The neon dive bar was filled with the regular crowd. A myriad of colors shown all around, even more neon lights than the last time he was there.
Griffin scanned the room. He knew Fizzy wouldn't be in the poker room or near the slot machines. He spent his money solely on alcohol.
The familiar bowler hat bobbed as the man he was looking for walked out of the hallway near the restrooms. He stumbled his way over to the same booth he always sat at, plopping down and waving over to the bar for another drink.
Griff weaved through the tables, making eye contact once they were a few feet away. Fizzy looked unbothered, not a nervous bone in his body. Honestly, Griff wouldn't be surprised if he was just permanently numb from all the drugs and alcohol throughout the years.
He tipped his chin at Griffin as he sat down opposite him, then took a long pull of his beer.
"Drink?" He asked.
"No." Griffin said, "I'm here for something specific."
"Go for it." Fizzy encouraged. His eyes were less clouded over than usual, then again it was earlier than Griffin normally came by.
Griffin's eyes automatically scanned his surroundings, double-checking to make sure no one was paying them any attention. "Local business owner." He started, "Owns the strip club on main in oldtown. Just bought a building on Blossom Street, near the old army base."
Fizzy didn't even blink.
Griffin continued, "Goes bit the name Max-"
"Peters." The older man interrupted, letting out a belch, "Yeah, the guy's been super successful since coming to town."
"How long's he been in Queenstown?"
Fizzy tapped his fingers against the sticky wood top of the table. Without waiting, Griff slid him some money.
"About a year and a half. Heard he came from Port City." Fizzy added, "Heard he's also got a little problem."
He tensed, "What problem?"
"Has a specific type." Fizzy said casually, "Likes it rough. He's getting a reputation around all the clubs and on Bailey Street."
Bailey Street was a known sex worker pickup spot.
"Make sure to spread it around not to work with him. It's not safe for those women." Griffin told him.
Fizzy's brows raised, "Kind of hard to tell that to people who need money."
"Money doesn't do shit when you're six feet under."
That quieted him. Fizzy sat back, taking another drink. His eyes stayed on Griffin, though, a different look to them. Contemplative.
"What's your interest in Peters?" He finally asked.
Griffin gave him a dry look. "Will you be passing that note back for my information now?"
The money Griff had given him was shoved deeply into Fizzy's pocket.
"I also heard he's been invited to the next exhibit." Fizzy said.
That peeked Griffin's interest, "The Grand Museum?"
"Mhm," he nodded, "A lot of people were invited to that."
He made a note to make sure Harry was on the invitee list. Although, he doubted he wasn't already. Him and Ivy were the most influential power couple in the city. They were invited to every big event, and there weren't many bigger than the semi-annual exhibit that the museum put on. People from across the world travelled to Queenstown to see the newest exhibits, featuring the trendiest of new artists or famous dead artists. Last fall, they had procured Frida Kahlo pieces.
Griffin asked one more thing, "Do you have any information on his life in Port City."
He hiccuped, "Port City isn't my playing grounds."
Griff read between the lines, slipping out another hundred dollar note, "Who's is it then?"
Fizzy's eyes flashed as he grabbed for the money and shoved it in with the first bribe. "I got a friend over there. Name's Tulip. You can usually find them at The Refuge."
†††
When Griffin got back home, CeCe was reading on the couch. A notebook was open next to her, dark script all over the page. She looked up, hair spilling over one shoulder. "Hey," her smile had his hand itching to touch her.
Griff walked over to her, bending down over the back of the couch to kiss her. Her head fell back as his hand tipped her chin up.
"Hey," he said against her lips after a few long seconds. "Another book?"
"Yep, this one's the last." She held up a thick red book with gold lettering. "Not going to lie, I've liked having something to do."
Guilt bled into him. CeCe had basically been locked up in this house for weeks. She kept busy by reorganizing, cleaning, and cooking, but that could only be done so many times.
"I'm sorry, sweetheart." He swept his thumb across her cheek, "I know this hasn't been easy."
