"Because you thought I was Zeus," he reasoned. "How would you come to that conclusion? They knew I was hunting them. Knew they couldn't touch me. Why point the finger at me?"
I was at least halfway to believing the things he said. It made sense. Not to mention the fact he was Cass and Jules' father. The man he was trying to say he was, fit better than the man we'd assumed.
The monster we'd assumed.
"Do you know who Hypnos was?" I asked carefully. Not carefully enough. I realized my mistake too late, but managed to suppress a wince.
"'Was' confirms he's dead," Forrest said. Of course he'd pick up on that. "He was one of the guests at the dinner. Two men slipped out approximately the same time as I did. One of them was Solomon Danforth's cousin, Harrison Frankel. He and I have clashed in the past. He owned a media empire, with let's say, dubious morals. I've lost count of the amount of times I've had to pass injunctions to stop them from printing things they shouldn't. Baseless accusations, flat out lies, vilifying good people while pretending others were decent, when in reality they belonged in the sewer. Sewer if they were lucky."
"You think he claimed you were Zeus to get back at you for all of that?" I asked.
"It seems to me the likely scenario," he said. He rubbed his chin again.
I looked over to Cass.
He looked back at me, hope in his eyes. Of course he hadn't wanted to believe his father was a monster. Who would?
Believing he was on our side though? That was a stretch.
So far, Zeus would know the things he'd told us. I needed something more for proof.
"Why did you send Jules to the Hamptons?" I asked.
"Believe it or not, I genuinely needed the house down there rewired," he said. "It's a fire hazard waiting to happen."
“Mm-hmm." I gave him the side eye. "No ulterior motive?"
"Maybe one,” he said unapologetically.
Of course there was.
"I wanted to have a conversation with Cassius without him around. Jules wouldn't have listened to the things I've said."
I couldn't argue with that. Jules would have told him to fuck off and walked out the door by now.
"That doesn't mean I believe you," Cass said, voice low. He wanted to, I saw that on his face, but no one wanted to be perceived as a total pushover.
"Believe it," Forrest said. "I've spent my entire career putting people like this in prison."
He left something unsaid.
"And?" I prompted.
He seemed to know about the things I'd done, but didn't seem to be in a hurry to put me behind bars.
"As I mentioned, I have associates," he said. "They help me to…deal with people the law can't."
I knew what Boner would have said to that. 'Hell yeah, another alumni from Vigilante University.'
I rubbed a hand over the back of my neck and gripped my ponytail. "Who are these associates?"
Forrest clicked his tongue. "We aren't at that stage yet, Miss St. James."
"I guess you can call me Harlow," I said, since he knew who I was anyway, and apparently we were on the same side. "Harrison Frankel was Hypnos. He met a sticky end after that dinner of mine. After he released gas in my restaurant and put us to sleep."
"He tried to kill Harlow," Cass said darkly.
"He failed," Forrest said, the words clearly redundant, because I was standing right there.
