I smile at him, then pop the last piece of macaroon into my mouth. “It’ll take a while for me to arrange and set everything up. But yeah, I’m excited to see where it takes me.”
“Your mother would be proud of you,” he muses, then sighs.
I scoff, even before I realize I’ve done it. “She never really cared for my inputs or objectives. She was always too busy doing what she thought was right, and never paid any heed to what I had to say.”
Uncle Chase studies me for a few moments, then places his forearms on the table and leans forward. “So, is that why you had her killed?” he asks so casually that it takes me a minute to fully come to terms with the question.
My entire fucking world turns on its axis as I stare at him in shock, and my heart goes out of control as my breathing accelerates.
I open my mouth, then close it. I open it again, then try calming myself down before I can speak. I’m cold – so cold. My hands, my feet. Fuckingeverything.
I realize that my delay in responding to him might come off as suspicious, so I swallow and shake my head, pretending to act confused.
“What are you talking about?” There’s a bit of quivering in my voice, but I hope it’s not detectable.
Uncle Chase laughs, and it’s a crude gesture – something very unlike his usual demeanor. “I’m not stupid, Cignette. You really thought you could get away with having my sistermurdered? Did you seriously think I was that gullible?” He sneers at me. “I’ve had people looking into the matter since the day of heraccident. And everything my team found out, pointed to one thing, and one thing only…” He leans in further, then grits his teeth at me. “You.”
My hands are shaking, so I clench them into fists on my lap. “Uncle Chase, that’s not tru–”
“Oh, just shut up already.” He stands, and on instant, the guards around us start closing in on me. They point their guns at me, and one of them grabs me by the arm before hauling me to my feet.
“Don’t touch me!” I pull out of his grasp, then glare at my uncle. “And here I thought this was a casual get-together.”
“Isn’t it, though?” he says coolly.
I hear footsteps, seconds before one of the guards from Mave’s team brings him into the lawn. He has a gun pointed at Mave’s head, and when I try to go to him, he very subtly shakes his head at me.
My breaths are now frosty from how quickly my heart is beating, and my mouth feels all but grimy from how dry it has suddenly gotten.
Ignoring the guns, I turn to face my uncle, and when he gives me a look of disgust, I clench my hands further and take a step towards him.
“She deserved to die,” I say, then blink when my eyes sting. “She deserved every bit of what happened to her.”
“She didn’t.” He gets in my personal space, glowering down at me as I seethe at him. “Shedidn’t.” His eyes turn misty, and his anger turns to sorrow.
“She laughed at me while her bodyguard tried torapeme,” I tell him, then swallow against the tightness in my throat. “She laughed, and she clapped. She took pleasure in my pleas for help, not thinking for asecondthat I’m herdaughter.”
He seems taken aback by my confession. But it’s only momentary, because his love for his deranged sister soon overpowers any rationality he possesses, and he once again turns into the weasel that he is.
“You could have come tome; you could’ve told me about what she’d done.”
I have to laugh at that. “And you’d do what?” I snort. “Numerous times I’ve come to you, begging you to talk to her; begging you to do something about her behavior. But instead of taking any sort of action against her, all you did was remind me that she’s my mother, and then left me to endure her cruelty. But I’d had enough of it. I cowered, I suffered, and I waited, but nothing changed. And so, I did what I had to; I took the power into my own hands.” I bring my face close to his. “I fuckingkilledher.”
His nostrils flare as he scowls at me. I know he’s itching to hit me, and my God, I wanna see him do it. Because at the end of the day, he’s just like my mother, isn’t he? Spineless. Uncaring.
Self-righteous.
He works his jaw and steps away from me, then nods at his guards. “Take my niece and her dog inside the estate. Make sure they’re comfortable while I go fetch the rest of my guests for this…” He clicks his tongue. “What is it that you called it?” He smirks at me, then claps his hands in front of him. “Ah, yes; aget-together.”
I know who he’s talking about, and that does absolutelynothingto calm me down. I wish I could warn Dorran somehow, but my phone is in my dress pocket, so I can’t possibly call or text him without eating a bullet or two.
I glance at Mave, and he looks just as worried as I feel. But when our eyes meet, he once again shakes his head at me, silently asking me not to do or say anything that might get us in further trouble.
It’s too bad I don’t always do what I’m told to do.
“If you hurt him,” I tell my uncle, “I swear to God that I’ll fuckingdestroyyou.”
He grins, because I’ve now erased the last bit of uncertainty he must’ve had by confirming Dorran’s involvement in all of this.