"It's weird not having to go to work all the time and not worry about how I'm gonna pay rent or get food on the table for Cat." CeCe closed her eyes and leaned into his touch, "I feel pretty useless."
He knew that for a woman like Cece, someone who had always fought for everything in her life, this was hell. Useless meant failure. It meant dying. But surviving was in her blood. It had been since she was a kid, taking care of herself and her baby sister while her mom failed them.
"What you're doing is what's going to give us an advantage." He said honestly, "It's what's going to give us an even playing field."
Right now, as much as Griffin hated admitting it, they were always one to two steps behind. They needed the answers that CeCe and Cat were finding for them. It would give them an ideal of who they were actually going up against. What they were capable. And most importantly why.
Why were they doing this? What were their motives for trying to destroy everything?
"I hope so." CeCe sighed, then stretched out her arms as Griffin stood up. "What do you want for dinner tonight? Cat's staying with a friend, so it's just us."
"I, uh," Griffin hesitated, "I've actually got to make a trip tonight. I won't be back until really late."
CeCe frowned, "To where?"
"Port City." He made his way into the kitchen. "I've got a lead on someone who might know who Max Peters was before moving here."
That caught her attention. The soft pad of her footsteps followed behind him. "My old boss, Max Peters?"
"Yes."
Something lit her eyes. Something entirely too similar to her sister.
"No." Griffin refused before she got the chance to ask.
Her expression grew hard. "Excuse me?"
"You're not coming." He continued sharply, "It's too dangerous."
"I thought you were just gathering information." CeCe challenged, "A reconnoissance."
Griffin turned to face her completely, crossing his arms across his chest. "Doesn't matter. It could turn into a shit show at any second."
That looked that she got in bed when she was being a little brat surfaced, turning him on a bit. Fuck, this woman had way too much control over his body.
"No, it won't." She debated, "I know you. You wouldn't go by yourself if you thought that."
She was right, and he hated that.
"C'mon, Griff, please." CeCe pleaded, stepping closer and placing her hand on his forearms, pulling them away to slip into his hold. "I'll be extra careful, I promise."
He was a weak man, he knew that, but when his hands automatically went to her hips and caressed her curves, there was a new level to that weakness.
"We can stay there overnight. Rent a room." She looked up at him through her lashes, her lips pouting ever so slightly. "I don't want to be all alone tonight."
He groaned, frowning severely, but gave in, "Fine. You can come."
Her face lit up, lips spreading into a gorgeous smile. Gold lined the dark brown irises of her eyes, beaming up at him with excitement. "Really?" She asked brightly.
He nodded, begrudgingly.
She hugged him quickly, standing on her tiptoes, before stepping away and saying to herself, "I have to pack."
She was halfway down the hall when she looked over her shoulder and sent him a devilish grin, "You've earned yourself the best blowie of your life, buddy."
Great. Now his cock was already swelling in his pants.
†††
After gathering their things and running through a coffee drive-thru, Griffin and CeCe were on their way to Port City.
Apparently, CeCe had never been, which didn't really surprise him. Most natives to Queenstown didn't bother with the smaller, less relevant city to their east. In recent years, there's been a surge in city growth, though, their government putting money into redoing a lot of the city's infrastructure, and giving out more grants to business owners in order to get more desirable attractions.
Now, it was becoming a true sister city to Queenstown. Griffin had even heard talks about building a high speed railway track in between for easy travel. But that was years away. Port City still had to prove longevity in their popularity.
"You know, I wouldn't have guessed you for a Frappuccino kind of guy." CeCe smirked at him from the passenger's seat.
"I like sweet things." Griffin said simply.
"Oh, I know." A suggestive lilt to her voice.
He breathed out a laugh and shook his head. "Don't tease me when I'm driving."
With a happy sigh, CeCe relaxed in her seat, looking out the window. "Is it weird how much safer it already feels being out of the city?"
He glanced over at her. "No, I think that's understandable."
"You know, sometimes I wonder how good a guardian I really am by keeping Cat in a place like that." She admitted, "She's so young, and living there just encourages her to get more involved."
