Chapter 1

According to the gospel of Lilith Parker, massage therapy could cure a lot of the world’s ills. That’s why she’d busted her butt to open her own spa. Lost that big account at work? Boyfriend acting like a jerk? Kids can’t find their rear end with a map? Relâcher was the answer. Except when the question was: why had four appointments in a row cancelled?

If she could figure that out, maybe she could stop her business from circling the drain. Too bad Lilith couldn’t spend an hour letting one of her staff magicians do a vanishing act on the knot at the base of her skull.

There was another woman somewhere who needed that, though, and Lilith would find her. Sitting around idle didn’t accomplish a darn thing, and worse, it gave her plenty of time to fixate on the sudden presto-chango that had brought her business to its knees. And if she started down that path, there was no coming back from the edge of panic. Hey, why worry about a little thing like a mortgage payment? It wasn’t due for another—Lilith glanced at the calendar on her phone and winced—thirteen days.

No problem. Maybe she’d become one of those people who could screech in under the wire on everything with nary a care. And maybe she’d spontaneously morph into a purple unicorn too.

Best place to scout for customers was the courtyard in the center of Vivo. Lilith pushed open the heavy cherry-wood door and stood just outside the entrance to Relâcher. Shame that the lovely A/C couldn’t be pushed outside somehow.

People teemed through the grassy area of the courtyard, as they always did on a sunny Saturday afternoon, because it was the best way to pass between the shops and restaurants that lined the first floor of the building. Not one of them headed toward Relâcher. Lilith aimed to change that.

“Fifty percent off your first facial,” she called to a lady carrying a divine Marc Jacobs bag, but she just shot Lilith one of those polite smiles that clearly said do not continue this conversation under threat of death.

Lilith held out a flyer. Flyers weren’t a conversation. The lady grabbed the glossy quarter-page coupon and stuffed it in her purse as she darted off toward Butterfly Palace. Fifty bucks said she’d toss the beautiful print job in the nearest receptacle. Lilith had almost cried the first time she’d spied a flyer she’d designed crushed into a trash bin between a paper coffee cup and something she’d rather not think about.

Now she hired a professional to do ad copy and stuck to all things beautification related, which was her wheelhouse. Relâcher was her baby. The only one she’d likely ever have, unless the stars realigned and men miraculously stopped being cheaters. Or they started growing babies under the toadstools that sprang up in the shady patch at the south end of Vivo’s public courtyard. She might take one that needed a good home.

Probably she should just get a dog instead and stop harboring secret dreams of having a faithful man who stuck by her side through all the ups and downs of parenting. Dogs knew a thing or two about loyalty, they devoured everything you fed them, even if it wasn’t haute cuisine, and no one raised an eyebrow if they visited more than one lady love.

If she really wanted to get crazy, she could respond to the emails she kept getting from something called Bride at First Sight, who had been bugging her to no end for a couple of weeks to “find the love of her life” and “take advantage of an exciting opportunity.” Sure. That all sounded really sane. Especially from an outfit that didn’t include an unsubscribe link at the bottom of their promotional emails.

A couple of women strolled past chatting at each other and finishing each other’s sentences. Lilith hated to interrupt what looked to be serious girl-talk, but she needed customers. “Relâcher specializes in detoxifying green clay masks. Buy one, get one free.”

She’d made that up on the spot, but if the situation fit…except both women glanced at her and then up at the Relâcher sign behind her, and then backed away like Lilith had suggested her spa specialized in bubonic plague.

Kind of like the first woman had hurried away. Lilith glanced behind her, but there was no quarantine notice on the door that she’d somehow forgotten about.

This was so weird.

“Best hot stone massages in Dallas,” she called out as a woman about her age wandered past with her gaze roving over the building as if looking for a specific sign to jump out at her. “Eighty bucks for an hour. You can’t beat that deal with a stick.”

The woman slowed, her long flowing skirt settling gracefully around her ankles, and cocked her head. “Can you actually beat a deal with a stick? Like, how would that even work?”

Lilith laughed—and she’d have sworn two seconds ago that little could amuse her. “Let’s find out. Free for you today only because I like you.”

The woman smiled, drawing up her cheekbones in a way that seemed vaguely familiar, like they’d met before, except Lilith couldn’t place her.

