“Probably wouldn’t hurt,” Crow says, with the first hint of a smile.
I drive fast for a living. I know how to control a vehicle. But Sophie… she was just there, and I couldn’t stop it from happening. I stopped the car, but not soon enough.
Every time I look at Sophie, I feel really bad.
I mean,reallybad.
I accidentally drove over Milo’s foot years ago, and I thought I felt bad about that. This is so much worse.
Because Sophie is so sweet and nice, and she’d never hurt a fly.
And I caused her pain. Her foot is broken.
Granted, I’m not exactly sure how the car running into her upper thigh broke two of her toes and turned the rest of her foot into what looks like an eggplant being left out in the sun for too long.
I’m not really sure what that would look like, but I can imagine it would be purple and puffy.
And I know the car didn’t hit her very hard because there was no Sophie-sized dent and the onlythumpwas Sophie’s hand slapping against the hood.
I saw that. I saw her standing there, then her handthunkedon the hood like she was trying to grab hold, and then she was gone, dropped to the ground.
It all happened so fast, but the images are taking a long time to fade from my mind.
Sophie says she doesn’t hold me responsible, and that’s a relief, but what if she changes her mind? What if someone changes it for her?
What if she decides that Ashton Carrington deserves to be taught a lesson for excessive speed and negligence? What then?
I can call my father for ideas. This isn’t something I ever look forward to doing, but this might be a DEFCON 3 moment. Maybe 4.
I shift uncomfortably on the couch as my father’s assistant gets him on the phone. I had to say it was an emergency before she agreed.
It’s a fewminutes before Eton Carrington says hello.
He actually never says the wordhello. “What happened?” he demands.
My father isn’t a demanding man; he’s the billionaire head of Carrington Toys and expects his requests, orders, and advice to be followed without question, but he’s well past the need to demand anything.
But when I call, he almost sounds worried. “I’m fine, Fen’s fine,” I tell him quickly, just in case he is worried. I saw Duncan’s reaction to Sophie being in the hospital, after all. “I got into a little accident, is all.”
“Were you hurt?”
“No. But I… I kind of hit someone. It’s more like a bump into, rather than a hit, and she’s fine… a broken foot and maybe a concussion—”
Dad sighs. “Then what’s the problem?”
“She… ah… she’s the daughter of the king of Laandia’s advisor.”
“You ran over Duncan Laz’s daughter?”
“I didn’trun over her. There was no running over. She was in the street, and it was icy—”
“How fast were you going?”
“Not very fast.”
“How fast?” I give him a number, and he hisses between his teeth. “Did anyone see you?”
“Someone might have reported my driving to the police. Apparently this woman is a real Karen, and recognized Fen’s car and doesn’t like Fenella because she got herfired—”
