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“I only want what is best for her.”
“So do I,” that’s all I’ve ever wanted. But she… she was happy with me. I saw it. I felt it.
“She’s my daughter, I have no reason to lie to you. If you were what was best for Emily, I wouldn’t be making these calls to you. But you are not, will never, be good for Emily. You will ruin her life. I am begging you to do the right thing and leave her alone. Let her grieve and move on. Let her go to college. Let her meet a man who will take care of her, treat her well, raise a family with her.”
“I can’t,” I slide down my wall and collapse in a heap.
“And that’s how I know you’re just like your father. Selfish, a ruiner, an absolute monster who claims to love someone only to destroy everything they care about.”
Bile creeps up my throat, and I start dry heaving. “I’m going to be sick.”
“If you stay away, I will protect her. I’ll even update you on how she’s doing, from time to time. I’ll do everything in my power to ensure she gets the life she deserves. But you have to promise me, Cole. Stay away. Do not be your father. Don’t let Emily end up like your mother. It will happen. You will do it her. Because you’re exactly the same. Everyone knows it.”
The phone slides out of my limp hand, vomit fills my mouth, and my heart stops beating.
Twenty One
Autodromo Nazionale Monza - Monza, Italy
“No matter how hard you try, you can't stop us now.” - Rage Against the Machine - Renegades of Funk
Emily
I wish Edmund was here. Edmund would believe me. He did believe me. He knew there was something wrong with these tires, too.
“…a gross breach of protocol,” Olivier bangs his fist on the table and glares at me.
His nice-guy act came to a rapid halt as soon as we stepped foot on the circuit grounds in Italy. No more trying to ask me out, no more ‘oui oui, mon cher’ bologna.
They’ve found the mutilated tire we hacked up, and now he’s pissed.
“Do you have proof that it was Imperium who took the tire?” Silas asks Olivier. He’s calm and collected, seemingly unfazed by Olivier’s completely accurate accusation.
Unlike me, doing my best to be quiet and not implicate myself.
My foot starts tapping under the table. Cole moves his leg over next to mine and puts a hand on my knee under the table, still looking straight ahead at Olivier.
“Who else would it be besides her?” Olivier points at me. “The new girl, making weird demands for proprietary information, acting like she knows everything.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I see the vein in Cole’s neck pulse. While part of me would enjoy watching him climb over the table and choke Olivier to death, that would end badly for all involved. But he stays still, controlled, his thumb caressing my knee under the table his only movement.
“I have to say, I’m not sure why we’re having this conversation if Concordia has no proof of who stole part of a tire,” Silas folds his hands together on the table and gives Olivier a shit-eating grin.
Olivier bangs his hand on the table again and stands up so abruptly his chair flies back, “I will find out!”
Cole lifts his free hand and gives him a little toodle-oo wave, and Olivier storms out of the room, slamming the door behind him.
Now it’s just the three of us. Given Silas has set back in his chair and his eyes bead between Cole and I, I know we’re not out of the woods yet.
“Well?” he asks, crossing his arms over his chest. ‘Tell me you at least got answers from the bloody chunk of tire you stole.”
“Technically, the tire itself wasn’t really stolen,” Cole starts.
“Don’t push me, Ballentine. Emily, what have you found?”
“We’re still running tests, it takes time,” I fess up. “The only thing I can tell you so far is that the hydrophilic silica levels seem very out of whack, but we need to identify all the other compounds and then simulate how they react with one another.”
I don’t tell Silas that I’ve been holed up having mind-blowing sex with Cole for days now or that I should probably be in Cambridge with Professor Tillman, speeding things up. I’ve been staying in touch, though, and well, even at the best labs in the world, things take time.