“That’s really sweet of you. I’ll have to take a rain check though. I’m trying to find my brother. He’s at someplace called Vivo Community Desk? Which is nowhere to be found, of course. ‘It’s easy,’ he says. Right across from the management office. Guess what?”

“You can’t find the office either.” The pieces fell into place and Lilith stuck out her hand with a return grin. “You must be Ivan’s sister. Don’t worry, I won’t hold it against you. Lilith Parker.”

She didn’t look exactly like Ivan Anderson, the man who was dating Lilith’s friend Katie, but they had the same dirty blond hair and similar mannerisms.

“You know Ivan?” she asked as she shook Lilith’s hand. “Little sister in the worst sense. Can’t take a step without the long shadow of Ivan the Terrible throwing his weight around and growling at anyone male who glances in my direction. I’m Shiloh, by the way.”

“Everyone knows everyone here. Part of the charm of living and working in close quarters.”

Vivo prided itself in being self-contained, with a gym and a pool on site to serve the residents who owned the condos stacked four stories high above the shops and restaurants. Lilith hadn’t lived here that long, just over a year, but it was definitely home. More like home plus, since she’d never really had a community before.

“That does sound lovely,” Shiloh agreed. “I’m meeting Ivan so we can look at a vacant condo together. Hopefully they’ll take my offer and then we’ll be neighbors.”

Lilith jerked her head at the entrance behind her with the deep red cherrywood door that promised luxury and relaxation. Or at least it was supposed to anyway. For all she knew, the feng shui had shifted and the door now gave off more of a Gothic torture chamber vibe. “I’m serious about the freebie. Since you’re practically family.”

“Maybe later?”

Lilith nodded and texted Eliza, her partner who ran the salon side of Relâcher, that she was running out for a minute, and then escorted Shiloh to the community shared workspace where several of the residents who didn’t have to go into an office rented desks. The interior of Vivo was a welcome respite from the heat, and besides, Ivan sat on the row with some of Lilith’s friends, which meant she could likely recruit a few volunteers since handling out coupons had been a bust.

“Look who I found,” she said to Ivan as she breezed into the shared workspace area.

He glanced up from his laptop, a tender smile splitting his face when he caught sight of his sister. Okay, Lilith wouldn’t rib him as hard as she’d planned to over the cruddy directions he’d given Shiloh for finding his office. But still. There weren’t any signs in the courtyard to show the way to this area.

“I was just about to text you,” Ivan said with a pointed no-no finger at his sister and nodded at Lilith. “Thanks. She didn’t look for the management office like I told her to. Did you?”

Shiloh scowled as his attention swiveled to her. “Maybe we could skip the part where you’re a jerk and just go.”

Katie whacked him on the arm. Her multi-colored nails were orange and fuchsia today.

“Forgive him,” she said to Shiloh, whom she’d obviously met before. “He still hasn’t learned how to mix with civilized company. Shiloh, this is Carolina.”

Katie handled the introductions to the other women on their row, filling in for her boyfriend who was still glowering as advertised despite the distinct lack of other males. Finally, Ivan seemed to have had enough girly chitchat and shuffled off his sister for their condo-viewing appointment.

“Geez. Overbearing much?” Carolina commented without looking up from her screen where she was likely perusing the questions of viewers who watched her uber popular relationship advice show on YouTube called Ask Carolina. “I hope he doesn’t treat you that way.”

Katie wrinkled her nose. “Please. He’d draw back a bloody stump the first time he shoved that finger in my direction.”

“Good girl,” Carolina murmured and tapped out a few letters on her laptop. “Poor thing, though. If I was her, I wouldn’t move to the same building as him.”

“Well it’s nice that she has someone looking out for her,” Lilith said and shifted back and forth on her stilettos, which she wouldn’t have worn if she’d known she’d be trekking all over creation today scouting for someone to darken her doors. “Men are mostly creeps anyway. No big loss if Ivan scares them all away. So, on that note, who’s in the mood for an experimental ginger-sea salt body scrub? On the house.”

“It’s Saturday.” Carolina raised her brows, the laptop losing her attention for once. “Don’t you have customers?”

“You’d think,” Lilith said breezily because panic wasn’t the new black yet. It might be soon though if the day got much worse. “I had a cancellation, so it’s someone’s lucky day. Come on, I’m dying to try out this new blend that I created myself.”

