Schooled in Revenge (9 page)

“That’s it,” Ava confirmed, spotting the empty field. “Next to that old house.”

Jane made an adjustment and the plane angled downward.

“So what, exactly, is our plan?” Cruz asked. “Just barge into the big shindig on May first and confront these assholes?”

“That’s exactly what we do,” Reena said. “Force a confession.”

But Ava knew it wouldn’t be that easy. The Starling Gala was only two days away, but that didn’t mean they were ready. They needed a plan. A real one.

She stared out the window, solemn and resolute. Even as the ground approached, it was hard to believe she was actually
back in Napa. Just eight weeks earlier, she’d been departing for Japan, nervous and unsure what her training with Takeda would entail.

But as the plane touched the ground, bumping across the grassy field, she braced for something even scarier.

Coming home.

“I just can’t believe you’re really here. It’s so good to see you, Ava.”

Marie led them down the upstairs hallway. Her hair held more salt than pepper, the age lines around her eyes more deeply etched than they had been the last time Ava had seen her. But she still had the same warmth that made Marie’s Inn a prime destination for the B&B set.

“I just appreciate your fitting us in on such short notice,” Ava said, hit with a wave of nostalgia as she took in the familiar wallpaper, the artwork on the walls…

“Don’t be silly,” Marie said. “The season hasn’t started yet. And I always have room for you.”

She had been surprised to see them and even more surprised when she saw the plane sitting in her backyard. Still, she’d ushered them inside without hesitation, forcing them to catch their breath on the big sofas in the main living room while she brought them water and iced tea.

She stopped at the second door, bending to fit a key into the lock. The door swung open. “I’m afraid I only have three rooms available right now. I hope that will do.”

“It will be fine,” Reena said. “We appreciate your hospitality. Cruz and I can take this room, if that’s all right.”

Ava gaped. Where had this newly polite person come from and what had happened to the real Reena?

“Of course,” Marie said, waving them in and handing Reena the key. “I serve coffee and pastries in the dining room starting at seven.”

Cruz reached out to shake her hand. “Thank you.”

They continued down the hall, leaving Jon in the next bedroom before coming to the last door.

“I guess this is us,” Ava said to Jane as Marie opened the door.

Jane stepped into the room, her eyes traveling over the homey, vintage décor. “It’s beautiful.” She looked at Marie. “Thank you.”

“It’s my pleasure,” Marie said. “Get some rest now. You look like you could use it.” She hesitated. “Ava… I owe you an apology. It was wrong of me to assume—”

“No apology necessary. It was a totally understandable assumption,” Ava said.

Marie shook her head. “Sylvie was like a mother to me. Your mom, one of my closest friends. I should have known you would never willingly sell Starling.”

Ava took her hand. There was very little left of her old life, very few people who had stood by her. But Marie was one of them. She may have been upset when she’d heard about the sale of the vineyard, but she was here now when Ava needed her.

“It’s okay,” she said. “It’s in the past. I’m here to move forward.”

Marie leaned in, lowering her voice like she was afraid
someone would overhear even though the hallway was empty, the doors closed to the other rooms. “I see him sometimes, you know.”

“Charlie?” Ava avoided Marie’s eyes, some of the old shame creeping in. “Lucky you.”

“William Reinhardt, too. Not that I get out much anymore. It’s not like it used to be. All the parties and events seem to attract a different crowd these days.” Marie looked around again. “I heard that he hires a different girl to be his date for every party.”

“Reinhardt?” Ava was not surprised. “Probably because no one would be his date for free.”

Marie nodded her agreement. “Everyone’s real careful around him. They know what he’s capable of.”

“Because of what he did to me.”

“Don’t you worry about that,” Marie said. “We know him for what he is now; nothing but a snake in the grass.”

But taking that kind of bait would be a cop-out. Putting all the blame on Reinhardt or Charlie or anyone else wasn’t going to get Ava anywhere. Part of revenge meant taking responsibility for her choices. Only then could she move past shame to action.

And that’s exactly what she was going to do.