With a little hesitance, he asked, "Is moving something you're considering?"
He felt her eyes on him, but he watched the road. When she spoke, there wasn't a hint of uncertainty. "No, Queenstown is our home. It's as much us as anything is."
He nodded, relief spreading quickly through him.
"Besides," she added, "I think we both have too much going for us at the moment. Even if there is psychotic murderers on the loose."
"I would go with you if you decided differently." Griff surprised even himself by saying that.
After a few seconds of silence, he looked over at her. There was such a softness there, one that had his heart skipping a beat.
"I never truly thanked you for buying us a house." She reached out to him, squeezing his thigh.
"I seem to remember a rather long thank you the other night."
She narrowed her eyes playfully at him, "I thought you said no teasing while you're driving."
"I'm sorry, I forgot." He smirked, "Please, forgive me."
"Hmpf," she pulled away, crossing her arms stubbornly, "We'll see."
They fell into a companionable silence, CeCe turning on some music and looking at her phone. She had let Cat know they were going out of town, just in case, so he assumed that's what she was doing until she said, "Want to hear our early theories?"
"We've still got another thirty minutes 'til we arrive. Why not?"
"Okay," she got excited, "so, what we've gathered so far is that there have been approximately forty-one families that have once been a part of the circle. None of the books say so explicitly, so it's a lot of reading between the lines. We think that the shortest living stint was about three months, a cartel that had their sights set on another families territory and got too confident in their abilities. The longest would be the Malones.
"A lot of the families have died off. Whether due to feuds, wars, or they simply decided not to have children. Then there were the others. The ones forced to flee, the ones that were betrayed - usually by their own family, those who were just run out of the city. We narrowed that down to a possible fifteen, and then ranked them by who we thought had the biggest reason to come back."
"What were your qualifications?" He asked, intrigued by their research.
"Cat actually came up with it." She told him, pride evident, "First she put them on a timeline of oldest to newest. Then, she crossed that with how violent or how bad their betrayal was."
"Did those books tell you what happened?"
"No, not explicitly, but the library has uploaded all their old newspaper clippings onto a database online, so we matched up dates and times." CeCe shrugged, "It was guesswork, but we're pretty sure of what we found."
"That's impressive."
"Thanks." She beamed at him, "Here's our top five, the ones we've put the most amount of effort researching: Wakabayashi, Petrov, Musa, Soliman, and Payne. A Japanese family about a hundred years prior to the Hayashi clan that was ran out of town after betraying the Musa's in a business agreement. The Musa family then had some internal fighting. At some point in the early eighteen hundreds their territory switched over to the Aminu family. Aminu is the surname of the Nigerian princess who married into the Musa family. We think she was like a Trojan horse.
"The Petrov's are a bit harder to place. We think it was the only family that had all four other families turn on them. We don't know why, though, there was some interesting articles written around that same time. Cat's going through them this weekend and seeing if anything might match up. Soliman is the oldest of the five, going back to some of the first mentions of organized crime in Queenstown. They left because of a crackdown on cops at the time. It sounds as if there was a lot of heat on them, and they took their chances somewhere else. I think they were from Cairo, so probably back there."
"That seems less violent than the others." Griff noted.
"Yes, but they also promised to come back." She cringed, "In a really heinous way. We think they were responsible for stringing a cop's dead body up on a flag pole near the courthouse. Then, the Payne family. Syndicate out of London that tried to take over the city for themselves. There's a lot of murky stories from that time. Time jumps, unreliable narrators."
Griff nodded, "Get me a list, and I'll have Dev look up those families. See where they are. No one with that much power just drops off the map. They'll have left a trail behind them."
"I'm not going to lie." CeCe said, "If we're up against any of these guys, our chances aren't good."
†††
Ivy was late to dinner. Willow and Astrid were already at Noble. Her guards dropped her off, watching her walk safely into the building. She gave her jacket to the hostess, then followed another to the back of the restaurant. A booth away from windows and near an exit.
