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“You don’t know me,” I say. “And frankly I don’t really know you. Which is why this is going to be easy.” I take out a hypodermic that I’ve been keeping in my pocket and hold it up for him to see. “Oleander poisoning is hard to detect and it will kill you so fast, no nurse or doctor is going to be able to save you. I procured this especially for you.”
The guy mumbles something that I can’t make sense of so I continue. “I know,” I say. “It sucks, doesn’t it? First you almost get killed in that stupid fight and now you’re going to have to die again; properly this time, because you really didn’t do it right the first time, Bob.”
Sons and Fathers
HOLDEN
Zaff is already pouring himself a drink when I enter his office. When he sees me he comes over to me and gives me a big hug so I have no choice but to hug him back just a little. “I knew you’d come,” Zaff says, happily, leading me to the sofas. “I know you’re dying to talk to me just as much as I am, son.”
“Can we hold off on the whole ‘son’ thing for now?” I say, sitting down.
Zaff looks hurt but quickly covers it up. “Would you like to eat something?” he says. “Harlow tells me you like Italian. There’s a lovely little Italian place downstairs, right next to the diner. I can order us some food, we’ll share a meal father and son, what do you say?”
I say nothing.
He seems to have realized his mistake. “Sorry,” he says. “I need to teach myself how to call you something other than son. Don’t worry Holden, I’m working on it okay? If it makes you uncomfortable, we won’t—”
“It does.”
“Okay then.”
“How does Harlow know what I like?”
“I’m not going to lie,” Zaff says. “I had him follow you around for a while. But I only did it because I wanted to make sure no one was following you before I contacted you.”
“Why would someone follow me?”
“Lots of reasons, Holden. You’re about to become the heir of a drug empire. Everyone’s going to want a piece of that. Some people may even try to harm you.”
“And who’re you in all this?”
“Holden, I’m just looking out for you.”
“Cut the crap. Look, don’t take me for a fool. My mother is a lot of things, but I know she loves me. I know she would never do anything to harm me. If she took me away from you, there must have been a reason.”
“There was,” Zaff says.
“Tell me. You said no secrets. If that’s really true then tell me why she did it.”
“Maybe it’s better if you ask your mother that.”
“I’m asking you.”
He takes a long swallow of the drink. “When I turned eighteen, my father died and left me with the business. A business I didn’t even know he had, until he died. My parents kept it a secret from me and my brothers but there was no choice. I was the eldest and my father made the arrangements for the business to come to me. I was eighteen years old, Holden and your mother was pregnant with you. Of course it wasn’t planned, none of it was and I told myself I’d love you and your mother no matter what but when the business fell to me, Holden, I was—overwhelmed. You don’t know how hard it is to manage a family of over three hundred members and that’s just the main people I’m talking not the temps my people hire sometimes. So, I had to step up. I had my brothers to look after, my family, you and your mother—I told myself I could handle it but I couldn’t. Started failing at everything. Lost the business, because no one would trust a guy who wasn’t reliable and everyone started leaving me, except for the few people who had always been loyal to my father like Harlow.
I failed your mother too, Holden.”
Love is Blindness
MIA
“It’s like the millionth time you’ve looked at your phone, Mia!” Selena says, as we wait for our breakfast to arrive. We’re at our favorite coffee place and even though I didn’t want to go Selena forced me to do it. I’m not really a morning person but I’ve been ditching Selena for a while now because of Teague, I didn’t want to do it again this morning.
“It’s just strange, Selena. This isn’t like Teague at all.”
“He’s a guy, Mia. All guys do this at some point.”
“Not Teague.”
