Well THAT was one hell of a party. Lucien has certainly kept our funds coming in. I hadn’t met him before but apparently he’s known the Stones more than twenty-five years. I feel like he reminds me of someone, but I just can’t think who.
(He’s a lot better looking than I ever expected a lobbyist to be. Can’t wait for our next brunch with Adele!)
Grayson drove to the Vietnamese café St. James had picked and was led to a two-person table along the windows. He took a seat, checking his phone as he waited.
It was only his own texts still on-screen.
Grayson:I bought us time before corruption got you.
Grayson:So no. It wasn’t POINTLESS. And I’d take that bullet again for the pacifist version of you.
Grayson:But you’ve made it real clear that’s not who you are anymore.
Reece hadn’t responded yet. Maybe never would again. Reece had crossed a line for good last night.
Or maybe you implied he’s no longer worth saving, a little voice in Grayson’s head said,and now he understandably doesn’t want to talk to you.
Grayson hesitated. But no, that was just one of the lingering quirks of growing up with an empath, that sometimes your inner voice was real focused on other folks’ feelings. Reece didn’t care what Grayson said or thought. Reece didn’t even care if other people lived or died.
St James doesn’t think Reece committed this murder, the little voice said.
Well, people didn’t always make the right call when it came to their family. Grayson would know.
St. James was one of the best detectives on the West Coast.
Maybe. But Reece had fooled even the Dead Man into thinking he was innocent once.
Their conversation from weeks ago came back to him, when Grayson first found out Reece could hear lies and had been hiding that secret from everyone.
I’ve been trying all day to protect you from this fate,Grayson had said to him in the marina dry dock.I just didn’t know I was too late. Corruption’s a one-way street. Once it starts, there’s no coming back.
Don’t tell me that. Don’t tell me I’m doomed.
Reece’s eyes had been so big, so full of dread and hurt. Butthe truth was the truth, and Grayson had told him the worst truth a pacifist empath could hear.
Your powers will only get stronger, and you’ll become willing to use them for pain and worse as the sadism sets in. You say you aren’t a murderer yet, but you will be.
And now that day had come.
His gaze lingered on the messages again, on the last thing Reece had texted.
Reece:You were never going to save me.
Grayson’s hand strayed to touch the bullet scar through his coat.
Maybe Reece had thrown it all back in his face, reminding him again that the pacifist empath Grayson had known was gone for good.
But retaliating by telling Reece he wasn’t worth a bullet anymore sure as hell wasn’t thenicestthing Grayson had ever texted someone else.
“Hey.” St. James’s voice cut through his thoughts. “Sorry I’m late. I promise it was worth it.”
Grayson dropped his phone to the table, automatically rising to his feet and reaching to get her chair. “Not like I’m gonna get irritated—”
“Sit the hell down,” she said, already taking her seat.
They both ordered pho and Vietnamese coffees. As the waiter left, St. James folded her arms on the table.
“I have a proposition,” she said. “Innocent until proven guilty, right? So you give me every piece of evidence you have that Reece killed Smith, and I’ll tell you why it’s bullshit.”
