Total pages in book: 82
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 78598 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 393(@200wpm)___ 314(@250wpm)___ 262(@300wpm)
“He is involved,” she said. “It’s time I knew how. I won’t have you two coming up with some story to tell me. If the truth is coming out, I’ll be there to hear it.”
“Neither one of you is going anywhere,” Jacques sliced in. “The sheriff is on shift right now, which means he’s holed up in the station with Davidson. Jeremy Ellis put out a hit on us. Arsenio and Roan are in the hospital, and we just walked away from a dead body on the bridge. We need to stop, think, reason. Then, we act.”
“Someone must’ve called that dead body in by now,” Legend said. “Davidson’s wrapping Chaney Bridge in police tape. The sheriff’s on his own.”
I found myself shaking my head. “Nah. With all the shit that’s been going on, the murder of a pretty little college girl would have everybody out there. Davidson’s there, and the old man’s right next to him.”
“We wait,” Jacques said. “Until he’s off shift and alone. Wait for him at home.”
“Okay,” Ivy replied, answering in my place. “What will you two do?”
“We’re not sitting around playing dead,” Legend said, making for the keys and wallet on his nightstand. “Roan has to know what’s going on. Once Jeremy and his boys finds out Mariner is dead and we’re not, he’ll try something.”
“I need peace and quiet, but before that, more information. That private detective you hired,” Jacques said to Ivy. “I need to know how close he is to tracking down Dante.”
“Can’t say, but I think the last thing he tried to tell me was that there wasn’t an Ivy to find in Chicago.”
“Then he figured that out quicker than any of us. He’s good at what he does, and now he works for me. Call and tell him so.”
I stood apart as they launched into their tasks. Legend arranging for the kind of security only money could buy to stand outside Roan’s and Arsenio’s hospital rooms. Ivy calling her investigator to tell him confidentiality was waived, and then Jacques taking advantage of that as he barraged him with questions on the way out the door. After far too long, only Ivy and I remained.
We stared at each other across the divide.
“You’re angry with me,” she stated.
“I’ve got reason to be.”
“I didn’t lie to you on purpose, Cairo. I don’t have to tell you that I didn’t want any of this.” She moved in on me, peeling my lips back with each step. “May I remind you that your father covered up my grandmother’s death long before Scott Cavendish came into my life and I lost myself?”
Growls leaked through my teeth as her fingers brushed my temples.
“He’s been hiding something from the very beginning, and if he’d gotten her justice as he was supposed to do, I never would have been so vulnerable to Cavendish and Zoey.” The anger bleeding into her tone didn’t match the gentle pressure on my forehead. “Despite my very valid reasons for hating that man, I still refused to hurt him through you. And I paid for it.
“I didn’t bring us here, Cairo. Clein did. AgriProspects did. Steven Ellis did. Cavendish did. And yes, your father did. But not either of us,” she said slowly. “So why be mad at each other when we have the same enemy? Steven Ellis is close to getting everything he wants, and his son almost served your heads on a platter to go with it. You don’t have time to be pissed at me, Cairo. We’ve got too much shit to do.”
“Trust me, de Souza.” I pulled her hands off. “I can make time.”
She scanned my face. “Why?”
“I’ll tell you now. I’ll never forgive you... for not being her.”
Something flashed behind her eyes. For a second I saw it—saw it all—and I flung myself away from her. Chest heaving, I glared from behind the armchair, fingers gripping the leather.
“I’ll tell you something too,” she whispered, drawing the mask back over her expression. “I’ll never forgive myself for that either.”
Turning her back, Ivy made for the door.
“Where are you going?” I barked.
“To get answers.” She replied without slowing her stride. “Come or don’t. But I won’t spend another day in the dark.”
IVY
Cairo and I didn’t speak on the ride to his father’s house. What more was there left to say? He was in love with Rainey whether he’d say it or not, and he was forced to watch Rainey jump off a bridge and Ivy emerge in her place.
All of this started so long before either of us were even born, and I still don’t know why.
There was a long list of things I didn’t know, even as my missing time and true history came back to me. Cavendish left out so much when he came into my life. All I saw was someone who believed me. Who wanted justice for Gran. After the fucking sheriff looked me right in the eyes and pretended he never saw the autopsy proving my grandmother was murdered, another person stepping in to promise justice, was too hard a siren’s call to resist.