everything from cafés and bakeries, to antiques shops and bookstores, to artisan workspaces where you could learn how to blow glass, sculpt clay, and carve wood. In addition to shopping, we’d spent the last three days at the Pine Crest Resort, taking advantage of its luxurious spa and gourmet restaurants. Even though it was late March, a winter storm had recently swept through the area, leaving behind cold temperatures and plenty of snow for some late-season ice skating and sledding.
This morning, we were supposed to take a scenic train ride from Pine Crest over to the nearby town of Cypress Mountain. In addition to the beautiful scenery, the trip also featured a stop at a historic train depot, where lunch would be served.
The train ride was the grand finale of our trip, one last chance to relax before we drove back home to all the usual problems waiting for us in Ashland—demanding underworld bosses, old enemies lurking in the shadows, new rivals rising up and trying to take us down.
Fighting for my life was practically a monthly occurrence for me, Gin Blanco, the notorious assassin the Spider. Now that I had finally defeated Mason Mitchell, my evil uncle and the head of the Circle, the secret society responsible for much of the crime and corruption in Ashland, I was the official, undisputed queen of the city’s underworld. We’d only been gone a few days, but I was sure that a dozen new problems and even more enemies were already waiting for me back home.
But right now, I only had one problem: the fact that I was here, and Bria, Finn, and Owen were stuck elsewhere.
I sighed. “I could always take the shuttle back to the resort and wait for you all there. We have to get our luggage anyway before we leave for home.”
Earlier this morning, Owen had slipped out of bed so that I could sleep late, although he had texted me about his plan to grab some muffins and other snacks before coming to the train station. The resort shuttle had dropped me off at the station about five minutes ago, which was when I’d realized the others weren’t already here. I’d called Bria to find out where they were.
The answer? Stuck on the opposite side of Pine Crest. Apparently, the clipper storm that had dumped enough snow here for us to go skating and sledding had also caused some rockslides in the area, including on the main road that led into town. Hence my being stranded miles away from my loved ones.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Finn said, his face popping into view over Owen’s shoulder. “Go on the train ride. Relax, eat, enjoy the scenery. I already paid for the tickets, and I sent yours to your phone last night.”
“Yeah,” Bria chimed in, shoving her face in next to Finn’s. “There’s no reason why you should miss out on the fun.”
“Think of it as a test run,” Owen said, still in the center of the screen. “If you like it, then maybe we can come back and ride the train again. Maybe in the fall, when the leaves are changing colors. That would be nice.”
