his number has been pulled, and it’s only a matter of time before he’s six feet under.”
A grunt of laughter. “If there’s enough of him left to be buried.”
He’s not wrong about that. The hatred I’m carrying for Grant Cabot is enough that after I’m done dismembering his body, I might torch him and roast marshmallows over the open flames.
Even in the midst of his missing wife drama, the man is focused on business, using the tragedy to foster more relationships and secure better investments. He’s a snake in the fucking grass. One that slithered away when I thought I could catch him off guard during his recent business trip.
“He kept people around him at all times, and his fucking suite at the hotel was locked down like Fort Knox. I’m sure it cost the asshole a pretty penny.”
Leaning back in my seat, I watch Lincoln drop his weight in a chair opposite me.
“You need to get some sleep, Ari. You look like shit, and if Grant is suspicious that someone’s after him, you need to be at the top of your game.”
My stare drops to the computer screen, at the different rooms of my penthouse that remain untouched and exactly as I left them.
Adeline is just waking up, her expression frantic as she pulls the sheets aside in search of God knows what. She cried all last night while I stood watching her.
It’s becoming a twisted experiment I’m conducting. I’ve watched her for years. I know what her sleep issues look like, but now that I can toy with them, I feel like I’m tearing her apart even more.
Good. She needs to be torn apart. Her bullshit sad girl routine is getting boring as fuck. Not once has she touched anything in the penthouse. She hasn’t opened the first drawer, ransacked the first cabinet. She hasn’t done anything but act like the beaten down wife of Grant Cabot.
Staying where she’s put. Doing as she’s told.
I hate it.
I’m taking advantage simply because I can. But I’m not enjoying it. Even a cat will walk away from the mouse it enjoyed batting around when the fuzzy little thing lies there limp and bleeding.
Dead prey is no fun.
And Adeline is dead in her behavior.
“What did you say to Adeline when you were at my place?”
He laughs. “As if you couldn’t watch on your cameras.”
Watch, yes. Listen, no. Not from where I was at the time their conversation happened.
“I told her the truth. You’re an asshole and fucked in the head. She either accepts it or she doesn’t.”
My gaze snaps up to him.
“Thanks for that.” And I mean it. Adeline needed to know.
Plus, I told him to tell her that. It’s all part of the plan. She won’t fight a hero, but she’ll sure as hell fight a villain. Once she starts fighting again, that is.
A shrug of his shoulders.
“She’ll figure it out eventually. All of it, Ari. I just wonder what she’ll do with that knowledge.”
Our stares lock. I catch what he’s implying but refuse to respond. Instead, I watch the cameras, tracking Adeline as she takes a shower, gets dressed and then goes into the kitchen to dig through the fridge. I stocked it with everything she used to eat when she was younger. I wonder if she’s noticed that yet.
She pulls out a tub of vegan yogurt, digs in a drawer for a spoon and then makes her way to the couch.
Just like always.
This is about as exciting as watching paint dry.
“What are you going to do when she hates you for killing her father?”
Lincoln’s voice drags my eyes back to him.
“I didn’t know her when I took that job.”
“You’re still the man who pulled the trigger,” he says as he reaches up to fold his arms back behind his head and stretch his legs over the floor.
“She’ll have no choice but to forgive me. I won’t give her another choice.”
His brow cocks.
Ignoring him, I look at the screen and still to see Adeline has gotten up from the couch to walk toward the piano. The tub of yogurt is in her hands, the spoon held in her mouth. She creeps across on hesitant feet, but reaches the keyboard of the piano and pauses.
I can’t figure out why she’s so afraid of looking at everything I left there for her. You would think the piano was trying to bite with the way she keeps distance between her body and the keyboard.
Pulling the spoon from her mouth, she drops it into