“Hey, Daddy.”
I tapped the screen, putting him on speaker without thinking about it.
Marlon stayed quiet behind me, listening in with his nosey ass.
“Rory,” my dad’s voice came through, smooth but… off. “You busy?”
“Always,” I said lightly, trying to keep it normal. “Launch day, remember?”
“I remember,” he said. “You sound… distracted.”
I felt Marlon’s arm tighten around my waist.
“I’m working,” I said. “Going over reports.”
“Mm.” Then he paused. “You alone?”
My eyes flicked down to Marlon’s arm for a second before I answered.
“I’m in my office,” I said carefully.
Technically it’s not a lie. But It ain’t the full truth either.
“Right,” he said slowly. “Your office.”
Yeah.Something was off.
“I’ll be there later today,” he continued. “As planned. I wanna see everything for myself.”
“Of course,” I said. “Everything’s ready.”
“I’m sure it is,” he replied. “You’ve been… very busy.”
“I have,” I said. “That’s kind of the point.”
He hummed softly on the other end.
“So we’ll talk about everything,” he added. “You and me.”
My grip tightened slightly on the table.
“About what?”
“We’ll talk when I get there.”
The tone meant it was not optional.
“Okay,” I said, keeping my voice even.
Another pause. Then?—
“And Rory?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t make me regret trusting you out there.”
Yikes.
