He looked at Cassandra.

“I’m not going anywhere until I get some answers,” she said.

“Yes, I understand, but given the animosity between the Cabals and vampires—”

“It’s not animosity,” Cassandra said. “To have animosity, you have to acknowledge that the other party exists. You needn’t worry. I will be as the Cabals wish me to be: invisible. Since no one can outwardly recognize vampires”—she shot a pointed look at Jaime—“there’s no need for him to know what I am.”

A knock at the door. Lucas opened it. Sean Nast walked in, followed by a man who could only be a Cabal bodyguard. Sean turned to his guard.

“Wait outside,” he murmured.

“Mr. Nast said—” the guard began.

“Please,” Sean said.

The guard nodded and retreated into the hall. Lucas closed the door behind him.

“Granddad’s getting paranoid,” Sean said. “I feel like I’m twelve again.”

“Sean, this is Jaime Vegas,” Lucas said. “Jaime, Sean Nast, Thomas Nast’s grandson.”

Sean grinned. “Hey, my frat watches you on The Keni Bales Show every month.”

As they shook hands, Sean’s gaze flicked to Cassandra.

“Sean, this is Cassandra,” Lucas said. “Cassandra, Sean Nast.”

If Sean noticed the lack of a surname for Cassandra, he gave no sign of it, only shook her hand with a “Pleased to meet you,” then turned to us.

“Tyler Boyd is missing.” He glanced at me and added, “That’s the Boyd CEO’s youngest son. He’s seventeen.”

“He’s missing? Since when?”

“We aren’t sure. Tyler went to his hotel room around eleven last night. When he didn’t show up for breakfast, his dad sent someone to get him. His bodyguard was in the room, dead, and Tyler was gone. Mr. Boyd called Granddad and the Cabals have been out searching ever since.”

“Good,” Lucas said. “My father has excellent shaman trackers.”

“That’s the problem. They didn’t call your dad, or anyone in your Ca—your family’s Cabal.”

“What?” I said. “But he went missing here, right? In Miami?”

“And the Cortezes have all the resources here, I know. It’s crazy. I am so f**king—” He glanced at Jaime and Cassandra. “Sorry. I’m just fed up with their crap. Joey’s dead and now Tyler’s missing and all the Cabals can do is bicker about who’s to blame and who’s trying to take control of the investigation. Without your dad’s trackers and CSIs, all we have is a bunch of VPs and bodyguards milling around the city, hoping to bump into Tyler.”

“So you want me to call my father.”

Sean rubbedhis hand over his chin. “Yeah, I know you’re on the outs with him, and I hate to ask, but I don’t know what else to do. I tried phoning his company switchboard but, of course, they just kept routing me to some junior, junior assistant who won’t even relay a message. If you have your father’s direct number, I’ll make the call.”

“Your family wouldn’t appreciate that. Better let me handle it.”

“I’m not worried about what my family thinks. You can tell your dad I’m the one who told you to call.”

“I’ll call him, because he has the resources to process the scene and search for Tyler. I won’t, however, tell him it was at your instigation. You’re angry, with good reason, but that’s not a decision you want to make right now.”

“I don’t care—”

“Lucas is right,” I said. “Not only don’t you want to start a rift with your family, but you don’t want to widen the one between your Cabals. It’ll only make things worse.”

Sean nodded. “Okay, but after you make the call, will you come to the Boyds’ hotel with me? I came here because I wanted to get your dad involved, but also because I wanted to get you two involved. So far you’ve done a hell of a lot more than the Cabals.”

“We’ll certainly go,” Lucas said. “But I believe it would be best if we arrived independently. Why don’t you give Paige the hotel address while I phone my father?”

When Lucas was gone, Sean glanced at Jaime and Cassandra, neither of whom was making any attempt to pretend they weren’t listening. He obviously had something else to say to me, so I offered to walk him down to his car. The bodyguard followed us to the elevator. While we waited, Sean gave me the address for the Boyds’ hotel.

“So, you, uh…” Sean said as we stepped onto the elevator, “you’ve got someone with Savannah, right? She’s someplace safe?”

“With friends,” I said. When I saw him hesitate, I added, “Supernaturals.”

“Good, good. I figured that. I tried mentioning it to my uncle, that someone should ask whether she’s being protected, since she’s a potential target. I can’t mention it to Granddad. After…after what happened with my dad, he…well, we aren’t allowed to talk about Savannah. My uncle wouldn’t ask Benicio about her, either. I think they…”

“Would rather pretend she doesn’t exist? After last spring, I’m just as happy if they do.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. I should have kept my mouth shut. Nothing stops a conversation deader than reminding someone that his family is responsible for sending your life swirling down the gutter.