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“You don’t get to be out.” She strides closer and sets her fist on my desk. “You’re in, Christabelle. And you still have a job to do.”
I sit back and take space from the woman who hates so passionately. But I shake my head and meet her venomous eyes. “No. I’m done.”
“You’re not done until I say you’re done! We had a deal. And in this world, you don’t walk away from me and expect to keep your life.”
“Threats change nothing.” I straighten my back and neck. Broaden my shoulders. I meet her stare and shake my head a second time. “I said no. And no matter how much you shout, I’m not likely to change my mind. You don’t need payback, Savannah. You need help.”
“Perhaps I need brunch with my closest friend,” she simpers, switching from anger to a chilling kindness that makes my skin tingle. “I wonder if Felix is busy. We could get coffee…” she sashays past my desk and peers through the windows at my back. “I know he’ll take my call.”
Arrogant, she looks down at me and grins. “He needs help too, Cannon. Oodles of it. But instead of speaking to a therapist, he bottles up his emotions and chooses me above all else. We could put him in a room, each of us stand on one side, and see who he comes to when we call.”
My lips peel back into a sneer. “He’s not a dog, Savannah. And he doesn’t deserve what you’re doing to him.”
“WhatI’mdoing?” She turns her back to the city and laughs. “Honey, you’re the one who weaseled your way into his home. You wrote those nasty articles about his family, all to get his attention. You opened your legs to a known cabal and laid with the man who had your sister murdered. How did it feel?” she leers, cruelly stabbing me with her words. “To meet your sister’s son, then fuck his brother?”
“Cato is well looked after.” I swallow the nausea in my throat and search frantically for a way to undo what’s been done. For a way to save the Malones from the pain Savannah is intent on sending their way.
More importantly, to save them from my betrayals, once they find out who I really am. Once they’re made aware that my interest lies in the mothers of those boys for more reasons than I let on.
“He’s not a part of it,” I grit out, “and you know that. They’re not the monsters you make them out to be.”
“Oh, but they will be. They’ll beexactlythe monsters we know they are when they find out what you did.”
She wanders closer and hooks her finger around a long lock of myhair. She studies it, as though truly interested, then she looks into my eyes and smiles. “They will turn into beasts and tear you limb from limb. They can buy pussy anywhere, sweet girl. And that’s all you are to them. The Malones won’t tolerate such disrespect from you.”
She tosses my hair down and circles away from my desk. “Follow the plan, Christabelle. Or I’ll be sure to visit your sweet father down at the home. He’d be horrified to learn his only surviving daughter enjoys sucking the dicks of the men who murdered his other.” She stops by my door and glances back to meet my eyes. “I’m not asking you. I’m telling you. Follow the fucking plan.”
She swings out the doorway and into the bustling mayhem of a newspaper bullpen. Striding away, she leaves me at my desk, breathless and shaking as the world comes crashing down around my shoulders.
“What have I done?” My voice tremors, and tears burn the backs of my eyes. “Oh god,” I whimper, all alone and with a moment to fall apart.
If I tell Felix what I know, Savannah will destroy my father.
And if I say nothing at all, continuing this charade and allowing her to sneak beneath herfriend’snose, she’ll destroy Felix and everyone he loves.
“Ms. Cannon?”
I gasp and straighten in my chair, scrubbing a hand beneath my nose and bringing my gaze up as Dana pushes through my door.
She carries a coffee again, though this one is for herself. Moving too fast to pay attention to me, she quick-steps across my office and plops down with a huff.
Finally, she looks up and searches my face. “Whoa.” She sets her coffee on my desk and frowns. “You okay?”
“Yeah.” I sniffle. “Still just getting over my cold. What did you want to talk about?”
“Um…” She doesn’t believe me. Doesn’t want to move on to the next subject. But she doesn’t get a choice; we aren’t casual enough yet for her to question me. “Okay. Well… you’ve been pretty sick the last few days, and your phone has been off. However, I didn’t want to waste time sitting on my hands. So I continued our research.”
“And?” Straightening in my chair, I cough to clear the obstruction of nerves in my throat. “What have you found?”
“Diane Sullivan.” She leans across my desk and snatches up a folder she must’ve placed there during my time away. Pulling it back and opening it up, she takes a glossy image and turns it for me to see. “Diane was eighteen years old when she went missing in the summer of eighty-seven. She had a wonderful home life: three sisters, two parents—no divorce. All four girls went to a nice school. They maintained good grades. Diane was in drama club, dance, and played volleyball for her high school.”
With a shaking hand, I reach across for the picture and take it between my fingers, then settling back, I place it on my lap and study the subject’s beautiful features. High cheekbones. Thick lips. Green eyes. “You believe she mothered one of the Malone children?”
“Yes.” She sits back and reads from her file. “Diane was at an age where she was exploring outside the safety of her home. She was going to parties. Preparing for college.”
“She was due to attend that year?”
“Mmhm, just as soon as the summer was over. Diane had attended a prestigious school in the city for most of her youth, and that school just so happened to boast students from certain families who ran in the same circles as Malone.”