She found them in a conversation. "Sorry."
Willow waved her off, "Don't be. Astrid just got here."
Ivy looked over at their friend. She was still in her scrubs from work, curly hair pulled up. Like usual after work, she wasn't wearing any makeup. Not that she needed it. Astrid was beautiful, her skin flawless, but Ivy hadn't seen her in a while. Now, her face looked gaunt, dark circles under her eyes, brown skin more pallid than ever before.
It was a shock, seeing her friend like this, but should she really expect anything less? Her boyfriend, the man she loved has been missing for over a month. There were no leads, no mention of him anywhere. On top of the not knowing, Astrid was having to deal with Ren Hayashi and how unwilling the woman was to work with her to find him.
"Long day at work?" She asked casually. Astrid would usually head home and change before coming out to dinner with them.
"Yeah, the ER has been insane since the storm. It's like the city has gone crazy." She sighed.
Ivy sat down next to her, then waved over the server to order a glass of Malbec. "Anything for you guys?"
"I'm taking a break." Willow shook her head, surprising her.
"I'll take an espresso, please." Astrid smiled at the young waiter. "I desperately need some caffeine. I've got a long night ahead of me."
"Why?" Willow asked.
"Tai's sister is coming over later tonight to brainstorm ideas on where the idiot hid his map."
Ivy could see how much she was dreading this, so she suggested, "I can come over and help? At least, be a buffer between you two."
"Really?" She looked hopeful.
"Yeah, of course." She took her phone out, "Let me just text Harry and let him know."
Willow snorted into her water, swallowing it wrong.
"What?"
As she choked, Astrid let her in on the joke. "It's just weird to see you so domestic."
"Domestic?" Skepticism dripped off her tone, "Since when am I domestic?"
"Since you fell in love with your husband." Willow said, blotting under her eyes, tearily.
Well, that she couldn't dispute. With a shrug, Ivy smirked, "Call me a housewife, then."
"Okay," Astrid said dryly, "that's going a little overboard."
"Just wait," Ivy said confidently, "when we find Tai, and we will, you'll be the one all domestic."
The amusement from before fell away, in its place uncertainty. "It's been a long time." She said.
"Astrid," Willow stepped in, "he's still out there. Alive." She added.
"How can you be so confident about that?" She quieted when their drinks were delivered. Her hands wrapped around the hot mug while they thanked their server. When she was far enough away, she continued, "Everyday that passes it gets less and less likely. We have a vague idea of where he could be, but have no way to get to him."
Guilt hit Ivy like a freight train. Her friend, her best friend, was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. She had been so distracted by her own shit, that she hadn't seen this even though it was right in front of her very eyes.
"Hey," Willow reached forward to take her hand, "I'll come over tonight too. We'll help you figure this out, and when we find him, you won't have to hide it anymore."
Astrid tried to blink away the tears. "I feel so stupid for keeping it a secret. What if it is too late and we never got the chance to be-"
"Stop." Ivy said, "I told you, he's alive. We would know if he wasn't."
She took a deep breath, gathering herself. "Right." She nodded to herself, "He's alive."
Ivy shared a look with Willow. They needed to find him.
Their waiter came back for their order, and for the rest of dinner they steered clear of the topic, Astrid continuously asking them questions to keep her mind off of everything. When it was time, she called her guards and had them drive the three of them back to Astrid's to wait for Ren Hayashi.
†††
Griffin stepped inside The Refuge, CeCe close behind him. He had tried to convince her to stay back at the hotel, but she flat out refused. His eyes scanned the room several times, clocking those he thought could be a potential problem if something were to happen. It took everything in him not to knockout one of the men playing pool as his eyes roamed over CeCe's body greedily.
He moved her to his other side, keeping his hand on her lower back, both to guide and to warn others off. She gave him a look that showed him she knew exactly what he was doing.
Fizzy had given him a short description of Tulip. They were tall, short black hair, with piercings. A large tulip tattoo would be visible up the side of their arm.
