Total pages in book: 53
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 50820 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 254(@200wpm)___ 203(@250wpm)___ 169(@300wpm)
“I figured as much, but Kane isn’t taking any chances with your safety and neither am I. That’s my job as your protector and your friend. Which is why I need to snap out of the tiredness and do my job. Explain Junior to me again.”
“That was a lot of words and a bit of whiplash but I’m not answering. You don’t need to know. I’m back to you being too good a person for the likes of us, Jay.”
“Don’t even start with me, Lilah. I’m too fucking tired.”
Fucking incredible that he’s pushing back and cursing. Maybe he’s hardening, but even as I have the thought, he walks to the fridge, retrieves my sugar cookie creamer and fills half his mug with it. So much for black and bitter. Kane and Kit would not drink sugar cookie creamer but, of course, I do. And it hasn’t stopped me from killing people, I remind myself.
Jay returns to the island. “What about New York and Texas?”
I still fiercely believe this man needs to be fired for his own good, I don’t have the heart to tell him Kane was just keeping him busy and out of the way last night. “There’s no such thing as a coincidence was my point. Roberto and Junior, my note writer, came back at the same time.”
His brow furrows. “Did they? I thought Roberto had been back a while now?”
“Weeks. And Junior just found the opportunity to pass me a note.”
“You have criminals coming at you from all directions, Lilah. I’m not sure you can call their timing anything but their timing. I mean, Ghost was at your father’s event. So does that mean Ghost, Roberto, and Junior are all connected? And considering your father’s event, does that mean the Society is involved with all of them? This is New York City. I bet there were a few murders last night. Are they all connected, too?”
“You woke up a real smartass, Jay.”
“No, I walk around with one all the time and it’s rubbing off.” He grabs my notecards and thumbs through them before tossing the card that reads “Ghost” on the counter. “He was there last night because he’s obsessed with you. At the very least remove him from the equation.”
“He was never in my equation.”
“He was in your cards.”
I snatch up the card and crumple it up. “Happy?”
“Kane told me about Junior. He started leaving you notes when you returned to Long Island from LA, and during the time you were working a case that was tied to the Society. Last night, the Society became more powerful by placing your father in the governor’s mansion. I’d gamble and say those things are connected.”
As if he’d gamble on anything, though the truth is he gambles with his life every day he comes to work. And yet, he still shows up.
“Either they’re all related or none are related,” Jay adds, pulling Ghost back into the picture.
His cellphone rings and he picks it up where he’s set it on the counter, eyes caller ID, and shows me my brother’s name. I motion for Jay to give me the phone and he slides it to me. I scoop it up and answer, “Are you downstairs?”
“How did you know that? It’s Kane, right? Every inch of this place has cameras, I bet.”
“Or you’re as predictable as Dad’s arrogance. We’ll be right down.”
“We? No. We need—”
I hang up on him and push to my feet. “Let’s go.”
“Where?” Jay asks.
“Breakfast with Andrew for starters, and he’s in a mood, however, expert tip for dealing with my brother, I’ve found if you just focus on the food you’re eating, not the words coming out of his mouth, it goes by quickly.”
“Does that mean you’re going to make me sit with you two?”
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” I assure him.
“He won’t like it.”
“Good,” I say in a proud, sisterly moment.
I head for the door, forcing Jay to follow, my brother on the back burner for a few minutes longer, Jay’s words linger in my mind; Either they’re all related or none are related. Ghost, Junior, and Roberto all being tied to some sinister plot they coordinated doesn’t sit right which leaves only coincidence, which I generally do not believe in, but I don’t disregard the possibility. People win the lotto and while I don’t usually believe in coincidences both happen against ridiculous odds. With that in mind, considering my track record, a trio of killers and monsters showing up in my path at the same time, seems wildly in my favor.
Chapter Fifteen
Andrew’s pacing the seating area outside the elevators when we reach the lobby and the minute he sees me, he scowls, stomping my direction in confrontation. “What the hell, Lilah?”
He’s dressed in a suit with a trench coat, his blond hair a bit curly on top which tells me he rushed out the door, eager to confront his sister. When we were kids, I’d tease him about the curls he hides, but I secretly envied them. I also secretly wondered if his hair contrasting my straight brown hair meant mom had an affair with a certain co-star she favored, but these days Andrew looks so like dad it’s impossible to consider any such good news for my brother. Even the scowl he’s wearing and directing at me says Dad way too much for this early in the morning.