Fraud (Antihero Inferno #2) - Lily White Page 0,40
simply, hoping like hell she doesn’t pry too much.
Her eyes roll. “You know more than that. From what I hear, you two can’t stand each other. I was here the night you dumped him on Tanner’s lawn tied up and naked.”
I laugh at that. Only because it was insanely funny.
Tipping her water bottle at me, she adds, “I respect the hell out of you after that. I also think you’re stupid for fucking with him, but you’ve got balls.”
Wait. What does she know?
“I happen to be quite experienced in fucking with Gabriel. We’ve been messing with each other for a long time.”
Her brows tug together at that.
“Which is weird. He’s such a nice guy. I prefer having him around when Tanner gets into a mood. I swear he’s the only one who can calm Tanner down.”
Okay.
So she’s clueless.
Nice guy, my ass.
I go along with the misconception only because spilling Gabriel’s secret would result in my death and shallow burial.
“Although, I understand that Gabriel shouldn’t fully be trusted,” she says. “He’s an expert liar.”
At least she knows that much.
“What did he do to you?” she asks, her light brown hair falling gently over her shoulders.
Taking a breath, I unscrew the cap on my bottle and swallow a few sips. “I have no idea. He wouldn’t tell me. All I know is that my father is no longer speaking to me now, all my credit cards have been cut off and I’m penniless with no hope of escaping this mess unless Gabriel does something to fix it.”
Her eyes widen. “Holy shit.”
“Yeah,” I agree. “He’s not playing around this time.”
She shakes her head. “It’s no worse than what Tanner did to me.”
Oh, geez. This must be good.
“And that is?”
“I wonder how much time we have before the guys come down. This is going to be a long story.”
Fine with that as long as it means I’m not talking, I settle back in my seat.
“I apparently have all the time in the world. Gabriel has no intention of taking me home. Tell me everything.”
Gabriel
“I hear congratulations are in order. When’s the wedding? I think I’ll get you a nice gravy boat, or maybe some silver-coated salad tongs you can use to pull your head out of your ass for doing something so fucking stupid.”
Tanner’s eyes flick to mine as soon as I walk into his home office, his feet kicked up on the desk and his chair leaned back.
Laughing at the anger I hear in his voice, I drop my weight into a seat opposite him and cross an ankle over a knee.
“Problem?”
He runs a hand through his hair and shakes his head.
“We’ve done a lot of shit to people for a lot of years, Gabe, but this takes the fucking cake. Is there a reason you didn’t mention it before you took off for Miami? A heads up might have been nice.”
“Part of the reason I didn’t is because I was excited for the surprise. You’re taking it much better than expected.”
Lips tugging into a thin line, he tosses a pen at me that I barely dodge, the damn thing like a mini missile for how angry he is.
This is actually pretty great. I’d looked forward to his reaction as much as I do Ivy’s when she figures it out.
“Warbucks is going to kill you. I hope you know that. Those assholes do not take kindly to being left out of the loop when one of their puppets is about to be front and center on the front page of every news and gossip site.”
While I agree I may have taken this a bit far, it’s worked out beautifully for what I hoped to achieve.
“Warbucks has already called several times. I’ve yet to answer.”
“Which means they’ll be showing up here at some point. Fucking great.”
Shrugging a shoulder, I relax against my seat.
“He asked me to handle her. That’s what I’m doing.”
Tanner smiles. “You are so fucking dead. I’ll start picking out your coffin now.”
“Make it pink with sparkles, and I’ll haunt you from the grave.”
Laughing at that, he taps a few buttons on his keyboard and scowls at whatever he’s reading.
“You’re such a dick. I’m shocked you went that far. I know you’ve had it out for Ivy, I just didn’t realize how heavy that chip is on your shoulder. This goes above and beyond getting someone under control.”
“Says the guy who literally tricked a woman he loves into marrying another man just so he could eventually have something over her.”