"Over there." CeCe nodded towards the corner.
A figure lounged on a cushioned bench, hitting a pipe, and playing cards with three others.
"Ah, fuck!" One of them cursed, throwing down their cards in defeat.
They walked up, Griffin making eye contact with Tulip. They narrowed their eyes, but didn't say anything right away. Staying back, CeCe turned her body into his, and whispered, "I like the vibe in here."
He smirked, "Do you?"
The place was definitely unique. Similar to the neon dive bar, there were lit up signs all over the place, but instead of looking run down, the owners had kept it up. Red curtains hung over the windows, while black marble flooring sparkled from each neon sign above. The tables were a finished dark wood with gold sides, and each chair matched the red velvet of the curtains.
None of this should have gone together, but seeing it in person - and with the variety of patrons - it just made sense.
"I'm out, fellas." Tulip announced to protests, "Stop it. I've got some friends here that are waiting to speak with me."
They got up, showing off the tattoo for the first time. Their shirt was black with Swarovski crystals sewn into the stitching, one arm completely bare - the one with the elegant flower tattoo. Platform boots had them towering over their friends, close in height to Griffin's six foot-three.
They stopped directly in front of Griff and CeCe, tilting their head, "You look lost. Why don't you come to my office."
CeCe gave him a look, but they followed. Surprisingly, they led them through the hall towards the restrooms, graffiti marking the walls all around them, every few feet lit by magnificent crystal chandeliers. Bypassing the restrooms, Tulip opened a door for them. Griffin looked in first, seeing it was an office.
"Welcome to my bar." Tulip said, shutting the door, "What brings you here from Queenstown?"
"How'd you know we were from there?" CeCe asked.
"You've got that look about you." They waved off the question, "Now, what are you looking for? Product, people, or information?"
"Information." Griffin said immediately. Although this was weird, he was used to this. Much of the information he gathered were from those like Tulip or Fizzy.
Tulip nodded, searching through their drawer. They were sitting now, while Griff and CeCe stood, giving him the advantage to see inside their desk. There was nothing but a letter opener that could be considered dangerous, so he relaxed. Tulip found what they were looking for, and held up a joint. "Want a hit?"
"No, thank you." CeCe politely declined.
They shrugged and lit up. "What kind of information?" They finally asked.
"We were wondering if you might know anything about a Max Peters?" Griffin started, "He lives in Queenstown now, but we think he grew up here."
"Pretty common surname around here." Tulip said, "How old?"
"Early thirties." CeCe answered, listing off what she remembered of her old boss, "Blonde, square face, average height."
"Sweetie, you're describing every basic white man on the continent." They cocked an eyebrow.
"He went to PC High." Griffin added, pulling from what they had gathered from him in their research, "He was on the swim team."
Tulip thought for a moment, then, "You said early thirties?"
"His ID says thirty."
"There was a Max on the swim team a couple grades above me." They said.
Griffin took a photo out for them to look at.
Tulip actually laughed, "Oh, no, I couldn't tell you now. I blocked most of my underage years from my mind. Besides, I wasn't close to him anyways. I knew of him, though. Bit weird if I'm thinking correctly."
"Do you know someone who might?"
"Actually, I do." They grinned, "But what can you do for me?"
"I can get you some LSDR." Griffin said automatically. The drug was hard to come by, but he had spotted one tablet of it in their drawer. It was a form of LSD that had some hidden components in it that made the user see rainbows all around them.
"You can?"
He nodded, "I can have them here by the end of the week."
"Deal." Tulip sat back and spun in their chair, "Head over to the drive-in theater. Ask for Courtney - she works in concessions. She was the school gossip." They tapped their head, "Nice girl, but not too bright, so she won't even ask you why you're so interested. Honestly, you might find yourself begging her to stop talking."
"Thank you." Griffin said, taking CeCe by the hand.
"Your welcome!" Tulip calls from their chair, "I expect the shipment by five on Friday! And come back any time, lovers. Everyone's welcome at The Refuge!"
