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“M-M-Mr Brock?”
I cleared my throat. “Jenni, I’ve lured you here under false pretenses.”
“Am I in trouble?”
Forest chimed in to help me. “You aren’t in trouble, Jenni. You indicated to Ria that you would take a chance to get revenge on Apollo and your twin sister if you were given one. We are here to present you with such an opportunity.”
Jenni’s eyes were wide. She stared around the room. “Is this your childhood bedroom, Ria?”
“And my adult bedroom.” I grimaced. “I didn’t get a chance to update the décor yet. Don’t judge.”
“Oh, never. I think it’s charming.”
Forest was eyeing Jenni suspiciously. She was a bit of an odd duck – that’s why I liked her, of course. Forest should understand that by now, I figured, having met my family.
He cleared his throat. “What do you say, Jenni?”
“Sorry, Mr Brock. I’m just a little nervous. But, yes, I’d like to hear what your plan is. I hope I don’t fuck it up.” Then she paled. “Sorry for swearing, I – “
Forest smiled reassuringly. One of those moments he exuded his genuine, true, warmth. King of Cups, indeed. “You can swear, Jenni. And do call me Forest. If you're putting yourself in danger for us, I’m sure we can be on a first name basis.”
Jenni didn’t turn less pale, but she was just a naturally nervous person. It was difficult to imagine her fighting a campaign against Apollo all those years ago. But appearances could be deceiving.
“Take a seat, Jenni.” I sat down on the bed, and patted the duvet beside me. “What we are about to tell you is confidential. No one but the people in this room know of this plan.”
She sat down, as if in a daze, and nodded very slowly.
Forest took over. “As I’m sure you know, Ria and I have been dating. Our relationship has in fact been faked for the purposes of luring Apollo into a trap.”
Jenni gasped, appropriately. “Oh no! But I thought you were such a lovely couple!”
You and me both, Jenni,I thought.
Forest did falter for a moment as if considering what Jenni had said in the same way I just had, then continued. “You see, my half-brother sent Ria to read my tarot cards at the networking event we hosted a while back. I don’t know why, but he wanted to hear what I had to say about Ria’s reading. I then contacted Ria with the intention of having her help me out with a problem... the problem being Apollo. As you can understand, I felt betrayed when I found out she had in fact been sent by him in the first place, but she proved her lack of loyalty to him, and a willingness to form an alliance with me. From that, we devised the plan... she would report our continued relationship for Apollo, who had promised money in exchange for information on me. While doing so she would be able to infiltrate Apollo’s organization, look for weak spots, places we might be able to prod...”
“And then you found my sister.” Jenni had grown more serious now. She was following our train of thought.
I continued where Forest left off. “And it got more complicated from there. Your sister dropped a burner phone into my bag and contacted me for a secret meeting. She told me that she would give me the location of the evidence she made off with, that you’d gathered during your campaign against Apollo all those years ago. She then retracted her offer and stormed off, but we now know that the evidence didn’t get destroyed, and it’s somewhere in Apollo’s headquarters.”
Jenni’s eyes widened. “I always thought that we must have gotten hold of something that we could have used against him.”
I nodded. “We thought that too.”
“What we essentially want you to do...” Forest folded his fingers in front of him, in a move eerily reminiscent of his half-brother’s mannerisms. “...is impersonate your sister, go into Apollo’s offices, and find that evidence for us.”
* * *
“Your man’sacting strangely these last few days.”
I was sipping tea with my Grandmother, in an attempt to recover from the intensity of the day so far.
I should have known Grandmother was only likely to make things more intense.
Jenni had accepted our plan and gone off to prepare. I was sad, really, to have to draw her into our schemes. But it seemed like it would give her some closure, too, so maybe it was all for the best.
Forest had gone even more pensive since Jenni had been briefed on the plan. He was almost non-communicative. Anything I asked him would receive a nod or one-word answer. He was deep in some kind of thought loop or conundrum, and was as impenetrable as ever when he wanted to be.
“He’s just tired, I’m sure.” I took another sip of tea, pointedly avoiding my Grandmother’s eyes. “He is a very busy man. It was nice of him to take some time out of his schedule to help us out, no?”