“He’s a snake all right,” Ava said. “But I’m the one who took a bite of the apple, and I’m the one who’s going to make it right.”

Ava leaned against the porch railing, breathing in the rich scent of soil. The sky was inky overhead, the half-moon casting golden light over the hills and fields surrounding the inn. It was nearly May, still early enough in the year to be mild, absent of the heat of mid to late summer that finishes the grapes just before harvest. A breeze rushed through the trees at the edge of the property, landing gently on Ava’s skin, bare beneath the old-fashioned slip Marie had given her to sleep in.

She hadn’t realized how much she missed it, had tried not to think about it. But it was home, and whatever Reinhardt had taken from her, whatever happened from here on out, that was something that would never change.

“Old habits die hard, huh?” Jon’s voice came from behind her.

She turned, smiling a little. “I guess so. Can’t sleep?”

He shook his head. “You?”

“I tried, but I guess I have too much on my mind.”

He looked past the well-groomed front yard, planted with
flowers to attract paying guests, out over the fields in the distance.

“It must be weird, being back here.”

She nodded. “It is. But also nice, despite everything.”

“Home,” he said simply.

“Yes.”

They were silent for a moment, Ava painfully aware of his body next to hers, the fresh smell of soap suggesting a recent shower. He was wearing boxers and a T-shirt, snug enough to hint at his broad shoulders and muscled biceps. Her eyes were drawn to his hands, strong and sure on the porch railing. She had a flash of them on her bare waist, her hips.

She took a deep breath, shaking the image from her mind.

“What about you?” she asked, trying to get her mind on a different subject. “Does it feel weird to be back?”

He thought about it. “Well, this isn’t home for me like it is for you, but it’s close enough to dredge up the past. So I guess you could say it’s weird.”

She nodded her understanding. “On Rebun Island, all of this seemed so far away. I mean, I knew what I was training for, obviously. But it was all a little…”

He raised an eyebrow. “Abstract?”

She laughed softly, not wanting to wake the others. “Exactly. Now it’s real.”

His eyes locked with hers. “It’s definitely real.”

She wasn’t sure if they were still talking about their plans, about revenge. He was only inches from her, so close she could feel the magnetic pull of his body. She suddenly had a hard time breathing, her breath coming fast and shallow, chest rising and falling as he reached a hand toward her face, tracing a
line from the rise of her cheekbone to the line of her jaw before twining his fingers in the hair at the back of her head. She leaned into him, the crisp cotton of his T-shirt sending sparks along the bare skin of her chest.

“Ava, I…”

And then his mouth was on hers, his lips warm and gentle at first, building to an urgent demand as she kissed him back, wrapping her arms around his back as he tipped her head to plunder her mouth. She was lost, everything else forgotten as she was pulled under by the desire roaring through her body.

He moved his hand from the back of her head, letting it travel down the side of her neck, over her bare shoulder. Hooking a finger in the spaghetti strap of the slip, he started to push it off her shoulder, his mouth finding the tender skin of her collarbone.

Her head fell back as a moan escaped her lips. “Jon…”

And then, all at once, he was pulling back, returning her strap to its full and upright position, putting cold space between their warm bodies.

She tried to shake off her passion-induced stupor. “What’s wrong?”

He shook his head. “I’m sorry. I’m… I can’t…”

“Because of Courtney.” It’s not a question.

“It isn’t right,” he said, his eyes full of torment.

“She’s gone, Jon,” Ava said gently.

He nodded slowly. “That doesn’t change the fact that I still love her.”

Ava’s insides twisted. How could she fault him? He was a good man, more loyal than any she’d ever known. Who was
she to want more of him? To expect him not to mourn his dead fiancée?

“I understand.” She reached out to touch his face, wanting to comfort him, then thought better of it. She let her hand drop. “Good night, Jon.”

“Good night, Ava.”

The words hit her back as she stepped into the house. She told herself that it was better this way, that they had more important things to worry about than their mutual attraction.

Then she told herself that she believed it.

“You’re still the only thing that settles me, Cruz,” Reena said, lying naked next to him.

