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He shakes his head. “No, Argoss. See, that’s the thing. I still think you can be a good guy deep down. That’s why I had such high hopes when I thought Felicity had finally gotten through to you. I was so disappointed when I put it all together and realizedshe was just a gambit you were playing. That’s what you do, man.”
“You didn’t complain when I made you rich and interesting enough for Cyella. If I wasn’t around, you’d still be rotting in that swamp. You should be thanking me.”
“You nearly killed me!” Greiko shouts back, his gills flaring. “And you didn’t even apologize for it!”
“But I didn’t!”
He sighs, looking to the ground and shaking his head. “And this is why I left that note to Felicity.”
I blink. “You?”
Greiko glares, his amber eyes burning. “Yeah, it was me. Not Cyella. She had nothing to do with it.”
I don’t care how much bigger and stronger he is. I’m going to kill him. We stand chest to chest so I can yell in his face. “You blew apart my entire life over an allergic reaction? What the fuck is wrong with you?”
“No, I blew up your marriage because she deserved to know. She deserved to be here because she chose to be, not because you manipulated her. Just like how you tried to push Cyella into keeping quiet by threatening to tell me about her latest case.”
My eyes widen a little. I didn’t know he knew about that.
“Guess what? She felt guilty about being seen with her ex and told me anyway. You can’t keep going through life playing with people like they’re toys, Argoss!” he yells as he moves to the door.
“You were happy to lie to me if it got you some power over Cyella. You were happy to lie to Felicity if it gave you power over her. It’s messed up, do you not get that? If you had told the truth from the start, she probably would have stayed, but now she’s gone. And that’s because of who you are, not me.”
I throw one of the too-many empty bottles laying around the house right at the swampster. It’s a cheap shot, I know, but I’mtoo furious to care. He catches it anyway, holding it so tight in his grip I think the glass might break anyway.
“You think everybody owes you, Argoss. It’s always a one-way street with you. It’s your fault I’m proving you wrong. I choose Cyella.”
He releases his grip on the bottle, dropping it on the bench by the door. “Consider this my resignation,” he says as he storms out.
“Fine!” I shout back. “I don’t need you. I never needed you.”
The front door slams behind him, leaving me all alone in this too-empty house. I’ve grown used to the patter of Lucy’s footsteps as she races through the halls and the sound of Felicity humming as she goes about her day. The silence that falls over the place is eerie.
With a yell, I throw Greiko’s glass against the wall, shattering it. I might as well have the satisfaction of breaking something, and he deprived me of it a moment before.
But after the noise of a breaking glass, the stillness of the house only seems more profound. It settles in my ears, almost painfully so, and that empty feeling in my chest returns.
But now it’s not just my chest. My whole body feels hollow and numb, and my stomach is queasy.They did this to me. Felicity, Greiko, and Cyella made me physically ill with their selfishness.
But my stomach churns and curdles at the thought. Apparently, the one person I am incapable of lying to is myself. That hollow, empty feeling is an all-devouring black hole threatening to implode me from the inside out.
And now, with that black hole, there comes a little voice in the back of my mind. A vile, nauseating voice that whispers something that I wish wasn’t true.
The problem was never them. It was always you.
23
FELICITY
Agood night’s sleep does not help me with my dilemma. Mostly because I don’t get a good night’s sleep. I toss and turn, caught in the tempest of my thoughts until the sun rises and Lucy stirs.
“Good morning,” I say.
“You look terrible,” she replies, but her brows are knitted with concern. She’s blunt sometimes, but she means well.
I stifle a yawn. “Didn’t sleep as well as I hoped. I’m okay, though.”
“Trying to figure out what to do about Argoss?” she asks, a statement more than a question. “Are you ready to tell me what’s going on?”
