Page 49 of Midnight Salvation

Nicole smiled. “And a bigger gift for her.”

Oliver shrugged. “Something like that.”

“When are you thinking of?” Mum directed the question to Nicole.

“Maybe October or December. I always wanted a theme for my wedding, and there’s a lot you can do with those months.” I noticed that Nicole always looked to Dylan after she spoke as if checking that what she said was okay. It was weird and made me think he was trying to control the situation. “Which do you prefer, Ash?”

She tended to look at me with huge, terrified eyes, as if I was about to attack her. “As long as I don’t have to dress up as a pumpkin or Santa Claus, we’re good,” I replied.

She chewed the side of her mouth as if trying to work out if I was joking or serious.

“I dunno,” Aaron quipped. “I’d sit on your knee and tell you I was a good boy.”

The image made me laugh. “You’d deserve a sack of coal.”

He nodded thoughtfully. “The price of fossil fuels is on the increase.”

“How’s your car?” Dad asked.

“Jordan had it taken to his garage,” I replied. There was no way Dad would ever try to question Jordan on my car.

“What happened to it?” Dylan watched me carefully as he asked. I didn’t doubt that they had planned this line of questioning together. The only problem with their strategy was that Dylan had been in the meeting the day I’d mentioned about it.

I sat back in my chair. “Some asshole hit it and drove on. It was parked at our business in the docks. My security unit discovered it and reported it straight away.” I deliberately furrowed my brow to feign confusion. “Were you not at that Council meeting?”

He glanced away. “I tend to drift in and out of the meetings, since a lot of them are lists of facts that do not concern me.”

I fished my phone out of my pocket and showed the photograph Jordan had created of my damaged car. We were nothing if not thorough with our alibis. Aaron frowned and grabbed my phone.

“What a piece of shit. That will take a small fortune to fix,” he said.

“Tell me about it,” I lamented. “I love that car. If I ever find who did it, I’ll personally take the cost out of their ass.”

Dad and Dylan shared a look. They’d thought I had been lying about the car. I had at the time, but that was soon rectified. The best lie was hidden deep inside the truth.

“Any idea who did it?” Dad asked.

“We get a lot of joyriders down there since it’s isolated. I only left the car there because I was running late for the Council meeting, and took my bike.” I took a drink and set my glass back down again. “I wouldn’t like to be them when Jay catches up with them.”

Mum kept dinner moving along and the time ticked ever closer to my escape hour.

“I have an early meeting in the morning, so I’m going to have to leave,” I said when coffee had finished. “Do you need a lift, Nicole?”

She glanced at Dylan and I watched his eyes signal no. “Thanks, but I’ll get a lift with Dad.”

“I promised to pop over to Melanie’s tonight,” Mum said. “Can I grab a lift with you and Matteus can pick me up later?” She always tried to pretend their marriage was still functional even though we all knew the truth.

“Sure, Mum.” I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Maybe some sleep with stave off this headache.”

She disappeared and reappeared a few moments later with her coat and bag. “Goodnight, everyone. I hope you enjoyed dinner.”

Mutters flowed around the table even as I ushered her out.

As soon as we were in the car, I dialled Jordan on my hands-free kit.

“What’s up?” he answered.

“I need you to go into Dad’s tracker network and show me taking Mum home and leaving her there. Then take her tracker offline. I’ll deal with mine.”

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