Page 4 of Provocation
‘Okay,’ he whispers.
We sit in the closet for a few more minutes. I rise first and I hear him follow as I go to the door and open it slowly, making sure there’s no one lying in wait. All is clear so I leave, blinking in the light from the lamp that Shade must have turned on when he came in.
‘Whendidthey change my room?’ I ask, going into the bathroom to make sure I look as put together as I did when I left the dining room.
‘Two years after you left.’ He stands behind me and fixes his hair, too. ‘I used to come in here almost every afternoon before they did.’
His eyes lock with mine in the mirror. ‘I’d sit in here and pretend you weren’t gone.’
‘They justdid itone day. They got rid of your stuff, took down the wallpaper. I came home from school and it was all gone. That’s when I knew you weren’t coming back.’
He leans forward, kissing the place where my neck and shoulder meet.
‘I’m not losing you again,’ he whispers.
I don’t tell him that he won’t have a choice in the matter. It’s better that he doesn’t know my exact plan, or when I’m going to run. Instead, I turn and brush an errant piece of hair back from his face.
‘How did you know where to find me?’ I ask, glancing back at the closet.
He smirks. ‘I always knew that was your spot.’
He takes my hand and leads me from my old room. We go past John’s, and I pause, remembering the shoe print, but Shade shakes his head.
‘I checked on the way up,’ he murmurs.
‘And?’
‘I couldn’t find any that matched the tread of the shoe from the picture taken at the scene.’
My heart sinks. ‘I could have sworn…’
He side-eyes me. ‘I wasn’t done.’
Rolling my eyes, I begin to descend the stairs slowly, as regally as I can muster. ‘Go on, then, unless you’d like your father and the Bandervilles to hear as well.’
‘I couldn’t find any.’
‘Isn’t that what you just said?’ I mutter, plastering on my fake smile in preparation for reentering the snake pit.
‘No, I mean, there were none of his Italian shoes there at all. And I know he had at least one pair because he wore them over the summer to a charity ball in New York. There are pictures of him there with April, and he was definitely wearing them.’
‘Stevens might have them for polishing,’ I murmur. ‘Before we leave tonight, I’ll find him. We don’t have time now though; we’ve been gone for too long already.’
Shade lets out a breath as we near the living room where the distinctive voice of his father can be heard. ‘Ready?’
No.
I straighten. ‘Yes.’
He opens the door for me, and I enter the room. The men stand, even Marcus. The opportunistic scumbag was taught his manners, after all. I successfully keep the sneer off my face, of course.
‘There you are,’ John says. ‘I was about to send out a search party.’
His eyes bore into me, flicking between Shade and me as if he thinks he knows something. I keep my expression bland.
‘Apologies. I got turned around. I’d forgotten how maze-like this house was. Thankfully, Jack found me.’
‘Of course,’ John murmurs with a smirk, having a sip of his Scotch and no doubt taking my words as yet more evidence that I’m an attention seeker who’s as dumb as a rock. Just as he always thought I was.
