Page 38 of Lovesick Titan

“Actually gave me up, huh?” Mal’s hand trembled as he clutched his phone.

“No. Mal, listen to me. They found your comms in my bottom drawer.”

The comms. Mal hadn’t followed up with Priestly to find out what became of them, he’d just assumed it was taken care of. “And here I thought you’d put them aside to protect me, that you’d destroy them or give them back. But you were just hanging onto them to have something to use against me later.”

“No, I…” Danny’s voice broke, cracked as he trailed off. “I was going to give them back to you, I just…forgot.”

Mal huffed a jagged laugh. “Treachery or stupidity, which is worse? I’m not worried. Let them come. If all they get is the neighborhood, then the only person who needs to be worried is you.” Letting the smile enter his voice as he sat there, he pictured Danny’s face twisted with resentment. “Jail time will be good for you, Danny. Assuming you don’t run for it. You are so very good at that.”

The line was quiet, and Mal could hear Danny breathing, a shuddery inhale filled with emotion that once might have made Mal waver. There was no anger or indignation in Danny’s tone when he spoke again. Only defeat. “I know. You’re right. Running is the only thing I’ve ever been good at. But I think this time I’m going to take what I’ve got coming.”

The smile drained from Mal’s face. He couldn’t listen to these lies. It was just a ploy to make him feel pity, to make him relent. Danny didn’t care about him; he only cared about saving himself. When the time came, he wouldn’t pay the piper. He’d show his true colors again, and Mal would stand tall as he watched Danny fall from his pedestal.

“Mal…?” Danny prompted softly when Mal didn’t respond.

His wounded voice did not make Mal’s breath catch. It did not make his eyes feel hot. It did not make him wish he could touch the kid and ease his suffering. It didnot.

Mal pulled the phone away from his face so Danny wouldn’t hear how much of an effort it took to breathe. He was fine, he was fine, he’d befine…

“What do you want, Danny?” he spoke coldly when he brought the phone back to his ear.

Danny’s voice was gentle as he said, “Nothing. I know you don’t believe me. I know you never will. But I really am sorry. For everything.”

The click of the line going dead made Mal gasp because he’d expected Danny to plead a better case than that, to at least wait for his response, not to give in so easily and leave him hanging. Maybe that was the game this time, to make Mal believe Danny mourned what he’d taken from them. But it wasn’t real. It couldn’t be real. Danny deserved what he had coming. If Mal gave in now, his nemesis would get exactly what he wanted.

No.No. The truth would come out. Danny wasn’t going to jail. He’d never allow that. He’d find some way out of it, Mal was certain. Danny had no interest in doing right by Mal if it meant paying for his crimes. He was just looking to bring back the fair weather of an easy lay. Once Mal pulled off this next heist and lured Zeus out into the open again, the real Danny Grant would be there and the last of the ruse would fall away.

Mal just needed to see it. He needed to watch the moment when Danny’s mask broke and he couldn’t pretend anymore.

It wasn’t that he was needlessly cruel. He didn’t need to physically harm Danny or go after the people he cared about. He just wanted to see Danny’s grand façade as the untouchable hero crumble away into dust.

Throwing his phone aside, Mal stood from the bed and took a breath, willing the warmth lingering in his eyes to go away. Slowly, he returned to the closet and pulled out his cerulean button-down, a black tie, and his best suit, vest and all. Three pieces was what Danny had asked for at Mal’s next heist, and this time he planned to deliver.

Tomorrow night Mal would drive the knife that much deeper and rid himself of wanting Danny Grant once and for all.

Chapter9

Danny had the rest of Sunday to wallow and think about what he wanted. What hereallywanted he couldn’t have, so he kept weighing his options between fighting the IA investigation and just letting it happen.

Right now it was only a picture and a misplaced piece of evidence on a case that Zeus himself had said was the fault of Cassidy Ludgate, which was the only reason Danny hadn’t been arrested already. Still, if he didn’t give Mal up, it wouldn’t matter if they didn’t find anything else. He’d lose his job. They’d likely press charges. It was over.

He wondered how easy it would be to lightning jump out of his cell at night to still do his rounds as Zeus and laughed hysterically at the thought.

After Danny hung up his call with Mal, he’d stayed in his room a while before finally going downstairs to get something for lunch. John was calmer, which only made him seem sadder, more disappointed, and Danny hated that—that he’d dragged all of them down with him.

“I just can’t believe so much was happening that you didn’t tell me,” John said. And eventually, after much discussion about Danny’s options with IA, “Please don’t do this, son.”

But Danny had already done it. He’d earned what was happening. “I have to own up to my responsibilities, Dad.”

“What about your responsibilities to this family? To this city?”

“I’ll think about it,” Danny said, if only to keep John from badgering him. It would be so easy to make it all go away, either by having Andre help him futz with the evidence, using his powers tomanipulate things, or even handing Mal over and making a deal with the OCPD. But that wasn’t an option. None of it was.

Joey was quiet like he didn’t feel right getting involved, but once there was nothing more to talk about other than rehashing the same topics again, he pulled Danny aside.

“Wanna brainstorm about Hades now? I got some ideas I was working on if you wanna hear them.”

How could Danny refuse his genuine enthusiasm to help? Even if Danny did allow himself to be put away, he couldn’t leave the city at the mercy of Ludgate.

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