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“Honestly, it isn’t. I’m actually cold,” I answered.
“Don’t be a wimp. Anton’s probably hot because he’s Russian. They have baths in ice water lakes.”
“They also drink a lot of vodka before, during, and after said soak,” I argued. “Isn’t that right, Anton?”
But Anton wasn’t listening.
He staggered back, his hip bumping into the table beside him.
“Anton?” Star cried, leaping forward to grab his arms and prop him up. “Are you okay?”
“Call—” He sucked in a sharp breath but his head rolled on his neck before he could finish the sentence.
There were a few shrieks from the women around us who witnessed Anton’s collapse, but with my aid, Star propped him upright, and once I’d looped his arm around my shoulder and she’d huddled into his waist, together, we retreated from the event hall.
Along the way, I saw Aidan watching us.
He tipped his glass at me.
71
STAR
WON’T - TANERÉLLE
The setup wasn’t primitive by any stretch of the imagination, but when Anton’s eyes slowly blinked open and he looked around the hospital room, I knew he’d be aware that something was ‘up.’
A man like him used private hospitals that made the Plaza seem inelegant.
Still dressed in my gown, I stood. “He’s awake, Conor.”
The hum of his fingers on his keyboard ceased. “Good. That’s a relief.”
It wasn’t a lie.
There was no antidote for Tetrodotoxin, but if treated swiftly enough, survival wasn’t unusual.
Not that I intended for him to survive.
Straightening, I perched on the side of his bed and reached for his hand. “The interesting thing about Tetrodotoxin, Anton, is that a fatal dose can trigger symptoms in under twenty minutes. Not that your dose was wholly fatal.
"Why would I deny myself the pleasure of ending your sorry life?”
His blurry eyes flared wide at that, jerking from left to right, and his hands clutched at the sheets, but there was no moving when the breathing tube that was keeping his airways open pinned him in place.
That was the only flaw in my plan.
To keep him alive, he needed the breathing tube.
And, that tube stopped him from talking when what I wanted more than his death were his final words.
“Are you looking for your guards, Anton?” I chuckled. “The Five Points took care of them for me.”
“The least we could do to help such a… worthy cause,” Conor quipped.
“I suppose you’re wondering why you’re here.” My lips tightened. “I don’t think I’ll ever know what you did to my mother. There’s so much bullshit surrounding her life and death that I can’t see the forest for the trees.
“Maybe you don’t even remember anymore. Maybe she mattered so little to you that you filed it as ‘unimportant’ in your head, but I set myself on this journey for her.
