Page 134 of The Villain

“Andrea-”

“Is leaving,” I interrupt, leaning on the table to ensure he pays attention. “She has nothing to do with any of this. She’s the smart one. She got out long before I ever considered it. Good job, sis.”

“Thanks, Evan,” she says nervously.

She’s starting to stand when the doors burst open, revealing Melissa. She levels a submachine gun at the table with a bright smile. Andi drops back into her seat, face paling dramatically.

“I wasn’t invited? What’s the occasion?”

“I found a leak,” Jake, another of Gabriel’s guards, turns to Matthias with a happy grin.

“I didn’t think there was one,” Cade eyes her with a sneer.

“You’ve gotta be kiddin’ me,” Ace mutters, looking disgusted. “What’s your fuckin’ problem?”

“Melissa?” Brody turns around in his seat, bewildered.

“Megan actually,” she winks at him. “You wouldn’t know me. But Shade does.”

I raise a brow, unimpressed with the tight leather outfit, her idiotic high heels, or her smug tone. I shift my body to keep more coverage on Andi.

“Don’t you?” She pouts and bats her lashes at me.

“Nope,” I answer blandly.

My answer enrages her. Her hand on the weapon is no longer steady.

Fucking amateurs. Me too for letting her slip past me despite all the alarms she set off coming into the group.

“You killed my husband.”

“I need a name,” I sigh in frustration. “I’ve killed a lot of scumbags that considered themselves husbands.”

“He wasn’t a scumbag! His name was Antony William Shriver!”

I mull it around as she stares, getting madder the longer it takes.

“2007,” I nod. “Male, twenty-one. Girlfriend that likes to cheat. No wife. Pedophile. I remember now.”

My bland recitation of facts goes unnoticed after I say pedophile. Melissa screams at the top of her lungs, “He wasn’t a pedophile.”

Andi leans past me, leaving herself vulnerable to shout back, “They never move without proof! Never!”

I raise a brow, getting Melissa’s attention back on me as I speak again. “You cleaned up some since then. Out of curiosity, did you get the vows postmortem?”

“You motherfucker,” she aims the weapon at me without hesitation.

“How did you figure out who he was?” Ira looks from her to me suspiciously.

The weapon moves to Ira.

“I’m not a moron like the four of you,” she snaps.

I let out a soft hiss of breath and shake my head at Ira. “Burn.”

“Who spoke to you about Daniels?” Matthias gives me a cold look of censure. The fact that he’s treating this like I’m misbehaving at dinner proves how fucked up we all are.

“A dead man,” she says with a wide smile.

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