†††
The drive-in theater wasn't very busy. Honestly, Griffin was surprised they even had one considering the weather they always had. Port City had much of the same rain and wind as Queenstown, so an outdoor theater didn't make much sense. But they had put up a roof, keeping the side open.
"This actually works pretty well." CeCe said, looking around.
Since they had to be there, they had bought tickets to the show - an old horror film from the seventies. They had gotten a spot off to the side, an easy get away available to them just in case.
"Want to get some popcorn?" He asked.
With a grin, she nodded, "Let's go."
They weaved in and out of the cars, CeCe's hand in his as she led the way. The excitement in her was addicting, rubbing off on Griffin himself. He couldn't imagine being locked up the way she had for so long. This was an adventure to her.
"I see where your sister gets it from." He told her as they waited in line.
She snorted, "Where'd you think her curiosity came from? You should have seen how wild I was as a teenager."
"I would have loved to." He mused. He was somewhat of a rebel back in the day, and bet everything he had that his teenage self would've groveled on the floor for a woman like this.
By the time it was their turn, a line had formed behind them, not giving them a long time to find this Courtney. Luckily, the young guy working the popcorn machine told them she was on her break around the corner.
They got their snacks, which wasn't Griffin's usual look while interrogating someone, but it would have to do. They rounded the corner, finding a lone figure leaning against the shack of a food stand. The woman was on her phone, face illuminated by the screen.
CeCe took the lead, "Sorry to bother you, but are you Courtney?"
She looked up, big round eyes starting at them, reddish blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. "Yes?" Courtney said questioningly.
"Oh, good, a friend of ours told us you might be able to help us with something."
"Sure," she shrugged, "which friend?"
"Tulip?"
Courtney's face brightened, "Oh, yeah! What can I help you two with?"
"Well," CeCe dropped her voice, "we were wondering if you knew a Max Peters?"
Courtney's head cocked as she thought, "I know two actually. There's the mechanic over on Tully Street, and then there's little Max Peters, who's a fucking terror at the day care I work at."
"We're actually thinking about a guy you might have went to high school with. He was on the swim team?"
Griffin was glad CeCe was there. She was much more approachable in a situation like this. Most of the time, Griffin dealt with criminals or addicts. He was so used to intimidating or paying people off that it would have taken him a little time to figure out how to talk to this woman.
"The swim team?" Courtney wondered out loud, "There was an Alex Peters a few years older than me who was the captain, a Marigold Peters a year younger that almost went to the olympics... You know, there was a Max Peterson in my grade, but he got kicked out halfway through our senior year."
CeCe looked back over her shoulder at him and they exchanged a look. "Kicked out?"
She waved her hand around with a flourish, "Kind of. He was allowed to finish online, but wasn't allowed back at school."
"Do you know why?" Griffin asked.
He could see instantly how excited she got. Her whole demeanor changed, and she leaned in towards them, "There were a ton of rumors going around at the time, but I was dating someone on the team and they told me that he nearly killed a teammate and was almost expelled because of it."
"But what exactly happened?" CeCe wondered.
"My ex wouldn't tell me, but another girl who I was partners with in Chem, who I don't talk to anymore because I found out she was actually sleeping with my ex - well, not ex at the time. My boyfriend at the time. Anyways, she said that he held this girl down in the water until she was unconscious. Now, I didn't believe this once I found out she was lying about all that, but I got confirmation from Timmy who worked at the student store, and he's one of those really religious people who think if they lie they'll go to hell, so I know he was telling the truth."
They blinked at her.
"Honestly," she kept going, "It's not that surprising. The guy was a weirdo. Bad vibes all around. One time, he was caught by the teachers showing his friends some really fucked up porn. Like bad stuff. I mean, I watch porn, we all do, right? But I heard the stuff he was showing fucked up one of his friends so badly that he needed therapy after it."
Every warning bell went off in Griffin's head. This fit the profile almost perfectly.
"How did he not get expelled for that?" CeCe asked.
"We're all pretty sure it was because of his family."
