Then it is another day or two…okay, so maybe hours…of form worth with a real blade before he deems me prepared enough to hurl it at a target.
If he isn’t careful, the target is going to be his head.
By the end of the week, I am exhausted. Run ragged. In desperate need of more coffee. Liam’s grueling training schedule is going to be the death of me. I haven’t even started working with him yet. I’m not even sure if he is planning on training me, despite him saying he is.
Today is the day I find out.
Eventually.
Right now, it is eight in the morning, and I am dying for a cup of coffee and a hearty breakfast. My stomach growls asNan busies herself in the kitchen behind the bar, her humming reaching me through the double doors.
When the door to the bar opens, I put on a wide smile, expecting to see my biological father strolling in. With my hectic training schedule, I haven’t had much of a chance to do any sort of bonding with him, and I’ve been simmering with excitement for what he has planned today.
Instead, a scowling Marianne stalks in from the outside, her eyes narrowed as she huffs and puffs, muttering under her breath. It is early for her to be at the bar…or out at all. One thing I’ve learned since I’ve been here is that Marianne doesn’t like to put in the work, she just likes to reap the benefits.
“I don’t know what you are playing at, girl,” she hisses at me as I take an innocent sip of my coffee. Angels have descended from on high to bless this cup and its magical beans of caffeine. “But don’t think you can just waltz in here and change things.”
The acidity in her voice has my eyebrows burying themselves in my hairline. I haven’t been trying to change anything aside from my mission to eliminate Christian. The daily running of the Irish mob isn’t any of my business, nor do I care to ‘change’ any of it. As far as I am concerned, I am Kavanaugh by blood, but that is it. Liam hasn’t made it seem like he wants me included in anything family business related.
“I have no idea what you are prattling on about.” I set down my coffee with an irritated hugg. “There hasn’t been on thing I’ve requested to change. All I care about is my mission. That is it. If you think otherwise, then you’re just delusional.”
Marianne glares at me, her jaw clenching so hard I swear I hear her teeth crack.
“Play the innocent act all you want.” Her lips pull back in a snarl. “But I’m not stupid. You’re just like your mother. Sticking your nose where it doesn’t belong.”
Her glare diminishes slightly at my sudden burst of laughter.
Play your card, bitch. I’m onto you.
“Do you think this is funny?” she asks in disbelief.
“For someone who said they were my mother’s best friend.” The air quotes around the last two words are slightly exaggerated on my part, but then, I am prone to histrionics. “You sure are quick to villainize her. I wonder why that is?” Cocking my head, I take a moment to make her uncomfortable with my stare while I study her.
She’s done nothing but avoid me since our first meeting in my temporary room upstairs. For someone who wanted to regale me with stories of my mother’s youth, the only time I’ve seen her is dinner, when she bothers to show. The Kavanaugh’s cherish their nightly family dinners but even then, Marianne has done nothing but avoid conversation with me.
“I don’t know what you are talking about,” Marianne denies, her throat bobbing nervously beneath my scrutinizing gaze. “But I do know that you walk into our lives and suddenly Liam has all these grand ideas. Ideas he doesn’t need to put inmychildren’s head. And let me tell you?—”
“I wonder why someone who’d been my mother’s best friend since childhood wouldn’t follow up on her missing persons case.” I hold up my hand to interrupt her, not caring one iota about whatever she is about to say next. “Or how that person didn’t file a report until days later.”
“I didn’t know she was missing.” Marianne shrugs, but I can see the stiffness in her shoulders.
“When people lie, it shows. Not just on their face, but their body.”Matthias’s voice rings through my mind."Their face tightens, they’ll look you straight in the eyes because that is what they think will make you believe them. In reality, gazes shift. Their fists might clench with no real sign of anger. Their shoulders will stiffen as they try to hold themselves erect to make themselves look more earnest. It isn’t just about microexpressions. It is about examining their body as a whole and using it against them.”
Marianne is lying
“Really.” I tilt my head to the other side and eye her suspiciously. “Katherine McDonough never missed a single class, and she couldn’t have been with Liam because he’d been out of town with his uncle that week. Not to mention that you conveniently didn’t report that your dorm room had been broken into the day she went missing.”
“I don’t know?—”
“Now, you were either just being a negligent friendoryou had a hand in her disappearance.” I lean forward, bracing my elbows on the sleep bar top beneath them. “Trust me when I say that if I find out you had anything to do with my mother’s kidnapping—I will kill you and I’ll be sure you see it coming.”
Marianne’s face pales for a moment before a mottled red begins to creep up her neck. Her hazel eyes are daggers and her lips twist into an ugly sneer. This is the real Marianne. The demon beneath the motherly façade.
“Listen here, you little bitch,” she snarls, her face inching toward mine. “If you think you can threaten me, think again. There is more at work here then you will ever know, and I can’t wait until you end up just like you…”
“Breakfast is ready dear,” Nan’s smiling voice slices through the bitter tension as she sweeps into the room carrying a large quiche and a small plate of fruit. She sits them before me, pulling a slice of mouthwatering goodness from the pan and placing it on the small plate of fruit. “Eat up. You’re going to need that to deal with your father.”
Your father. She says it so casually. I haven’t even called him that. He’s been Liam to me. But it isn’t as if he’s called me his daughter. Barely even references me being that. It doesn’t hurtmy feelings that he never introduces me as his daughter or even as a Kavanaugh.
