“I know that she went back to living in squats with her junkie friends, and I know that nineteen months later, she was found dead in some farm building in the middle of nowhere after prioritising drugs over a warm place to stay and freezing to death.”
Scott jumped at a glass hitting the bar and looked over to Lisa giving him an apologetic look. She left the bar, rushing out of the room.
“I know that your sister wasn’t found until three weeks after she’d died; thawing, she attracted the attention of some school kids on a bike ride. I know the sight of her rotting with the needle still in her arm scared them shitless, and they ended up in therapy.”
“Shut up,” Scott growled through his teeth. His eyes were burning. “You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
“But I do. I know you didn’t go to her funeral.” Warren shifted his stool closer. Scott instinctively leaned away. “I know that barely anyone turned up to it. Iknowbecause I was there.”
“You bastard.”
Warren shrugged. “I was hoping to see you so I could tell you our agreement still stands, and for every day I’m made to wait, the worse it’ll be for you.”
“I’m going to pay you back, every penny – a month. You gave me a month.”
“The month is almost up.”
“I’ve told the police about you.”
Warren gestured to himself. “And yet I’m still here. There’s nothing to charge me with. You’re the criminal, remember? Tried to blackmail one of your clients, and now here you are, trying to break off an agreement with me after stealing my money.”
“I didn’t steal it, and I’m making it back.”
“By usinghimin the other room.”
“Don’t bring Thomas into this.”
“You brought him into this when you locked yourself away in his mansion like a Disney princess. Beauty, right?” Warren chuckled, rubbing his chin. “I see a pattern emerging.”
“What pattern?”
“That you think you can walk all over anyone with money, use them at will, and I’m here to remind you that you can’t. There will be consequences. I’m not just doing this for myself, or that politician, but for Thomas too. I’m going to make you bleed for him. I’m going to make you scream out an apology to all of us.” Warren lifted his beer to his lips, speaking across the rim. “Do you remember the things I whispered to you?”
Scott pressed his lips together, refusing to answer.
“I know you do. You described them so well when you emailed me. I might have closed that account, but I kept the emails; they’re my defence if you try to arrest me afterwards. You wanted me to cut you, force objects into you, hit you,breakyou, tie you up and leave you helpless, and if I take things too far, if something goes wrong and I end up killing you…” Warren bit his lip. “My money, my status, my influence… I think… I think I’ll get away with it.”
“You won’t.”
“I can be rather convincing when I need to be. Hopefully, it won’t come to that, though, but if it does, I doubt many will show up at your funeral. Don’t worry, I’ll pay my respects. I’ll come in the night and dig up you, your sister and your mother too. I'll have fun with the whole family.”
Scott slipped off the stool and rushed away through the labyrinth of corridors and rooms. Each one Scott flew down, he could sense Warren behind him, his gaze, his footsteps, his breath on the back of his neck. There were too many people to squeeze past and fight through, and the low ceilings all added to the feeling of being trapped.
Scott pushed outside, gulping in the fresh air as his heart hammered behind his ribs. He couldn’t see Warren behind him, but looking up at all the windows with the hazy shapes behind them, it felt like he was up there, watching.
He hurried across the street, trying to remember the route Thomas had led him to get there. It was a part of the city Scott wasn’t familiar with, and its old-fashioned aesthetic was probably charming in the daytime, but at night, it had Scott in a panic not knowing which small alley to go down.
Arms gripped his waist, and he tensed up, fighting with his attacker, wanting to cry out for help, but struck mute in the face of Warren grabbing hold of him. He rammed his elbow back, but the attacker blocked him.
“It’s me!” Thomas shouted, spinning Scott around until they were face to face.
“Thomas…”
Scott dropped his arms by his sides and thumped his forehead to Thomas’s shoulders with more force than intended. He breathed against him while his heart slowed from its frantic pace and carefully placed his hands on Thomas’s hips. It wasn’t a hug, but it wasn’tnotone either. Scott needed a moment or two, and Thomas let him have as many as he wanted.
“Lisa came to get me, said some guy was upsetting you at the bar. She said he mentioned your sister.”
That’s why Thomas had come after him. Lisa had told him. She must’ve interrupted Thomas and Russell’s conversation to tell him Scott was freaking out elsewhere on the premises.
