“Come in,” I mutter, voice hoarse from disuse.
Lorraine steps inside, her usual calm composure cracked at the edges. She looks older tonight, the lines around her eyes deeper, her shoulders slightly hunched.
She glances at the untouched plate and then at me. “You haven’t eaten.”
I don’t answer. I just lean back in my chair and rub my eyes with the heel of my hand.
Lorraine closes the door gently behind her and walks over to the desk. She stands there for a moment, studying me with that quiet, knowing look she’s had since the day she started working here.
“Kit wouldn’t be happy with you if he knew you weren’t eating,” she says softly.
The words crash over me… I freeze; fingers still pressed against my eyes. Something raw and painful twists in my chest, the same ache that’s been there since the bathroom hallway.Kit wouldn’t be happy. He’d frown, that little worried crease between his brows, and he’d probably try to push a fork toward me the way I did to him.
Lorraine’s voice drops even quieter, but it cuts deeper. “He never said it out loud to you, but… he cared.”
The mask I’ve been forcing all day feels like it’s cracking again.
Lorraine doesn’t push any further. She simply stands there, patient and steady, the same way she used to stand with Kit when he was too scared to speak.
After a long moment, I exhale through my nose and push the chair back. “Fine.”
I stand, legs stiff from sitting so long, and follow her out of the study. The hallway feels longer than usual. Every step down toward the dining room is heavy and reluctant. I don’t want to sit at that table without him. I don’t want to pretend everything is normal when the chair to my right is empty.
But Lorraine’s words echo in my head with every footfall. Kit wouldn’t be happy with you. And for some reason, maybe because it’s her saying it, maybe because it’s the only piece of him I have left right now, I keep walking.
???
I’m sitting at the head of the long dining table, halfway through a fresh plate Lorraine made specially for me, but I’m not really tasting anything. My mind is still looping through the same footage I watched for hours in my study.How the fuck did he disappear right under our noses?
Everyone else left the dining room hours ago, but Selina and Lorraine refused to let me eat alone. They’re sitting with me now, picking at their pudding. I’m not really listening to whatever quiet conversation they’re having. Everything feels numb and distant, like I’m watching myself from outside my own body.
The door opens and Luke walks in, holding a manilla folder. My head snaps up so fast my neck protests. A flicker of desperate hope surges through me,please, have something. Anything.
Luke strolls over and sets the images down in front of me. “Boss, we tracked Finn from the moment they landed.”
He places the first still: the three brothers getting into a cab at the airport. “They went straight home.” Another photo, them arriving at their house.
Then another, a couple of hours later, pulling up at their garage. Luke slaps down a few more images. “Theywere pissed when they found the police tape and the burnt-out building. We couldn’t get audio, though.”
I nod once, jaw tight. “What else?”
Luke scratches his jaw. “Uh… the older brothers ended up at Mr. Vladski’s strip club.”
I raise my brows. “Is that so?”
Luke nods and lays down proof… clear images of Mitch and James entering the club.
“Then Finn…” Luke hesitates. “Well… he went and hired a car. It was pretty weird, boss. Maybe you can make sense of it.”
He slides the next photo across the table. I don’t recognise the car but Selina leans in, frowning as she studies it.
Luke continues, “So… he stopped by ahospital… uh, then he came out with an empty wheelchair. I couldn’t tell you what for.”
Selina gasps sharply. “I need to see that footage.Now.”
She stands so fast her chair scrapes loudly against the floor. “Boss, now!”
I push up from my seat, concern spiking. Luke gathers the stills quickly and follows us as Selina practically jogs through the halls.
