That kid was going to grow up and be a real monster at this rate. Breaking things on purpose and not even caring when she got a cut? Scarlett screamed bloody murder whenever she got boo-boos, as she called them. I’d never seen a child not cry when they got even a little hurt.
Mary walked in. “Miss Cannavaro said to set up a dinner for the two of you tomorrow night?”
“Yeah, just ignore her. There’s no dinner.”
“She seemed rather adamant. Oh my, what in the world happened in here?” Mary had spotted the bloody mess.
“It was just an accident. Could you call someone to clean that up?”
“Um, yes, right away.” She walked over to the door, but then stopped and turned around. “It’s none of my business, Matthew. But that woman?” She shook her head. “No one’s ever spoken to me the way she does. I just thought you should know before your date.”
I stared at Mary. I hadn’t noticed that her eyes were a little glossed over like she was about to cry. “What did she say to you?”
“It wasn’t what she said. It’s how she said it. Like I was…nothing.”
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Mary. But you don’t need to worry, I won’t be having dinner with her. And about whatever she said or how she said it? Ignore her. She’s the one that’s nothing.”
Mary smiled and nodded. “Okay. Let me know if you need anything else.” She quietly closed the door behind her.
I walked over to the window and looked out at the view of the city. I really hoped I wouldn’t have to have dinner with Poppy. But that depended on a few things. I needed to get those prototypes from Penny. And I needed to be able to corner the hitwoman and get a confession out of her. All without getting killed.
If I couldn’t do all that? I sighed. I’d have to go to dinner with Poppy. The thought of sitting with her through a whole meal made me feel queasy. But I wouldn’t have a choice. I couldn’t risk my friends’ safety by not going to dinner. Poppy having a child meant nothing and I knew it. She was just playing a game. If I crossed her, she wouldn’t hesitate to hurt Scarlett or someone else. Or me. I had no idea what she really wanted. That was the whole problem.
I saw her and Gigi exiting the building onto the sidewalk below. They hurried over to a town car. She made the driver lift up Gigi and put her into the car. Probably so Poppy wouldn’t get blood on her dress.
What the hell do you want from me? It had to be something with the contracts I signed when I was 16. I didn’t know what else it could possibly be about. There were hidden clauses in them, I knew that to be true. But what did they say? What had I agreed to?
All I wanted was to be able to stand her up and not die as a consequence. But I wasn’t confident in my plan. Especially because Penny still hadn’t texted me back. I turned away from the window. I needed a backup plan.
Chapter 25
Tuesday
I climbed into my car and slammed the door closed. The hitwoman didn’t show up at practice today, which I was grateful for. But it was hard to be too happy when Penny was ghosting me. I pulled out of the Empire High parking lot and turned in the opposite direction of Tanner’s place.
Tanner thought I was hanging out with Penny, so he wasn’t expecting me until later. I had some time to stop by my house before heading over to his place for the night. He never needed to know that I’d put myself in danger. Besides, I was pretty sure Mr. Pruitt would have already had me killed if that was his intention. He’d had plenty of opportunities. And it really seemed like Poppy wanted to wine and dine me before murdering me. I felt safe enough for now.
I’d been researching tiny cameras all afternoon. Sure, I could just use my phone to record my upcoming encounter with the hitwoman. But it would just be the audio and not the video footage I wanted. Would that be enough? Probably not. I hadn’t found any suitable options yet. I needed to find an alternative soon though. Maybe I could just spend the rest of my night doing more research. There had to be something just as