Page 80 of Wicked Brutal

“Unless you’ve got a better idea.”

“I remembered everything.”

“I know.” Something in the way he says it makes me look at him. No teasing. No surprise. Just certainty. He knows I did. “Okay,” he says. “Start at the beginning.”

So I do. Victor’s arrival. The house in Middleburg. New York. Palm Beach. London. Ryan types as I talk.

“Zurich next month,” I say. “Someone named Hollis is waiting for confirmation from Vane.”

“Hollis. Vane.”

“Then there was Bellamy.”

“What about him?”

“Dad asked what happens if Bellamy doesn’t fall in line. Victor said he would.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know. Dad said Victor said the same thing about Mercer.”

Ryan’s fingers stop. “Mercer.”

“Victor said Mercer was different. That he required more encouragement.”

Ryan looks up. “Exact words?”

“Exact.” He types again. “Then they talked about money. Dad said not through the foundation.”

“What foundation?”

“They didn’t say.”

“Anything about where the money was coming from?”

“Victor said the usual.”

Ryan’s eyes lift again. “The usual?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay. Keep going.”

“Dad said after Pennington he wasn’t having anything trace back there.”

Ryan goes very still. “Pennington.”

“Yeah.”

“What else?”

“Victor said Pennington was careless. Dad said Lucian was too. Victor called Lucian arrogant. Hartley stupid.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Then Dad said that’s a lot of people around Edgewood suddenly making mistakes.”

Ryan’s jaw tightens. “He’s connecting it.”