parked on the street right in front. I was so not in the mood.
“Whose car is that?” Petra asked.
“Vincent’s.”
Her eyes widened. “Ohhh. Do you want me to come inside with you?” She may not know everything, but she knew I’d been staying at the townhouse to avoid him.
“That’s okay.” Whatever he wanted to talk to me about, he clearly didn’t want an audience.
“Well, good luck. Call me this weekend?”
“Sure. Thanks for the ride.”
On autopilot, I retrieved my crutches from the backseat and made my way to the front door. By the time I got it unlocked, I could feel Vincent’s overwhelming presence behind me.
“We need to talk,” he said without noticeable inflection.
“Hello, Vincent,” I replied in a tone that was so sweet, it was obviously fake. “So nice to see you.”
“There’s no need for sarcasm.”
“Isn’t there?” Once inside, I turned toward him. “I would offer you a drink, but I’m hoping you won’t stay.”
I could have sworn the corners of his mouth rose into a miniscule smile for a split second, but it was gone so quickly, I couldn’t be sure. “This won’t take long, but maybe we should have a seat.”
Not wanting to take the time to maneuver into my favorite spot on the couch, I sat on one of the living room chairs, and he took the other. “What’s going on?”
“First of all, I have a little something for you.” He stretched across the space between us to hand me an envelope.
I opened it and pulled out a pair of vouchers for plane tickets to anywhere in the world. They were dated for the two weeks after Christmas, when I’d be on break from school.
It only took my mind a few seconds to process what this “little something” meant, and I bit back a harsh laugh. “Only two tickets?” Clearly, he wasn’t encouraging me to take his sons along.
“I thought you might like to take your friend Petra. Or Tobias.”
I stared at him, looking for any sign of the man I’d thought I’d known as a child. But all I saw was a handsome face with a hollow soul. How had I been so blind to his faults?
“You know, if this is another one of your blood gifts, I’m disappointed. Pretty sure my silence about Lily has earned me my own house, at the very least.”
He quirked an eyebrow. “Is that what you want? A house?”
God. He was such an ass.
“No, I don’t want a fucking house, Vincent. I want the truth.”
“The truth about what?” he asked coolly.
“All of it. The threatening letters. My mom’s murder. How you covered it up.”
The words spilled out before I could stop them, and strangely, I felt relieved. Like the knowledge I’d been keeping from him had been a noose slowly tightening around my neck. And, now, the rope had finally been cut altogether.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Don’t bullshit me. I’ve known my mom’s death wasn’t an accident since the day of her funeral. I heard you in your study with some guy, talking about how no one could ever learn the truth. So, what is the truth? Don’t you think I deserve that much?”
“Thea.” He sighed my name like he had nothing but patience for me. What a damn faker. “You were ten years old. You obviously misunderstood what you overheard.”
Ignoring him, I continued. “I also know about the threatening letters you received, and that they were possibly connected to the hostile takeover of Green Industries.” Pulling my phone out of my bag, I found the photos of the letters to make sure I quoted them correctly. “‘Don’t go through with it. She will pay the price. This is your last chance. You were warned.’”
I dropped the phone next to me. “Sound familiar?”
The indifferent expression on Vincent’s face finally fell away, replaced by a tightening around his mouth and eyes. “How could you possibly know about those?”
“Does it matter? I think the important part is that you knew my mom was in danger, and you did nothing.”
“That’s not true,” he exploded, rising to his feet to pace. “I had security on her twenty-four-seven.”
“Then, what the hell happened?”
He threaded fingers through his hair like I’d seen Leo do a hundred times. “She was already in her car, and the guard drove away. That’s what happened. I hired a shitty security guard, and he cost me my fiancée.”
I took in the downward slope of his shoulders, the lowering of his chin, and the cracking of his voice. If I didn’t know