Total pages in book: 54
Estimated words: 51900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 51900 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 260(@200wpm)___ 208(@250wpm)___ 173(@300wpm)
“Yes.”
“Then he’s protected.”
He narrows eyes on me. “You think he’s coming for him.”
“Ghost does the unexpected.”
“Should we warn Dad?”
“We’ll be there, Andrew. Kane has men with him at all times, and he also has his secret service. That’s a hard number to crack even for Ghost.”
“Right.”
I don’t ask what he wants to happen. He’s conflicted. I get that, but I’m not as conflicted as he is. Every time I think about him like a real father, I remember that beach, that man. The way he felt on top of me.
After we part with Andrew, we head home but stop by the hospital to see Ellis, who’s about to have a second surgery on his arm. Kane hangs out at the coffee shop while I visit with the man who wants to be my boss. He’s a mess with pins in his arms and his face is puffy, no doubt from all the fluid they’re pumping in him.
“You got beat up by a woman and want me to work for you?” I tease softly, sitting next to him, my arms on the steel railings.
“I do.”
“You seem to trust Adams.”
“I don’t.”
I grimace. “Why?”
“Not here. Just keep an open mind and be careful tomorrow night. You’ll be in the hive.”
Of the Society, he means.
And my brother is living in the hive.
I’m not scared for my father, but I am for Andrew, and not because of Ghost.
Chapter Forty-One
Of course, my father has demanded me and Kane attend a number of pre-functions for his election night, but thanks to Elsa I have an excuse the public will understand for not being present.
But election night is another story.
I dress in a red dress and Kane matches me in a red tie. When I should be putting final touches on my makeup, I find myself standing at our bedroom window, staring out at the Manhattan skyline, lights twinkling, stars dancing. Kane steps to my side. “What’s on your mind? Ghost?”
“This.” I hand him the baggie in my hand, the earring and note Jay had found at Murphy’s place inside.
“1900. You know where,” he reads, his brow furrowed. “What is this?”
“I can’t believe I haven’t shown it to you before now. Jay found it in Murphy’s coat in the closet. That’s my mother’s earring.”
“Does it mean anything to you?”
“No. Tic Tac tried to find some sort of link to that number and failed. He just texted me. Elsa had consumed him but now that he’s free…he tried.”
“He’s very loyal to you.”
“He is. He really tried. The number must be a time, but I wonder if I’ll ever know all there was to know about that message, and so many things to do with my mother.”
Kane sets the baggie on the window ledge, and catches my shoulders, turning me to face him. “We will find the answers you need to find peace, Lilah. I will do anything to make it so.”
My heart squeezes and I push to my toes and kiss him. “I know or you would not be going to this event tonight.”
***
Not much later, we’re in a limo my father sent for us when Kane receives a text and I know immediately from the tension rippling through his body, something’s wrong.
I touch his arm and he leans in close and whispers, “The mob’s best assassin is missing, as is my father.”
I jerk back to look at him. “You have got to be fucking kidding.”
“I wish I was.”
It feels like an omen for the night.
And true to that, not long later, we find ourselves standing among my father’s supporters, with poll numbers whispered to us constantly. It’s not even a race and my father will be the next Governor. It’s a long tedious night but Kane and I decided we’d use this time to meet those close to my father, in the “hive” and find every useful nugget of information we can while here.
The race is close to being called and the crowd is rowdy with excitement. I’m shoved into Kane, even as he continues to talk to some door, and I feel someone shove something in the pocket of my dress. Disturbed and worried it’s Ghost, I retrieve what is a white piece of paper and read: Red, white and blue, the land of lies. But SHE has the truth.
Junior, my long lost note writer, why are you back now? And at least your poem isn’t as ridiculous as some of them have been. I shove it back in my pocket and Andrew catches my arm. “We’re about to announce but he wants to see you before he goes on stage.”
Whatever, I think, but I push to my toes and tell Kane before I follow Andrew. We end up backstage, where there’s a door that I assume is my father’s dressing room. “He said just go in.”
“Where are you going?”