Chapter 61 Then The War Continues
“I wasn’t sure if you’d remember the swan. I’m glad to see my daughter hasn’t completely disappeared.”
“What are you doing here?” I ask, a defensive bite coming through my words that I know he notices. However, his smile never drops.
“Surely you’re smart enough to know why.”
“Actually no.” I reply, trying to ignore the sickening swirl in my stomach from his backhanded compliment.
“I’ve got to admit, the new name, the new hair, it suits you. I had no idea it was you, never got a photo, just the name of Reid’s devoted secretary. And you know,” he starts walking towards me. “If I knew it was you, I’d have never sent the grunts to get you.”
“What, you would have come yourself? You never did like getting your hands dirty, so let’s not pretend you would have done it any other way.”
“I might have been a bit nicer about it.”
He has stopped now, about an arm’s length from me.
I can see his eyes are the same as I remember, except he has more lines around them now. His hair is lighter than I remember as well, starting to turn grey. I feel as though some sort of nostalgia should be hitting me, but I feel nothing but contempt and anger.
“What are you doing with him?” he asks, his tone less sharp this time. Like he is trying to be a concerned father.
“I don’t see how it’s any of your business.” I snap, and after a second, he laughs.
“Well isn’t this ironic?” he sighs, running a hand over his face before looking back at me. “My daughter left me because she hated this life, and now she’s in bed with the enemy. Maybe you should come back to work with me after all.”
“David isn’t the enemy. Your guys stole–”
“What?” he interrupts, raising a single brow. “We stole weapons? You think all this is over some guns?”
“Well, isn’t it? With what he did to Trent?”
“Elizabeth–”
“Don’t call me that!” I yell suddenly, before looking back at the door, worried that someone might have heard me. “I left that name behind with you.”
“She chose that name for you. I will never call you anything else.” He counters, his words a harsh reminder of our loss.
After a few seconds of silence, he breathes deeply before continuing. “Have you ever thought about why I ordered Trent to double-cross your boyfriend?”
“I… I didn’t think about it.”
“Perhaps you should get the whole story before you make any more rash decisions.”
“Right, cos I’m the one making rash decisions. Unlike you, who decided to kill everyone who even MENTIONED Mum after she–”
He storms forward, grabbing my arm and shoving me back against the door, his expression now one full of seething anger.
“You will remember who you’re speaking to.” He spits, making me recoil, wishing I could just fall through the door away from all of this.
He lets go after a moment. He even steps back. It surprises me, because I know he used to do a lot worse to those who said the wrong thing.
“I’ve given him twenty-four hours.” He mutters, making me frown in confusion. “Reid. He has twenty-four hours to give me what I want. If he does, I’ll leave you to play your perfect little life here.”
“And if he doesn’t?”
“Then the war continues.” He says simply, starting to walk away, down the alley.
“What did you ask him for?” I call after him, but he just glances at me over his shoulder, smiles, and turns back to face the way he is walking.
I feel like I don’t take a full breath until his figure disappears round the corner. But when the oxygen floods my brain, I suddenly feel nauseous.
Seriously nauseous.
Yanking the exit door to the café back open, I run to the bathroom, and vomit into the nearest toilet.
It takes five turns of rinsing my mouth out at the sink for it to stop tasting like I’ve thrown up. Then I splash more water on my face, trying to cool myself down. I refuse to look at myself in the mirror, but I know I look a mess. I feel like a mess.
I need to speak to David.
Taking another breath, and thankfully noting that my exhale makes me feel slightly less shaky, I head back to find Marcus, asking him to take me back home.
After he sees my face, he stands up immediately, asking question after question about whether I’m sick, what I’ve eaten, whether I took any new medication in the last twenty-four hours.
Any other day, I’d find his concern endearing. But each one is just like a stab in my chest, reminding me that I’ve been sick because I’ve been lying to all of them the whole time.
The nausea starts to amp back up with each step towards the apartment, feeling like it is bubbling in my throat when I am in the elevator, at the back of my mouth when he puts his finger on the scanner to open the door.
I am immediately met by noise. And people. More noise and people than I have ever seen in David’s apartment. There are two people coming out of the kitchen carrying mugs and glasses, and as Marcus leads me through, the lounge has at least another five, only one of which I know – Harlan.
He gives me a nod as he spots me walking through. I don’t notice every single other person give me quick glances as I pass by them.
Marcus keeps an eye on me as he leads us both forwards, and I blindly follow him until I realise we are now both in the doorway to David’s study.
David is standing behind his desk, his top two shirt buttons open, his hair ruffled as though he’s put his hands through it multiple times. His jacket is thrown to the side, just rumpled on the floor beside the desk, and he is pointing at the paper on his desk and arguing with Theo, who is standing opposite him, his back towards me and Marcus. Another two people are stood closer to the other wall, away from Theo and David, one of them with their head in their hands, the other staring at the ceiling as though he can’t believe what is being said.
I haven’t heard a thing of what they are saying. It is like I’ve been walking through water up until David looks up, and his eyes catch mine. Then the noise of the busy apartment floods through me, and David frowns.
“Nora, darling.” He says, walking around the desk and towards me, his hands cradling my face as his eyes scan me. “What happened, you look like you’re about to pass out? Marcus, what the hell happened?”
“She was sick, so we came back.” Marcus answers dutifully, maybe realising that seeing as I haven’t spoken the whole way back, I wouldn’t answer now. I am grateful for his perceptiveness.
“Okay, let’s get you into bed.” David says to me, starting to walk me out the study, through the lounge, but my feet are planted to the spot.
“What’s going on?” I ask, my voice coming out croaky and shaky.
“We’re making some plans. It’s fine, just come to bed and–”
“Is it about them? The man?”
“We can talk later, you need to rest.”
“Reid, they’ve got Reyes pinned on the east side already,” someone says as they come jogging up to him, causing David to drop his hands from my body and rub his eyes in frustration.
“Right, okay. Marcus, get her to bed.” David says to Marcus, before turning back to the person. “We still have control of the south docks though?”
“Yeah. Yeah. I thought maybe we could–” the stranger replies, the two of them starting to walk away into the lounge.
“What plans?” I ask Marcus when he steps closer to me, his hand going to my back, ready to guide me to the bedroom.
“They… after the meeting they made a play. We’re trying to work out a way to fight back.”
“When?”
“About an hour ago.”
“When we were at the café.” I mutter in realisation. Marcus nods sheepishly.
David wanted me kept out of the apartment so that they could plan their attack. He didn’t want me to be involved in it.
Except I am involved with it. And right now, I am probably one of the few people that can stop anything else happening.
He told me that he gave David twenty-four hours to make his decision. So, this attack either means that my father lied to me, or it is a warning to make the right choice. Or his guys acted without him knowing. Either way, it doesn’t mean anything good.
And David could be walking straight into a minefield.
Or worse, a trap.
“David!” I call out to him, making him turn round to me, as well as everyone else in the room. “I…” I look at everyone sheepishly, then back to David. “I need to talk to you.”
“It’ll have to be later, okay? Go get some rest and–”
“No.” I snap, the nausea and the panic bubbling up inside me again. “We talk now.”