Page 114 of Feed Your Fiends

“You said Silas is the father.”

“Ithinkit’s Silas. Delphine all but confirmed it, but it doesn’t mean it’s true.”

“And Jarett doesn’t know?”

I shake my head. “They split orphanages midway through their childhood. They only kept in contact a few times a year in their early twenties. Silas became a millionaire and forgot about him. Jarett never forgot, though. And he never knew Marisol until she gave me that fake scholarship.”

Rin’s eyes grow wide. “No. Like mother, like son.”

Is that where Gant had got the idea from? Did he know what Marisol had done back then?

“What a fucker. Well, at least you're about to get your revenge. Speaking of, when will you get Bart’s personal number from Gant’s phone? We go back to Beaulieu in three nights, and it’ll be almost impossible to get it then. The dorm masters are strict the first week back, even Ms Trix will hold off on the liquor chocolates for a bit.”

“I know.”

“Did you look over his shoulder to get the code? I told you the best way to do it is through a reflective surface, so it’s not so obvious.”

“I got the code this morning.” I’d seen it in my mimosa glass at brunch. And in the vanity mirror when we did our skin care. And in the balcony windows when he’d texted Hale, and when he’d had his arms around me and opened his phone right in front of my face like he had absolutely nothing to hide.

“So? What are you waiting for?”

“He isn’t here yet, is he? Just you.” I roll my eyes. “But how do you expect me to contact Bart? And say what exactly? Hey, I found your wife’s killer. That’ll be three hundred grand.” I shove my palm under her nose as if waiting for her to put money in it. “It isn’t that easy.”

“Well think of something. I can’t make all the plans.”

“All you did was pay someone after I got choked out for snooping.”

“You still owe me for that, by the way. Add it to my cut.”

“Bart’s coming into town. Gant and Delphine are organising a cricket match.”

“Ew. Why?”

“Seems like a mini-reunion for the parents. Apparently, some of them went to university together. It’s a rare occurrence for them to be in town, so Bart wants to meet up, and Gant wants me to meet Bart at the same time.”

“That’s perfect!” she says, sitting on the edge of the bed. “Wait, damn, his room…”

“Gant says he never stays at the penthouse. Even when he’s in town. I don’t think they’ve ever really lived together.”

“Perfect, for the both of us. Go to the cricket match. Get Bart aside at the best moment, without Gant and give him the folder. Demand the money. Threaten him with Beaussip in twenty-four hours if he doesn’t pay up.”

I sink into the covers, and Rin’s eyes narrow.

“What?” I ask.

“You want to pussy out!”

“I don’t.”

She shakes her head. “But you’re thinking of ways not to confront Bart directly, aren’t you?’

“I…”

“Why are you so scared? Was Gant scared when he got those rigged pointe shoes made? When he humiliated you and potentially ended your dance career? He didn’t give a singular fuck because he showed his face at that hospital not even twenty minutes after you were admitted. He’s never scared. You can’t be either.”

“I’msorryI’m not a raging bitch who can take down a dragon in one conversation. Bart Auclair tortured my father for two years. Jarett’s….fuckedin the head. He’s acting like a damn dog with the brain capacity of a toddler. What do you think Bart did to him to make him regress like that?”

She flinches, seemingly speechless as the gravity of my true reality crashes down on her.

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