"I call bullshit. You want to protect her, you've got feelings for her, and I'm guessing they went from protective older kid to whatever the fuck you're doing now, but instead of coming clean with her and risking the wrath of Daddy, you decided to keep everything on the down-low, and then walk into her place of work?—"
"I bought it, moron."
"Right, because your dream, right after becoming a mafia boss, is to be a CEO."
As much as I hate to admit it, he has a point there. But it is more complicated than he thinks.
There is no way she would have been open to anything I was doing, going back to after her father's death. Shit, even before that with school.
But here we are, and I might have crossed a line or two.
A line or two she liked being crossed, and that is the truth.
Fuck. It looks bad.
But...shit.
They look bad.
"So, I ask again," he says, "what do you want me to do?"
I pull over as soon as I can. "Send it to me."
"And?"
"Do fucking nothing."
The irritation grows in Silas's voice. "If she calls?"
"Tell her you're looking into it."
"Fuck. She might recognize my voice."
But I shake my head. "No, if she was going to do that, she would have done it already."
"Your fucking funeral, my friend."
And I know it.
"Look, as far as she knows, you're Simon. She's never seen Silas, and you keep your online presence to almost zero." Like every last one of the Syndicate. "So, for the love of everything unholy, when Simon turns up at his beach home, make sure your phone is fucking off."
Twenty minutes later, I'm still sitting in my car on the side of the road.
I think the word I'm looking for is fuck.
I have read through the notes Silas made for me, things that he got from Lola's tone, and I have to say he is right. Her getting scared and paranoid are byproducts of seeing all this.
Out of context, especially, but even in context it is intense.
And I might have gone a little overboard in the photos. I could have lost the naked ones. Or not taken them.
But it all makes sense with her cold shoulder today.
I need to put it right, but I'm not sure how.
I don't even know if this is everything...but surely it isbecause I don't have any record on the laptop of me as Alex, and she also texted Alex.
That fucking fits her being suspicious of me and my motives, too.
