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“I can assure you that there is no attempted murder case and no case at all. As I said earlier, Doctor Warner is fine, and my team is currently reviewing event protocols to ensure such a mix-up does not occur again.”
“That’s all the questions for today. Thanks, team, see you on Election Day!” Oscar says quickly, wrapping up the journalists as Eddie and I shake hands, thanking the staff at the Senior Citizens Center.
“We need to go. Ben has called a 911,” Eddie says in my ear. I look at him. We haven’t had a 911 since Dad died. He shrugs, not knowing what is going on either. Ever since we were younger, if there was something happening that us brothers needed to discuss urgently, we would text each other 911, and we all knew that we needed to rush to meet.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“Your apartment. Ben and Tennyson are already there,” Eddie says, and my skin starts to crawl. Maybe there is another one of Dad’s girlfriends about to ask for more money or something, the timing impeccable since the elections are tomorrow.
“Fine, let’s go.” Already knowing that it is going to be bad news.
* * *
“Okay,we are here, what’s going on?” I ask as Eddie and I step out of the lift and into my penthouse to see Ben and Tennyson sitting on the large sofa in my living room.
“You need to sit down,” Ben says, looking grim.
“Fuck yeah, you do,” Tennyson says, and I see he already has a whiskey, so I know it must be bad.
“Fuck,” I murmur, running my hand through my hair as I take a seat and us boys sit on my sofa, all looking at Ben.
“What’s going on?” Eddie asks, as we are all eager for the news.
“I went through the paperwork from the restaurant,” Ben starts, and my heart sinks. Eddie looks at me. We are both convinced that Beth hasn’t made a mistake, but maybe we are wrong.
“And?” I ask, impatient as hell.
“You need to listen to something,” he says, sliding his cell on the coffee table and pressing play.
We all sit forward, my elbows resting on my knees as we listen to our mother on the phone, requesting a change of meal for Doctor Warner, clearly requesting the very thing he is highly allergic to.
“Fucking hell,” Eddie says, sitting back in shock.
“She is the fucking devil. I’ve been telling you for years!” Tennyson says as he takes another sip of whiskey. Out of all of us, he has the worst relationship with my mother.
“She has really crossed a line here. She almost killed a man!” Ben says, exasperated.
“And pinned it on poor Beth!” Tennyson adds, looking at me.
I’m quiet as I take in all the information and try to sort through the pieces. I think about Beth and the time we have spent together. I look across to the kitchen, remembering the morning she spilt the coffee, the shards of porcelain scattering across the floor.
“Why the hell would she do that?” I ask, looking at Ben, knowing he is the one who will give me the answers. We are both lawyers and have worked together for years. I know he has looked at every angle, assessed the entire situation. I know he will give it to me straight.
“Because she is the fucking deeeevillll,” Tennyson says again.
“Well, my guess is that she knew that you and Beth had a thing going and didn’t want that to continue. So by making an issue at the event, showing you how incompetent Beth was, might persuade you to marry Lilly instead,” Ben says.
“But she had no idea about Beth and me?” I say, looking at Eddie.
“I told no one, so unless Oscar or you idiots did, then she had no way of knowing,” Eddie says. My brothers shake their heads, and I know Oscar wouldn’t have said anything.
“Unless…” I murmur, my thoughts starting to gather.
“Unless what?” Ben asks, clearly in lawyer mode.
“There was one morning Beth was here and acting a little weird. Wait, let me look at the security cameras,” I say, jumping up and grabbing my phone. I take security seriously, all us boys do, so all our penthouses have cameras at the front door, in the lifts, and I have one right here in my living room so I can see exactly who is coming and going. I find the file from the morning Beth spilt the coffee, and watch her as she walks into the kitchen, looking like every man’s wet dream in my white business shirt.
“Fucking lucky asshole...” Tennyson says from behind me, and I realize all my brothers now crowd around, looking at my cell.
