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My eyes narrow.
“Yes, I do.”
He shakes his head.
“Non, Adrian. While these may also bemywishes, this request doesn’t come from me.”
He smiles triumphantly.
“This is whatCelestewishes.”
My heart thuds and my mouth thins to a line as I glare at him.
“Thank you for coming, Mr. Margaux,” I grunt. “If you’ll excuse me, I need to—”
“You’re the proverbialother man, Adrian.”
I freeze as his words hit me like a slap. Jean just grins at me.
“You were a fling, boy. A dalliance with ‘the help’. With the filth,” he sneers. “She’s not here becauseyou mean nothing to her. She’s busy getting on with her real life.”
His smile widens.
“Getting ready for her big day tomorrow.”
He’s baiting me. But even as I hold myself back from asking what the bloody fuck he’s talking about, I can tell he sees that’s getting to me. Cracking me. Breaking me.
“Ask me,” he hisses thinly. “Ask me, you little bastard.”
I swallow.
“What the fuck is tomorrow?”
His teeth flash.
“Her wedding day, Adrian. She’s getting married.”
I stare. I want to see the lie in his eyes. I want to see it slipping out of the cracks in his cruel mask. But, the harder I stare, the more brightly the truth burns.
He’s not lying.
“Here. See for yourself.”
One of the hands on his cane drops beneath the window. It comes back holding a delicate cream card with gold calligraphy across it. I pluck it from his hand and stare at the words mocking me, inviting me to celebrate the marriage between Celeste Meline Margaux and a certain Amir El-Sayed.
Tomorrow.
Rain blurs the golden lettering and starts to melt the delicate card in my hands. I let it drop to a puddle at my feet as Jean begins to laugh.
“You wereneverthe end game, Adrian. Ever.” His eyes glint at me dangerously.
“Now fuck off to your world of petty crime and nothingness. To your insignificant, miserable life, without her in it. You and your father’s belongings will be waiting for you at the gates to my home. After that, if I ever see you again…” He turns to nod at the silent man with the hand cannon next to him.
“I’ll have someone blow your head off.”
His eyes dart past me to the small gathering by the open grave.
“Now please tell Mrs. Dubois and Peddleton to return to their jobs immediately, if they’d like to be employed tomorrow.”
