Total pages in book: 177
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 163209 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 816(@200wpm)___ 653(@250wpm)___ 544(@300wpm)
“You are protecting your Trojans,” Jean said.
“You are one of my Trojans,” Jeremy reminded him, low and insistent. “This isn’t me picking them over you. I need you to know that. I’m trying to look out for all of us.”
Jean had to step back so Jeremy could finally pour his drink. The ache in his chest was now hooked in his throat as a boiling knot. He knew what he had to say to them, and he knew what he couldn’t say without it killing him. He’d spent two months burying Elodie beneath everything he could find, only for Hannah to drive a spade right into her festering grave. For a moment Jean felt far away from here, and in his desperation he reached out. He planted a hand against Jeremy’s chest as Jeremy took the first step to the door.
“Jeremy,” he said, and it sounded so much like please that Jeremy went still as stone. “Do not ask me about her. Anyone but her.” Jeremy stared up at him, looking more than a little lost. Jean couldn’t say her name, but Jeremy had no idea who Jean was talking about. Jean swallowed hard against a rush of bile that tasted far too much like blood and said, “My sister. I can’t—” The panic biting at his chest threatened to tear him open, and Jean looked away as Jeremy’s gaze shuttered. The best Jean managed was, “I can’t talk about her. I won’t.”
He thought he heard Jeremy’s soft, “I’m sorry,” but his heart was pounding so loud he might have imagined it. Jean dug his nails into his own chest, trying to force his heart to a calmer pace, and fought his grief back with everything he had. Jeremy waited with him, but he was kind enough to aim his heavy stare elsewhere and say nothing else. Jean closed his eyes anyway and looked for the box he’d shoved his nightmares into. He visualized forcing it closed and wrapping it in chains, layer after layer until he couldn’t see the wood anymore. A problem for later, with the hope “later” never came.
He felt steadier when he opened his eyes. “I am ready.”
Jeremy wasn’t crass enough to ask if he was sure but led him out of the room. Kevin had taken the far corner of the couch while Andrew sat cross-legged on the bay window where he could watch all of them. Laila had claimed her papasan chair, and Cat was sitting on the floor in front of her. She had a wad of tangled necklaces in one hand that she was picking at. She held it up when they arrived and said,
“I’m trying my best, but Laila apparently doesn’t know how to use a jewelry box. Found these in a baggie under the sink.”
“Oops,” Laila said, unrepentant.
Jeremy motioned for Jean to take his seat first, and Jean opted for the other end of the couch. It left a cushion open between Kevin and himself that he assumed Jeremy would fill, but Jeremy knelt on the ground on the far side of the coffee table. Jean supposed that was the best place for him if he wanted to look both Kevin and Jean in the eye without having to turn back and forth.
Jeremy followed Jean’s lead in emptying half his mug. When he set it down, the click sounded final. Jeremy only waited another moment before asking, “Why did Neil come to Los Angeles in June?”
It was probably meant for Jean, but he didn’t mind that Kevin was a touch faster on the draw. “He had to meet with the FBI to discuss complications with his father’s investigation. We incorrectly assumed he would head to Baltimore for it,” Kevin added, with a sidelong look at Jean. “Why they chose to meet here is beyond me.”
“Because Jean is here.” Jeremy turned his head toward Cat and Laila, meaning his next words for them, but kept his gaze on Jean’s face as he said, “Because Jean’s parents worked with Neil’s father, the alleged Butcher.”
“Not alleged,” Jean said, even as Cat’s startled, “What?” nearly blew out his eardrums.
Cat and Laila rounded on him, Laila looking taken aback and Cat’s mouth so wide it was a wonder she hadn’t dislocated her jaw. Cat found her voice first, but all she managed was a strident, “You’re not serious.”
Jean quietly picked his way through the truth, looking for the answer he was allowed to give them and the details that would best explain this fiasco to Kevin. He turned an unwavering stare on Jeremy and said, “The wrong people were asking why Neil came back from Evermore different. He’d spent years on the run; for him to throw away his disguise when his team was the talk of the nation was unforgivably reckless.
“If they turned too long a look on Evermore, Neil thought it inevitable they would find me. He came here to warn me and to force a preemptive strike. Where Neil goes, the FBI follows. We wanted to come clean on our own terms rather than be blindsided down the road.”