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I don’t need details to know something big is going on. Rocco wouldn’t be here with his best Kings just to look inside a house they’ve all been in multiple times.
“Remember that message I showed you yesterday?” Grayson asks. When I shake my head, he runs a hand through his dark waves. “The one spray painted on your parents’ bedroom wall.”
Sucking my bottom lip between my teeth, I nod.
“I didn’t fucking do it, Princess. And I sure as fuck didn’t send that fucker to the graveyard today. But I also don’t believe he was there by coincidence. The Reapers want you.”
“Why?” I whisper, too stunned to speak at a normal volume.
Grayson curses.
“Please,” I plead. “You have to tell me. I want to know what’s going on.”
I clutch the stuffed unicorn harder as tears well in my eyes, tears I do my best to stop from falling. This isn’t the time to succumb to… I don’t even fucking know what I’m feeling. My emotions are all over the place. I need a goddamn break, a timeout to deal with everything.
I know I can’t keep pushing it down, and I don’t want to because it’s not in my nature. But I’m not a fucking machine either, I need time and no one’s giving me a second to breathe.
Grayson crouches down so we’re at eye-level, and then he takes my hand. “Because of your inheritance, Zo. We know your mom left you a lot of money, and it looks like the Reapers know it, too.”
I stiffen and try to pull my hand from his grasp. “How do you know?”
Even as I ask it, I know I don’t have to. There’s only one reasonable explanation, my dad told them.
Fuck!
Wait… did he… holy shit, did he barter for his own life with my money? Money left to me by his dead wife? Is that why the Kings want to keep me around?
“I see,” I say, emotionlessly. “That’s why I’m important to you.”
Grayson growls, “That’s not why you’re important tome,Princess. At least not anymore. I don’t care about the fucking money.”
Tilting my head to the side, I look at him. Like, really study him. His tone would suggest he’s being honest, but I don’t… I simply don’t know what to believe. My head is starting to hurt from the mental whiplash of not knowing what to think. Is Gray being real? Is he playing me for the money I don’t even fucking want… it’s all so fucking confusing.
When he does something sweet, like at the cemetery, I believe him. But then… fuck. I don’t know.
He didn’t track me down at that fucking motel because he cares, he did it for the money. And he probably only took me to his cabin to pretend to care, to get under my skin. But he fucked up. Right now, he made a mistake. Because now I know I’m not expendable, at least not until I turn twenty-one and have unrestricted access to my inheritance.
“Okay,” I say as I stand. “I best stick to your side then, hmm?”
Grayson stands as well, and I know he doesn’t believe me. Suspicion is written all over his face, but he doesn’t call me out on it.
“I guess so,” he mutters.
We’re interrupted by Alana and Mama who knock on the door to let us know they’re done packing.
As though I’m in a daze, I look between them. “How did you know what to pack?” I ask, raising an eyebrow.
“We got a bit of everything,” Alana clarifies.
I nod sharply. “Of course you did. But how do you know I want what you packed?”
“Zoe,” Mama warns.
I ignore her and hold my hand up to stop anyone from arguing with me. “I’m sure I’ll be happy with whatever you’ve thrown into the suitcases.”
With as much pride and dignity as I can muster, I roll my shoulders back and lift my chin as I follow them back outside.
“Are you okay, Sugar?” Gunner asks as soon as he comes into view.
