She pushes off the doorframe. “I’m going back to the dorms with Alma tonight, and I’ll stay there for the foreseeable future.” The sharpness of her voice stuns everyone into silence.
“Why?” De Morel stutters.
“Because I don’t want to be here.” The wordswith youhang in the air. Or maybe they’re just suspended inside my mind.
Even though I don’t want to ruin Cadence’s relationship with her father, I do think it’s important for her to see the man behind the expensive cashmere and neat smiles.
“Ma chérie. . . it’s dangerous.”
Who should appear behind her at that very moment, who should put his hand on her shoulder other than Prickhead, with his buzz-cut and blistered forehead. The cropped hair and burn marks change him, make him appear harder, more military officer than hoity-toity professor.
I study Cadence’s reaction to his touch, hope to spot discomfort, but her muscles don’t bunch. Is she unbothered or unaware?
“It’s not the dorms that are dangerous, Papa; it’s this whole damn town.” She steps to the side, and Adrien’s friendly hand slides down her arm and off her body. Little does she know that she’s just spared Prof’s fingers some accidental phalanx dislocations.
And Bastian thinks I’m a good guy . . .
I snort, which garners her attention.
Our eyes lock, stay locked, as her father says, “What if your piece shows up while you’re alone?”
“I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Alma. And if my piece shows up, I’ll do what the others did. I’ll call everyone. Get thesquadtogether.” Her ponytail swishes as she flips around.
“Hey, Cadence?” I call out.
She stops next to Adrien, glances over her shoulder.
“Your father mentioned the translation of this scroll thing was in the basement of the library. Can I see it?”
It takes her a moment to answer.
Was she expecting a reminder about the Gauguin? I don’t give a shit about it now that I have forty-two million dollars. I’d brought it up mostly to annoy De Morel, and because it’s a fine piece of art that’d go extremely well on the black marble wall in front of my Toto toilet back home, but if it’s Cadence’s inheritance, I’m not touching it.
Finally, she nods. “I’ll go pack a bag and meet you in the foyer in ten.” And then she’s out of sight. A minute later, a door slams somewhere in the gigantic house.
Rainier rolls himself toward the door. “See what you’ve done!”
“WhatI’ve done? All I did was ask you not to lie, De Morel.”
He swings his chair around. “If anything happens to her, it’s on you. Now, get out of my house.”
“Is it your house?” I polish the Bloodstone on my sweatpants.
A cruel smile lights up his aristocratic features. “Oh, Slate . . .”
The way he says my name coupled with that smile gives me an actual chill. I swear my spine tingles. I knew this man had skeletons in his closet but now wonder if there are a couple non-metaphorical ones in there.
“These challenges have heightened both of your emotions, given you and Cadence shared experiences you wouldn’t have had otherwise. Once this is over, my daughter will realize you two have nothing in common. And she’ll finally see you for the man you really are.”
I square my shoulders. “Who I really am?”
“You may carry the Roland name on your birth certificate, but you’re still a nobody, Slate.”
He’s targeted the one wound I have that won’t heal and pressed his dirty finger into it. It burns like hell.
“Somebody woke up on the wrong side of his wheelchair.”
Adrien stares after De Morel as he rolls down the hall. In a quiet voice, he says, “You shouldn’t goad him, Slate.”
