“You’re asking for moves that don’t exist yet.”
“I’m asking for loyalty.”
“You have it.”
“Do I?”
“Yes.” I clench my free palm into a ball so I can lie through my teeth.
“Then prove it.”
“How?”
“Give me something that hurts him.”
I open my eyes and stare at the far wall, at the faint shadow of a tree branch shifting outside the window. “You’re pushing too hard.”
That does it.
“I sent you in to destabilize him,” Father says, and now the restraint is gone completely. “Instead, you’re defending him in the middle of the night.”
“I’m not defending him. I’m telling you the truth.”
“The truth is you’re attached.”
My eyes well up, which is strange since I’m not normally a woman who gives in to emotions too quickly. “You don’t know that.”
“I know you,” he snaps. “And if you’ve forgotten where your loyalty lies, I’ll remind you.”
A chill works its way up my spine. “Is that a threat?”
“It’s a promise.”
A shiver runs up my spine. “You wouldn’t.”
“You think I won’t finish what I started?”
My throat goes dry. “Finish what?”
“If you betray me,” he says evenly, “I will finish you.”
Before I can form a response, he disconnects.
The burner screen goes black in my hand.
I sit there for a long time, phone resting in my palm, heart beating too hard against my ribs, the words replaying in a loop I can’t shut off. Sleep doesn’t return.
By morning my head feels packed with cotton and my stomach turns at the smell of coffee in the corridor, but I dress anyway and walk into the strategy room like nothing is wrong. Midway into discussions, I lose the thread of my own sentence as heat climbs up my throat.
“I’ll be right back,” I manage, and I’m already moving.
The hallway tilts slightly as I walk, and I don’t make it gracefully. I barely make it at all.
The bathroom door slams shut behind me just as my body gives up control, and I’m gripping the porcelain again, knuckles aching, breath tearing out of me in short bursts.
When it stops, I stay crouched there, staring at my reflection in the mirror opposite. I look like a ghost occupying someone else’s skin.
A knock sounds.