They had taken showers and settled into the room, falling into each other’s arms with the combination of passion and familiarity that was uniquely theirs.

Cruz tenderly smoothed her hair. “At least we can do something now. Actually work to free Simon and bring justice to the bastards who murdered your mother and put him in prison.”

Reena nodded, a sudden burst of fear flooding her body. “But what if something goes wrong?”

Cruz pulled away a little, tipping her face to his. “Are you telling me you’re scared?”

“What? You’re surprised?”

He pulled her naked body closer, kissing her head. “I’m not surprised you have doubts. Anyone would. I’m just surprised you’d let me know about them.”

“I just… I don’t want to fail,” Reena said, running her hand along his bare chest. “And the truth is, I’m not even sure people will still care about my mother, about Simon. What if
we get what we need to prove that Reinhardt, Cain, and Wells were responsible, but no one cares enough to pursue it?”

“We’ll make them care,” Cruz said. “We’ve come this far.”

She looked up at him, touching his face. She’d perfected the art of holding people at bay, of making sure they didn’t get close enough to really know her. But somehow Cruz had snuck in, found a way into the fortress of her heart. She’d be lost without him, something she didn’t even dare think about for fear that it might come true.

Reena brought her face close to his. “You’re a good man. The best.” She kissed him gently, the uncertainty of the future bringing down the one remaining wall between them. “I love you, Cruz.”

He looked at her with surprise, reaching up to touch her face. “You’re full of surprises tonight, aren’t you?” He continued without waiting for an answer. He kissed her deeply, passion rising between them again. “You already know I love you.”

Reena smiled. “What makes you so sure?”

“Because,” Cruz said, pulling her under him. “I followed you halfway around the world.”

The aroma of fresh rose petals and lavender winds its way into sixteen-year-old Jane’s bedroom as she places the ruby earrings on her delicate lobes. She admires the earrings in the mirror, loving the way they shimmer in the glow from the Contra Costa goldfields outside her window.

Satisfied, she crosses the room and opens the closet door, stepping into a large walk-in lined with clothes. Designer jeans and tops hang on one side, rows of dresses and gowns on the other. Shoes, nestled in deep mahogany cubbies, stack the rear of the closet from floor to ceiling.

She scans the closet’s offerings. Whatever she chooses will have to be just right.

As she sifts through the dresses—silk and taffeta and cotton and satin—something catches her eye on the wall. Pushing the dresses back, she leans in for a closer look, her gaze falling on a set of initials carved into the wall. She traces them with her fingertips, melancholy shrouding her heart even in the dream.

Ava was gone when Jane woke up. She padded over to the window in her boxer shorts and tank top,
perching on the window seat and trying to make sense of the strange dream. Or memory. Or whatever it was.

She couldn’t have lived in Napa Valley. She’d have crossed paths with Ava, who seemed to know everyone and anything that happened in the contained world of the region’s wineries and vineyards.

But then why did it seem so familiar? And it did seem familiar, although Jane couldn’t put her finger on it when they’d first arrived. She had been exhausted from the flight, from the mental energy required to navigate the plane across the Pacific. All she had wanted was a hot bath and a soft bed.

But now, with the dream fresh in her mind, she was sure of it. She had been here before.

She considered her options. She could talk to Ava. Ask her if she remembered seeing Jane around Napa before she left. But that seemed stupid. If Ava had recognized her, she would have said something. At the very least, Jane would have seen the recollection in her eyes in some unguarded moment.

Wouldn’t she?

But Jane was alone. More alone than any of the others. Reena and Cruz had each other, and it was obvious Ava and Jon had something going on, even if they tried to pretend it wasn’t there.

Making a decision, Jane left the room. She walked down the hall, stopping in front of Cruz and Reena’s room. Raising her hand to the door, she hesitated before finally knocking.

A few seconds later, Reena opened the door, dressed in jeans and a black T-shirt that hugged her lithe frame.

“Hey,” she said. “Everything all right?”

“Can I… Can I talk to you?” Jane asked.

Reena nodded, concern crossing her blue eyes. “Cruz is still sleeping. Let’s go downstairs.”