Page 291 of Eight of Swords, Part Two

But it gets him in the guts like a small, silver hook.

Leaving the door closed, he turns back to Jules.

‘I don’t hate you,’ he says, monotone in the extreme, expression flat. ‘But your attempts to pull me into your tantrum are a waste of your energy and mine. I have a job to do here.’

‘Did you seriously just say the word tantrum to me?’

‘I did, and I stand by it. This is a tantrum, Jules. You didn’t get what you wanted, so you’re acting out. Yes, I hurt you. I don’t deny it. I betrayed your trust and that was wrong, but you’re not the only person on earth to get their heart broken. You’re in the top one per cent of the world. You want for nothing. Get over it and let me do my fucking job.’

The silence after he’s done speaking is catastrophically loud. Good intentions aren’t enough to hold him above the searing guilt waiting below like hungry hell.

It’s monstrously unfair to say.

Julian is quiet afterwards, a series of complex emotions running through him while he tries to hold himself together, but he’s twenty years old and all the denial in the world won’t allow Lachlan to remain ignorant of how much he truly does love him, so the pain must be… unspeakable.

He eventually gives a small, shaky nod. ‘You could have saved yourself some time and said, Yes, Julian, I fucking hate you.’

‘Whatever you need to tell yourself.’

Lachlan is halfway out the door when Jules says, ‘I’m going out tonight.’

If he stops now, he’s going to do something stupid, like engage.

Engaging with Jules was usually his first mistake.

So he keeps walking.

‘We’ll discuss it later.’

✴

Lachlan has been using Carrigan’s office to run the household, but it’s also conveniently easy to hide inside.

Danya comes by once a day to deliver his in-person reports.

He never knocks.

‘Harker checked in.’

Lachlan looks up. Danya meets his gaze with dispassionate indifference.

‘Go ahead.’

‘He wants shallow access to the employee database so his people can cross-reference possible contacts.’

‘Grant it.’

‘Shallow access still opens a live route into the house systems,’ Danya points out. ‘Static copy is safer.’

‘Penhalyx instructed me to co-operate fully. Grant him access.’

Danya cocks a brow but doesn’t argue. ‘Heard.’

‘Wait. Make it static. Seed a callback beacon in the export manifest.’

Danya pauses. ‘Trace the receiving system?’

‘If they import it, I want the route.’