“I dunno. Running to the woman he cares about seems like a no brainer to me,” Owen says, tucking a bit of dark hair behind my ear.
I shrug. “Can you do me a favour?”
“Anything.”
“Can you make me a cuppa?”
“What is it with you and tea all of a sudden?” he asks, shaking his head.
“Not all of a sudden, it’s just something I do.”
“Like a ritual.”
“Sure. I’m gonna go rinse off.”
“Remember the tissue,” he calls over his shoulder.
The front door closes as we sit in Bishop’s living room, Chinese pots in our hands, chop sticks shovelling our food.
Henry was adamant that Roman would reappear and since the front door had just closed and Henry hadn’t moved but had looked at his phone a few moments before, tells me that Roman has made himself present.
“About fucking time,” Henry says as Roman stands in the doorway, his complexion pale and haunted.
I calmly put the Chinese box to the side as I climb from between Owen’s legs and off the floor where I had made my little nest.
I cross the living room, stop in front of Roman. I tilt my head, his hazel eyes assess me, and I punch him hard on the face. His head whips to the side as he absorbs the blow, the crack deafening in the quiet living room.
But he doesn’t retaliate. The fucker knows he deserves it.
I humph, tut, then stride back and reposition myself back between Owen’s legs where he squeezes my shoulder, a smirk dusting his lips.
“Where’s the hard drive?” I ask when settled.
Roman doesn’t say anything. Just stares at me, then Owen, before reaching into his back pocket.
He pulls out an identical looking external hard drive, black and unimposing and launches it across the room where I pluck it out the air, still balancing my Chinese box in my hand.
“Does it have everything on it?” Owen asks, as I pass it to him.
“It’s a carbon copy. Everything about that hard drive is identical to the original,” Roman replies, joining us in the living room where he sits on the large L-shaped black sofa.
“How is she?” Henry asks, passing Roman a box of Chinese with some noodles in it. Roman takes it and starts poking at it.
“Stable.”
“I’ve been checking in. She’s lucky.”
“Nothing about the predicament she is in is luck. That is full-blown Katy stubbornness,” Roman replies. I watch the exchange quietly.
It shows how tight their bond is, going from wanting to kill each other one minute to now talking like no time has passed at all. Like Roman hasn’t been in prison for the so-called murder of Luca Knight, not to mention the betrayal of him.
“So, we just gonna sit here and ignore the elephant in the room then?” I ask.
“There is no elephant in the room, Kara,” Roman replies. “Henry knows I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice. Does loyalty mean nothing to you?”
“Careful,” Roman says.
