“I know,” Gigi murmured.
Savannah closed her eyes. “I hate that bastard for making me believe that helikedthe parts of me that make meso hardfor anyone else to like.”
“I like you,” Gigi said.
“You like everyone.” The kitten nipped at Savannah’s finger again—harder this time. “No biting,” Savannah told the cat, her voice breaking. “Unless the person really deserves it.”
Gigi laid her head on her sister’s shoulder.
“I was done,” Savannah said.Past tense.“I hated him, and Iwas done. And now—”
Savannah cut off, and all Gigi could think was:And now…
And now…
And now…
Chapter 86
LYRA
The call came in at one in the morning. The world stopped for Lyra the moment she heard the phone ring—notherphone. Alisa’s. Lyra’s heart leapt into her throat, and her lungs ceased to function. Nothing in the world existed but the ringing of the phone. Lyra didn’t even hear Alisa answer it, couldn’t hear anything but a continued ringing in her ears, couldn’tthinkanything—until suddenly, she was thinkingeverything.
Of every moment.
Of every kiss.
He’s okay. He’s okay. He has to be okay.
“Lyra,” Alisa said. And then there was a hand on the back of Lyra’s neck, so much like Grayson’s.Nash.Nash was on one side of Lyra, and Libby was on the other, and Alisa’s lips were moving as she said Lyra’s name a second time.
“Grayson?” Lyra managed to croak.
“Not Grayson,” Alisa told her. “It’s Odette. Our investigator found Odette Morales, and she’ll only speak to you.”
The call was a video call, and Odette looked just as Lyra remembered: silver hair dyed black at the tips, commanding features that age could not strip of their beauty. The first time Lyra had ever seen Odette Morales, the woman had reminded her of an eagle on the hunt. Lyra hadn’t known then that Odette was a former Hollywood starlet.
Lyra could see both the starlet and the bird of prey in the woman on her screen now.
“Enjoying the Adriatic coast?” Lyra said, her words coming out harsh.
“In a manner of speaking,” Odette replied.
“You went off the grid.”
“Did I?”
Odette had made herself very hard to find. Whatever she knew,ifshe knew anything else, it probably wouldn’t be much use now—not to Grayson and maybe not even to Lyra, given how much they’d managed to piece together themselves.
“I found out more about that favor you did for Tobias Hawthorne,” Lyra said.
“I suppose you’re wanting details?”
“Three truths,” Lyra replied. “You offered Grayson and me three truths during the Grandest Game, and one of them was that you didn’t know anything about what had happened to my father.”
“I knew nothing. I suspected quite a bit. Believe me or opt not to, Ms. Kane, but the truth is that there was a situation, and I was asked to fix it, and a lawyer of my caliber does not always need a surplus of details to incentivize third parties to be discreet. In fact, some might say, the fewer details one has about certain things, the better.”
“You pieced plenty of details together,” Lyra said, sure of that. “In the aftermath.”
