Page 251 of Chaos Kills

Those three words sound more like a plea than they do a command.

Why does he want to know so badly?

Why does it fucking matter?

I’m not going to tell anyone—I haven’t, so if he thinks I’m going to hold this over their heads until the end of time, I’m not.

“You don’t have to worry,” I reply through the rapid beat of my heart racing in my chest. “I’m never going to tell anybody.”

“I want you to tell me.”

My jaw ticks out of frustration because I can’t. “Cairo, please?—”

“He could’vemurderedyou. Don’t you understand that?”

“I was there, so, yeah. I do. But he didn’t. So, let it go.”

“Let it go,” he repeats sardonically, sending a chill straight up my spine. “Are you fuckin’ serious?”

“Dead.”

I know it’s not funny, but I’m not talking about this anymore. It’s only adding to the point that I didn’t want to be here in the first place, and this is making it worse.

Cairo slowly loosens his grip before his thumb lightly brushes along the flesh of my face again. “All this time…I told you he wasn’t going to hurt you. And he did. You never said anything. How the fuck am I supposed to manage this now?”

My lips part to say something, but the answer isn’t the one he wants to hear.

There is no fixing this, and that’s what Cairo does. It seems to be the only thing he knows how to do.

“I need to go,” I reply, reminding him where we are and that we’re going to be looked for soon. There’s no way Emilio is going to sit his ass down and wait while Ozzy shows up without me.

“This isn’t over,” Cairo threatens. “We’re going to talk about this.”

“We’re not because I said we’re not,” I argue. “I’m done with this. You can do what you need to do, just leave me out of it. I’ve dealt with it enough.”

I pull my face out of his grip and slip through the limited space between us.

I’m quick to open the door and never have to speak of this again.

I meant what I said.

I’m done.

FIFTY-SEVEN

bay

“I’m extremely pleasedall of you are here to show support as I step down from The Landings and hand it off to my daughter,” Emilio announces at the head of the table for Friday night dinner and sipping on his drink, acting as though all of this is normal as hell.

I highly expect Torin or Reeve to voice their dismay, but the table remains silent. Not even Ramsey utters a single word, and I can’t be the only one who feels the thick tension hovering over the table.

I mean there are knives placed on this thing, and I’m waiting for one to fly at me at any given moment.

“Cairo, I appreciate you being on board with assisting Haven through her trials and tribulations during this time and remaining an ally. It’s time this new generation puts the past behind us and moves forward.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Cairo replies placidly at my right, wedged between Emilio and me, and I couldn’t be happier for the buffer.

However, I still feel like a sitting duck, even with Ozzy on my other side. I can feel Torin and Reeve’s dismay and irritation from the other side of the wide furniture.

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