old man’s gone missing. Settle our bet, Leo. Was it you or was it the Constantines who made him disappear?” Another laugh. “I don’t know who’d be worse for that poor sap. If the Constantines found out about your contract, they’ll put him down like a disloyal dog.”
“I’ll never tell.” I hang up on him mid-laugh.
The blocks go by outside the window. I don’t see any of them. This was what I wanted in the first place—to fuck with the tangled web of the Constantines. To keep them off-balance. To make them see each other as the threat to their sterling reputation. Above all, to bait a hook. This news should be a dream come true.
It feels like a nightmare.
Haley shifts against me, pulling away so she can see my face. “What’s wrong?”
There’s nothing I want to do less than look her in the eye, but I do it. I’m not a coward. I’m not going to lie to her. Hiding this development from her won’t stop the sinking feeling in the pit of my gut. God, fuck. It was so good in that library. Fucking filthy, but pure, in a way.
Haley looks pleasantly tired. Well-fucked. Her cheeks are still pink. I can still feel her tight cunt gripping me. Lie to her. Every instinct sinks its claws into my skin. Lie. Lie. Lie.
“Your father’s missing.”
Her smile fades in increments, dropping away from the corners of her mouth first and falling until her lips—swollen from how hard I kissed her—are parted in horrified shock. Fat tears drop from her eyes. “He’s not missing. I talked to my brother this morning. He wasn’t missing this morning.”
“He’s missing now.”
She licks her lips and raises her fingertips to touch them. The salt there seems to surprise her. Haley’s tears are a reflex. An old one, I’d bet. The kind of reflex you can only have if your father loves you like a decent human instead of a bloodthirsty fuck. “I talked to Cash this morning.”
The partition between us and the driver has been up since we left my house to go to the library, so I tap out a text with her address and an order to stop at the next block. “Thomas is the driver. He’s going to take you home.”
Haley stares at me, uncomprehending, until the SUV slows and heads for the curb. “What’s happening?” The note of panic in her voice flays me alive. “The thirty days—”
“Forget about the thirty days.” I motion for Thomas to stay where he is and open the door.
She’s crying harder now, trying to follow me out, and I have to block her in with my arm. “He’s taking you home.” Steady. Clear. I’d rather tear the SUV apart piece by piece than send her away in it, but this is where we are. “You need to be with your father.”
“No.”
“Yes.” I take her face in my hands and kiss her forehead. It’s ridiculously inadequate for this moment, but it has the effect I need—for Haley to stay in the car while I shut the door. When it clicks shut she tries for the handle. She’s crying too hard to see it and misses her moment. Thomas isn’t an idiot. He steers them back out into the road at the first opportunity.
Haley covers her eyes with her hands just before I lose sight of her.
It’s a bitter night, and I don’t have my coat. Fine. Good. My back is on fire. Maybe the frigid air will put it out soon. The answer right now is obviously to call Gerard and have him send a car, but I won’t stand here like a jackass while I wait.
21
Haley
A car I don’t recognize is parked in front of the garage. The driver, Thomas—who asked me more than once if I was all right—pulls in behind it and meets my eyes in the rearview mirror. “You okay to get out?”
“Yes. Thank you.”
I’m not okay to get out. I’m half-hoarse from crying and my throat aches like I swallowed a knife. If I sit in this SUV one more second, I’m going to beg Thomas to drive me to Leo’s house. I’d offer him anything to do it.
I can’t let that become a habit.
The air outside is cold and dry and shocking, and it reminds me that I’m in an evening gown with only half a lingerie set underneath. A bizarre grief expands in my chest. Leo had other plans for tonight, and now I’ll never know what they were.