The tour itself is a complete disaster. I meet with one of the freshman advisors and he asks me what I’m looking forward to most about Harvard and all I can think about is a lion tearing out a man’s organs while a crowd roars for blood.
I fly home in a daze. I’ve still got a meeting at Yale next week, but is that enough time to sort my shit out? What’s going to change in a week? Am I miraculously not going to be in love with a crime boss? Am I suddenly going to feel like I can brush off everything I’ve seen in the last year like it’s nothing and step into the life of varsity track and fraternity stunts I was destined for?
I push open the garage door of Malloy Manor, stinking of anxiety and airline food. As well as the now-familiar waft of animal shit, I catch something delicious in the air, something that warms my heart.
I pass by the dining room on the way to the kitchen and find the table set for the whole family. Claudia stands at the stove, a frilly apron around her waist and Gizmo circling her feet. Queen Boudica has a much better plan, hiding behind the black coffee machine and swiping a paw at the mixing bowl as soon as Claws turns toward me.
Gizmo bounds over, happy to see me. She pounces into my arms, and I bury my face in her soft fur. Cats always know exactly what they want. Sometimes I wish I could be like them.
“What’s going on here?” I come up behind Claudia and wrap my arms around her tiny waist, nuzzling her neck. Gizmo squirms between us.
“I cooked,” Claudia says, a little testily. “I can cook, you know. A little bit. Don’t get used to it. But I thought we could have a little celebration tonight, for you.”
“For me?”
“Harvard. Yale. Berkeley. You worked so hard, Eli.” She lifts the spoon to her mouth and tastes the sauce. “I know it’s hard letting go of our old lives and our old dreams. We’re building something amazing here, but what’s that dumb phrase Ms. Drysdale says sometimes? Rome wasn’t built in a day.”
She’s talking as if it’s obvious I won’t study at Harvard, as if I won’t accept any of my college positions at all. As if a nice meal and a congratulations cake make up for what I’ll be missing. She’s probably right. I probably will turn them all down to stay here in Emerald Beach with her, but it grates on me that she expects it, that she’s nottalkingto me about it the way we’ve always discussed everything.
But I don’t want to start a fight. Not tonight, not when we found the treasure and my head is full of cobwebs tangled together. So I kiss her forehead and wander away, hugging Gizmo close to my heart.
Later, Claudia calls us to dinner and we all gather around the table. The only person who isn’t there is Antony, who’s been working every spare minute trying to get the fights off the streets and back into the club. I exchange a glance with Noah. Gabriel downs his drink in two seconds flat and reaches for mine, a sure sign that he’s certain something’s up. Claudia dishes up creamy tagliatelle with salmon, telling us the story of how her father used to prepare this dish for her whenever she felt sick. It smells like garlic and happiness, but when I take a bite all I taste is cardboard.
“I have some news to share with you all. I’ve found a buyer,” Claws says. “It’s done.”
I stare at her. How can it be done? What about everything we said about the documents being her legacy? What about gifting the treasure to a museum?
“Why?” I ask.
“Why?” she frowns. “For all the reasons I’ve already said. Because we need to get rid of Nero. Because this might be the only way of drawing Mackenzie out into the open in a situation that I control. Because I need power more than I need a bunch of dusty old tomes. Because I’m the Imperator and I don’t have to explain my decisions.”
Her words grated against old wounds. I put down my fork. “Butwhy?Why do you have to destroy Nero? Why can’t you be happy with the empire you already have? We don’t need any more power.”
“Because we’re not safe.” Her perfect face screws up.
“You’re a crime boss. We’llneverbe safe. You said yourself – the documents will just go back into the underground. They’ll be lost forever. Do it some other way. You said Cali knows where Mackenzie is hiding—”
“If I send Cali after Mackenzie and she gets away, we won’t get another shot. Instead, she’s going to force my sister to come to us, onmyturf, undermyterms. I want to protect my family. This is how I do it.” Claudia shoots me a look that turns my blood cold.She looks just like Mackenzie. “This is not a discussion.”
My eyes flick to Noah, who shifts in his seat. He saw it too.
“So that’s it, then? We’re not your equals, your partners? We’re soldiers in your war against Nero. Against your sister. We’d better fall in line or you’ll cut us off? Stuff us inside a brass bull and boil us alive?”
At the end of the table, George sinks lower in her seat, a look of utter misery on her face. Yara looks like she’s ready to jump to Claudia’s defense. Gabriel hums under his breath. I’m making everyone uncomfortable, but I can’t stop. This is too important. This is ourlives.
This is our family, all of ours. And I thought that when my father went to jail I was done doing things I didn’t want to do for the good of a family. I was done listening to people who thought they knew better than me. Even if they are my beautiful, stubborn girlfriend.
Claudia shakes her head angrily. “That’s not fair. Everything I’ve done has been for you.”
Noah fixes me with a stare across the table. Years of friendship means I read his features perfectly. He’s with me. He thinks this is too far.
“No one’s saying you don’t care about us,” Noah says. “But isn’t this risky? You’re relying on Cali to come through for you. She tried to kill you in the ring. What’s to say she’s not preparing to betray you?”
“Cali and I have an understanding.”
Noah fists his knife. “Forgive me if I don’t trust her. What if we lose the treasure, and you?”
“You said you needed me to be your moral compass,” I say. Tears prick at the corners of my eyes. I feel like I’m talking to my father again, trying to get across how much I didn’t want a Reality TV film crew in our house. I’m not talking to my beloved girl anymore, but to a wall of brick and indifference. “You said you need someone to point you north. Well, I’m not just pointing this time, I’m a fucking neon sign blinking TURN BACK. Don’t do this. Let us figure out another plan,together.”