"Are they in politics or something?"
"No, even better." She said conspiratorially, "His grandfather was like super rich. Lived up in a mansion on Martyr Hill - It's torn down now. Max and his siblings-"
"Siblings?" Griffin cut in, immediately on high alert.
She nodded, "Oh, yeah, he has an older brother and sister. But they were like so cool. Popular and gorgeous. Actually, Max was fairly good looking, but the creepiness kind of ruined that, you know? His sister was actually really quiet, now that I'm remembering, stayed to herself a lot, but that just made people want to be her friend more. Anyways, when grandpa died, he left everything to the three of them, so they were rich rich. And because his siblings were so popular and well-liked, they still held some sway after they graduated. One of the office ladies who gets her hair done at my friends salon told me that she was certain that the Dean was getting money from the family under the table, you know."
"Do you remember what the brother and sister's names were?"
"His older brother's name was Tyson. And I think his sister's name was Alice, or Alina, or something. She went by the nickname Cat, for some reason, so that's what I knew her as." Courtney told them.
"Hey, Court! Break's over!" A voice called behind them.
She shrugged, "Hope that helped. Tell Tulip I said hi!" Then she strutted off back to the concession stand.
†††
They had to stop and get another coffee for Astrid on the way back to her house. At the end of dinner, she had told them that she hadn't slept for close to forty-eight hours. The plan was to meet with Ren, then get Astrid into bed. Willow was going to stay with her overnight to make sure she was alright.
Ivy had sent a text to Harry, letting him know what was going on and how badly the situation had gotten. He had Dev and Geta already looking through old city records to see if they could piece together a map on their end if Tai's map was lost for good.
Her guards dropped them off at Astrid's townhouse, walking them to the door. She knew they would stay out there and give regular updates to her husband, but she didn't find it intrusive or annoying. Which surprised her.
Before Harry, she would never have let that slide. Now, she loved it. She loved that he needed to keep her safe, that he cared about her that much. After being kidnapped several times in her younger years, she expected her father to put guards on her, but he never did. Finn had for a while after those events - If he wasn't watching her himself.
Now that she was no longer concerned with how her father viewed her or how to gain his respect and love, she was able to sort out her feelings regarding that relationship. Or lack thereof. Therapy would probably be smart, but not quite possible for someone in her position.
Inside Astrid's home, she noticed that everything was still clean and tidy. That was somewhat a good sign.
"Let's get the fire started." Willow suggested. "You get settled on the couch with your notes."
Astrid nodded and walked into her living room.
Willow whispered to Ivy, "She's looking a little green."
"I know." Ivy replied, frowning, "Maybe dinner isn't sitting well with her?"
"Maybe. I don't know. I'm worried about her."
"Me too. I can't help but feel like I've let her down in all this."
Willow shook her head, "No, you've had a shit ton going on. I'm the one that's been a shitty friend."
"We need to find him." Ivy said, "Or at least make some progress."
She nodded, "I'm going to stay with her a little while too. That way she's not always alone."
"Good. C'mon," Ivy tugged her cousin along. They found Astrid curled up on the couch, her coffee cup cradled in her hands. She was staring off into space. "Hey, Astrid, so what are these ideas you have for where the map might be."
Astrid startled, "Oh, right, well-"
They were cut off by the doorbell ringing.
With a sigh, Astrid told them, "That's got to be Ren."
"I'll get it." Willow suggested.
Ivy turned the gas on for the fireplace and lit it. A moment later, they heard the front door slam shut, purposeful footsteps heading their way. Astrid stood up when Ren marched into the room, looking furious, a medium size box in her hand.
"What's wrong?" Astrid asked as Willow followed the shorter woman inside.
"I finally got a message." She spit out, throwing the box on the coffee table.
Books hit the floor, and a silence erupted in the room. Ivy glanced at Astrid, whose eyes were solely on the box, her hands shaking.
Stepping forward, Ivy flipped open the lid to find a severed hand, the inside stained with blood, and a not crumpled up in the rigid fist.