Page 23 of Twins for the Enemy

“That would be amazing,” the man says. “But Ellie is in love with the idea of having it here. If we don’t have it here, she’ll be coming for both of our necks.”

“If it’s what she wants,” Kieran says, giving in.

Based on how he is with me, he doesn’t seem like the kind of guy who gives in easily. He must really love this Ellie woman.

It shouldn’t matter to me. But my throat constricts, and it feels like I’m plunging into deep water.

Stockholm Syndrome. Or it’s pregnancy hormones messing with my mind.

I slowly get up onto my knees, grasping the railing.

The other man clears his throat. “Ellie also wants to do something in memory of Olivia.”

I freeze.

“If it’s what she wants,” Kieran repeats, but this time his words have a sharp edge to them.

“She wants you to be includedin it.”

“This event is for her. It’s nothing to do with me.”

“She thinks you need closure. She wants what’s best for you.”

In memory. Closure. Olivia is a deceased loved one. It doesn’t excuse it, but it makes more sense about why he’s so cold.

“Robert Young is dead,” Kieran says. “That’s all the closure I need.”

The venom in his voice makes my hand slip off the railing. It makes a small thudding noise as my fingers hit the floor. I hold my breath, waiting to see if either of them heard me.

“Understood,” the other man says. “Let’s talk about the flowers. Ellie wants to fill every inch with lilies, but I suspect that will make it difficult to walk. We could line the hallways and—”

His voice fades as they walk to a different room.

I hold my hand close to my chest. This Robert Young man is dead, and Kieran seems sadistically satisfied about it. It’s the kind of satisfaction you get from a jobwell done—from knowing that someone got exactly what they deserved.

Did he kill him? He does seem like a man who is obsessed with revenge.

Did this Robert Young commit arson and kill Olivia? Is that why he’s so enraged about what he thinks I did?

Will that rage one day explode and I’ll be another person that he’s sneeringly talking about being dead?

I look over the staircase. Both of them are gone.

But the table in the center of the foyer has a cell phone on it.

Kieran took my burner phone. I’ve had no way to contact Neal. Kieran wouldn’t leave his phone lying around, so it must be the other man’s.

I know it’s the honey badger taking over my thoughts. I just heard that he may have murdered a man, and now I’m doing something that could trigger himinto a rage.

But if I don’t do it, both the honey badger and the mouse may be killed.

I creep down the stairs, listening carefully after every couple of steps in case the men come back.

I snatch up the phone and retreat to the bottom of the steps, making myself as small as possible. I pause after I type in Neal’s number.

Safe, but am here if anything happens. Don’t text back, borrowed phone.

I share my location with him and send the text. As soon as I see it went through, I delete the text.

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