“I can’t,” Katie said with disappointed frown. “I have to run to the grocery store while Ivan’s with Shiloh. I’m not really in the office today. Ivan’s the workaholic with his ninety hours a week on the app he’s developing. If I want to see him, I follow him down to his desk, even on a Saturday.”

Carolina smirked. “I’m working. Or at least I was, until I got interrupted with all the shenanigans.”

“You know you want to take a break,” Lilith teased. Carolina had a lot of bark but seldom did she bite. At least not her friends. “All those people’s relationship problems put you in a cranky mood and you need a nice relaxing session in my hands. It’s Saturday. Let Lilith take care of you.”

“Sure. Free is always in the budget.” Carolina closed her laptop with a click and climbed to her feet. In stark contrast to Lilith, she had on lime-green Converse, a staple in Carolina’s much more casual closet. To Katie, she said, “You’re going to make me do this by myself?”

Katie grinned. “You make it sound like a trip to the dentist instead of a beauty treatment.”

“Well, I’m not sure there’s much in the world that can enhance this, but okay.” Carolina pointed at her face like there was something wrong with it, when in reality, she was a pretty woman who never wore cosmetics because she didn’t have to.

“You’re both beautiful, so stop,” Lilith interjected quickly before her gesture devolved into something it wasn’t. “The freebie offer is not because I think either of you need help. It’s because something weird is going on.”

She should have kept that to herself. At least until she talked to Eliza about it. They were partners first, friends second, and fiercely loyal to their brain child, conceived almost moments after they’d met each other in cosmetology school.

“Weird like how?” Katie perked up, her shopping trip forgotten as her natural curiosity got the better of her. “Spoiled ingredients? They won’t mix right?”

If only her proprietary exfoliation formula was the problem, she’d spill it in a hot minute and hope Katie had written an article on ginger-sea salt scrub blends in her job as a freelance writer. The woman could research a topic like no one’s business. “Not weird with my products. Weird with my business. Lots of cancellations. Four today alone, but it’s been happening for about a week.”

Saying it out loud made it real. Something was wrong, something she had no control over. Her business was in trouble.

Lilith grabbed the back of Ivan’s vacant chair to steady herself as the weight of it settled across her shoulders. She had employees. Eliza. People needed her. She and Eliza had both worked their tails off in other people’s shops until they could pool enough money to open their own unique spa-salon combo that catered to oversaturated, overtaxed women who needed “me” time. This ship would not go down on her watch.

“Okay,” Katie said, drawing out the syllables as if that would jog something loose in her brain. “Sounds like a pattern. We can work with that. Brainstorm with me, people. What might cause someone to suddenly change their mind about an appointment?”

“Zombie apocalypse?” Lilith guessed because if she had any clues, she wouldn’t be having this conversation.

“Negative reviews,” Carolina threw out with a definitive nod. “When people bash me, it always scores Ask Carolina more views, but I don’t think it works like that when the place in question is subject to health regulations.”

Plopping unceremoniously into Ivan’s empty chair between her two friends, Lilith groaned. “Negative reviews? How many could there possibly be to cause this much of an impact?”

“Let’s find out.” Fuchsia and orange fingernails flying, Katie typed on her keyboard then narrowed her gaze at the screen. “Wow. Have you googled Relâcher lately?”

Lilith’s stomach did the can-can as she mentally counted back to the last time she’d thought about checking. It had been a while. “No. Why? Is it bad?”

“Just, you know. Lots of hits on bridal sites. Comments from users.”

Her friend’s non-committal tone put her hackles up. Pushing into Katie’s space, Lilith read over her shoulder, the knot at the base of her skull starting to throb. “Poor use of mood music coupled with dirty equipment? That’s not even true! And there are tons of comments like that.”

“Of course it’s not true,” Carolina said calmly and skootched around Lilith to read over Katie’s other shoulder and point to the screen. “That’s the same person using a fake name. See how each comment is worded very similar and the names all have the same initials. Roberta Keen. Rachel Koda. It’s a troll.”

“A troll who’s ruining my business.” And then her gaze stumbled over the one name that wasn’t fake.

Rohina Kaplan. Lilith’s half sister.