Page 98 of Sunburned

I pinched the bridge of my nose. “Fuck.”

“I don’t know why you’re so upset,” Jennifer commented. “Your kids just got set up for life.”

Her flippant words stung. “My kids, who don’t know he’s their biological father?” I asked bitterly.

No one spoke, all of them silently judging me.

“Wow,” Jennifer said finally, weighing me up. “I have to say, I didn’t expect it of you. You seem so…nice.”

The way she said it wasn’t a compliment. But what came next was worse.

“I don’t know anymore, though.” She drummed her long nails on the table. “You show up out of nowhere, and two days later, Tyson’s dead, one-third of his fortune going to your kids.”

“Someone just tried to fuckingkillme,” I protested.

“Maybe you tried to make it look like you were pushed to throw off suspicion,” Jennifer suggested. “Maybe you jumped.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Laurent argued. “Did you see the cut in her head?”

Grateful for Laurent’s defense of me, I tried to catch his eye, but couldn’t.

“Could be an accident,” Samira suggested.

“Whatever you’ve just inherited would be worth a few stitches,” Jennifer concluded.

I could feel my face growing red as the frustration built inside me. “I told you, I don’t want his money,” I insisted, doing my best to keep my voice calm. “I know what it looks like, but I’ve never wanted this.” I caught Cody’s eye. “You of all people know that.”

“But you’re a mom,” Jennifer said. “You’d sacrifice whatever weird morals you claim to have against Tyson’s money to benefit your kids.”

That, at least, was true. Our eyes met and I swallowed, my throat tight. “Regardless, I didn’t have any idea they were in his will. And I didn’t kill him.”

But their gazes were all tinged with suspicion now—the same suspicion I felt toward each of them. I could claim innocence all I wanted, but the genie was out of the bottle, and there was no putting it back in.

Chapter 37

Jennifer set her empty champagne flute on the coffee table with a clink and rose, yawning. “I’m gonna call it.” She looked at Cody. “Shall we?”

Allison stood, stretching. “Same.”

Laurent extracted his pack of cigarettes from his pocket as he stood, and I glanced at him, but again he didn’t quite meet my gaze. My heart sank. Did he suspect me too now?

“I could use one of those,”Samira said to Laurent in French as she got up, extending a hand to pull Gisèle up off the couch.

Whether or not they wanted anything to do with me, Laurent and the girls were the only people I was relatively certain hadn’t tried to kill me, and my desire not to die superseded my ego. So, swallowing what was left of my pride, I rose to follow them.

But Samira held out a hand to stop me. “We need to talk to him,” she said.

Laurent glanced from Samira to me, finally meeting my eye. But I couldn’t read him. It stung more than I wanted it to.

Cody, Jennifer, and Allison had retreated down the stairs to their cabins on the main deck. But that didn’t mean I was safe. Justthe thought of walking to my room alone sent a shard of terror throughme.

Whack.The sound of a dart hitting the board drew my attention to Rémy, whose focus was trained on the target. Behind him, Marielle and Justine wiped down the bar. I took a calming breath. Marielle and Justine had been kind to me, and neither of them had any reason to try to off me. I’d be safe as long as they were around. Right?

“Audrey—”

I turned back to find Laurent still loitering at the bottom of the stairs, his eyes fixed on me.

“I’m fine,” I said woodenly. “Good night.”

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