Page 24 of Love Her

“I know how your mother died, Lia,” he went on, in an attempt to defuse me—and I opened my mouth to tell himwhyshe’d died that way, and was trapped there, with the words choking in my throat, looking like a hungry baby bird.

After I’d burned our house down and my parents had sent me to boarding school I’dwrittenmy mother about my uncle. Praying that for once someone would understand me.

And rather than go and do anything useful about it, she’d up and killed herself from guilt.

Which was another reason, I was sure, why my silence on the subject wouldn’t go away.

Because I’d already killed one person who I loved by telling them the truth.

What good could possibly happen if I told another?

“It’s all right,” he went on, stroking a soothing hand against my back. “Just promise me—no matter what happens to me,” he said, circling that hand around to cup my chin, using it to draw me back down to his side. “I want you to live.”

It was brutal, but if it was what he truly wanted, I could hardly do otherwise. “Okay.”

“Good,” he said, wrapping me even closer to him, and kissing the top of my head again. “Go to sleep little girl, and maybe I’ll fuck you again in the morning.”

And even as much as I fought it, not wanting to miss a moment of my time with him, I started drifting off.

13

RHAIM

Iwaited until Lia was sleeping to finally relax, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to at all.

If this was the only time I was going to get to be with her, in any capacity—like it very well might be—I wanted to drink in every moment. To savor the light sound of her restful breathing, and kiss her one more time before she left the bed.

I also needed to find her some clothing to wear tomorrow that wasn’t evening wear, and that had long sleeves, to protect the twin secrets of both her moth tattoo and scars.

She and Isabelle were close enough in size, but I suspected offering her any of my dead wife’s clothing would be a step too far—so I picked up my phone from the nightstand to text Sable.

Yo.

It took her a minute to wake up.

JFC Rhaim, it’s almost four, what the fuck?

I need you to grab me a set of clothes and shoes for Lia and bring them to Isabelle’s apartment.

The dots on my phone appeared to rotate at high speeds.

Do I look like your errand girl?

Not in the least. Which is why you’re perfect for the job.

Fuck you.

Is that the same as see you in fifteen?

Where do you think I’m going to get clothes for your tiny-ass girlfriend in New York before sunrise?

No clue, but I know I pay you enough to figure it out, I sent, and then added, Please make the top long sleeved. And bring a burner.

You’re getting whatever my ex left in my closet, and an iPhone 4 without a charger.

I moved to set the phone down, but to my surprise the dots kept spinning. My relationship with Sable had always been rough and tumble, so I knew she wouldn’t fire back after getting the last word…which meant that something must be wrong.

BTW, Cinderella’s phone’s been blowing up. You’re the only one snooping on her electronically, I’ve made sure of that—but it seems someone else on Corvo’s team is watching her building, and her dad knows she hasn’t been home yet.

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