A breeze swept through. Rose’s hair moved with it. The woman, however, was as still as a statue.
“Then why did you get involved with Damon and Lloyd and Camden Pharmaceuticals?” Rose tried. “If you thought what Damon was doing was ridiculous, why do you need to come here and deal with him at all?”
She was giving out details they hadn’t yet confirmed.
And the man didn’t hesitate to answer.
“Because I thought they understood that money is always the goal. That love doesn’t pay the bills. It doesn’t fix the broken air conditioner or pay for college. They understood how expensive the world is… But that didn’t stop Damon from letting his love for his brother fester into guilt and anger. That didn’t stop Lloyd from letting his love for his sister become some self-imposed sacrifice. And that didn’t stop them from deciding to keep you alive when their death and yours would have kept me from killing Miss Harrison as a consequence.”
He lifted his head again but still didn’t look their way. He coughed before continuing. James saw blood come out. Rose had done more damage than James had thought.
“I don’t understand any of you,” he continued. “Damon spends a fortune trying to kill you, but in the end, he spares you. And now you’re here, trying to getme, someone who never hated you, in some—what?—kind of sympathy for him? For Lloyd?”
Rose didn’t answer. Instead she asked an important question, belatedly.
“Who are you?”
The man laughed one more time.
Rose shifted just a little at the noise.
“Someone who has a question.”
Rose slid one foot back ever so slightly.
James realized she was shoring up her stance.
He waited, tense.
The man didn’t wait for her reply.
He sighed out long. James could see blood from his mouth even in profile.
“Would you let me go if I offered you two money? More than you’ll probably ever make in this lifetime? Would you walk away then?”
James watched as Rose moved her finger from next to the trigger to on top of it.
He reached out and placed a hand on her hip.
“No,” she answered. “I won’t let you get away with what you did to them. To Damon and Lloyd. To their family. Not for any price.”
The man turned, gaze finally landing on hers.
He looked genuinely confused.
“Damon wants you dead and you’re still trying to help him,” he said. “Why?”
Rose answered him coolly. James realized later that she must have known already that it would be the last words she’d say to the man.
Her words were soft yet strong.
“Because it’s what heroes do.”
The man raised his gun, aiming right at them.
James didn’t move a muscle.
Rose did.
