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“I would say,” Gavan rasps, leaning forward and steepling his fingers on the table between us, “that the truce between our families is atenuousone at best. One hundred and twenty-four million dollars is certainly more than enough to go to war over. Wouldn’t you agree?”
I stare at the piercing gunmetal gray eyes in horror.
He sighs, settling back in his chair again as he rubs his jaw thoughtfully.
“But I think we’re fixating on the wrong thing here. This isn’t about the egg. This is about me knowingwhat you did.”
My pulse jumps again.
“What?”
“Come, come. I know you know what I’m talking about.”
He stands, cracking his neck as I try to regulate my breathing.
“Look,please. My family doesn’t know about last night. I—I can find the money somehow—”
“I’m not interested in your money, nor am I talking about your amateur burglary attempt last night.”
He starts to walk around the table behind me. I twist my head, following him with my eyes, as if he’s a lion or a shark who will move in for the kill if I break eye contact for a moment.
I lose him as he crosses behind me and suddenly flinch as I feel him lean down close. The heat of his breath teases the hairs on the back of my neck, and I tremble as I inhale that same bergamot, wood, wealth, and man scent that I smelled on him last night.
“I saw you that night, Eilish,” he rasps darkly. “And I know what you did.”
“I—I don’t know what you’re—”
His arm extends past me, a small plastic baggie dangling from his tattooed fingers.
A bag containing a bullet casing.
And suddenly, I go numb and the world flips sideways as I stare in abject horror at what’s dangling in front of my face.
No…
“I wasverycurious as to why you were so eager to pick up all those spent rounds that night. Why you kept going, even after burning your finger on one that was still hot. And even more curious why those rounds in his gun wereblanks.”
Oh my God. Oh, my fucking mother of God…
“It took me some time, I’ll admit. But when I pieced it together?”
He jiggles the bag right in front of my face once more before closing it in his fist. Slowly, he moves back around the table to sit in his chair again. He stares at me with hungry malevolence as my entire world starts to shatter and collapse at my feet.
“So, allow me to ask once more, Eilish.” His lips curl in a devil’s grin. “Does the rest of your family know that you killed your father?”
My mouth opens and then closes. It happens again, and a third time, before I realize I can’t speak. I can’t move. I can’t even burst into tears like I want to. I’m simply too numb, and too shocked to do anything at all.
Gavan’s eyes pierce into mine.
“Tomorrow morning at eight, Eilish. Come to my office.” He smirks. “I’m sure you remember where that is, don’t you?”
I’m still utterly silent, staring straight ahead unseeingly as he raps his tattooed knuckles on the table and stands. He buttons his jacket, levels those vicious gray eyes at me, then turns and marches out of the front door of the restaurant.
I’m fucked.
I am well and trulyfucked.
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