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Lena gasps and mutters something about him spilling some of her drink. My brows are knitted and I’m leaning so closely to my phone that I’m sure it appears like I’ve put my head down to passersby.
The next few words spoken are drowned out by the door opening and the waitstaff checking if they need anything. Dad answers for them with a curt dismal.
From my end, I see the young woman emerge from the private room with embarrassed rosy cheeks and a tight expression. So service workers don’t appreciate Dad’s treatment either. Has he always been this way and I’ve been this blind?
Lena speaks and draws my attention back to their secret meetup.
“I will not have a part in it,” she says.
“You know the deal already, Lena. You don’t have a choice. You agreed a very long time ago to do this. You’re involved whether you like it or not. I expect you to be there.”
“I do not wish to be there.”
“Friday night, Lena,” Dad says in a cool tone that brings gooseflesh to my skin. “The Clubhouse. Festivities begin at ten. Wear your mask.”
The rustling noise of movement follows. Dad gets up and leaves the private room, effectively ending his meeting with Lena. He emerges on the main floor of Luxe a second later, back to ignoring the dozens of others in the lounge. Everyone else is a commoner as he strides through in his finely tailored power suit, with the confidence level of a king rolling off him.
King of the city.
He certainly carries himself like he is.
As the mayor of the city, he basically is.
If only he knew just feet away, his daughter was listening in on every word he spoke.
Lena doesn’t come out for another minute. Her exit is more discreet, similar to a mouse fleeing the kitchen late at night.
Their conversation could’ve been about anything, though they’re no lovebirds. It seems Dad could’ve been telling the truth about that—he and Lena weren’t romantically involved. They seem to be allied somehow, yet adversarial at the same time. Lena had no interest in attending Friday night’s event, but Dad forced her hand.
The event he said was at a clubhouse.
The clubhouse that has to be the Neptune Society’s. One of their elite parties.
I’d watched Mom doll herself up for them many times as a girl, unaware of what was truly going on.
My mind goes to only one place hearing the news.
If there’s a secret Neptune Society party Friday night, it means my attacker will be in attendance.
The best opportunity I’ve had to find him and finally make him pay. I can’t pass this chance up; I have to find a way to attend.
Salvatore won’t like the idea that I’m going. I could lie and pretend I’m somewhere else, but we’re at a place beyond that in our relationship. I’ll tell him the truth with the catch being that I’m attending regardless of his approval.
I finish my cocktail and slide out of my booth at Luxe. The tracker app on my phone shows me Dad’s headed back to his office. Another late night at work. Whatever agenda he has, I’ll figure it out, and if he’s responsible for what was done to me, I can’t promise he’ll be spared…
salvatore
Seven a.m. sharpat the Northam wharf. I play by the rules. I show up on time. Even come by myself.
Rank fish stinks up the space no matter where you go, its stench frozen in the cold morning air. Nobody else seems to notice—the fishermen and deliverymen go on about their morning like they’re smelling fucking roses and not some foul stench bad enough to churn your stomach. I’d rather hang around a pile of dead, decaying bodies than this.
At least they’re interesting to look at. This is just depressing and boring.
Ships and shipping containers. Guys with beer bellies and beanies. Murky waters and morning wind. I could be speeding around the downtown streets on my bike, not standing around the docks watching some couriers offload foreign furniture.
The mystery lady who claims to have what I want has five more minutes before I’m gone—and I do everything in my power to track her down anyway and make her pay for standing me up like a fool.
Somebody clears their throat from behind. It’s not one of the fishermen or delivery guys because theirs sounds a lot more like hacking up a lung and a lot less civilized. I turn around to find myself facing a woman I’ve never seen before.
