I smile back. “Yes,” I say tremulously. “No need to pull out the Vegas threat.”
We eat in comfortable silence for a little while until I ask him, “Who was on the phone?” Could be anyone after everything we’ve been through the past few days.
“Thayer.”
“Ah. Did you tell him what happened?”
“Yeah. I did. He and Savannah are still in Paris. She’ll be by to see you soon.”
He’s still distracted. He isn’t really here. Something’s troubling him.
Silence reigns for a minute while he works his jaw. “But that’s not why he called.”
I sip the juice he hands me.
“Why did he call?”
I watch him draw in a deep breath.
Something is wrong. I stare at him.
“Rousseau is dead.”
Rousseau… his informant… is dead.
Yesterday she was alive and breathing and now…
“Dead?” I repeat in a shocked whisper. “How?”
“Suicide, allegedly. Only there was no note, she had plans to go out to dinner with her fiancé that night, and also had plans to meet up again with me. There was a gun placed in her right hand, but she always used her left.”
“My God,” I whisper. The lives they lead, the people they know—they’re dangerous and deadly and walk a razor’s edge between death and life.
And when Lyam knows the truth… when he knows my father is the very politician after his family with the intent to bring them down… what will stop him from leaving me, just like my father did?
He has access to money and people and places I can only dream of.
But he loves me.
Does he, though? Or does he love the idea of a wife and baby?
Do I love him?
I close my eyes as a wave of grief washes over me.
I have to tell him about my father. He has to know. I have to tell him everything and pick up the pieces of where that leaves us.
I told him about my mother. How she did her best but was detached and overwhelmed much of the time. How I’ve never even celebrated my own birthday. How we bought my clothes secondhand and the kids at school made fun of me. The memories I have of visits to the food pantry and the church ladies bringing us Christmas dinner.
I told him about the betrayal and why I made the choices I made. But the thought of telling him I’m actually related to the one man who’s trying to destroy everything...
“Lyam.” My voice sounds hollow and empty. “We have to talk.” My heart clenches in my chest and I feel sick to my stomach. I bite back bile as it stings the back of my throat. It burns and leaves me no choice but to stop speaking.
“You okay?”
I cover my mouth with my hand and shake my head.
He leaps to his feet. “Pain?”
