Chapter 0255

The food at dinner does me no favors by being absolutely delicious. The salad is tart and citrussy, the lasagna creamy and rich,

the desert — coconut sorbet which Natalia annoyingly made from scratch — basically makes me moan when I taste it.

And I grudge every bite that I take, wishing to hell and back that I don’t like it as much as I obviously do.

“I'm glad you enjoyed yourself, Fay,” Natalia says warmly to me once we’ve all finished, delicately holding the spoon that she’s

been using to feed Kent sorbet. There’s a wicked gleam in her eyes. “I do like to see a girl who is not afraid to eat, no matter how

much it expands her waistline.”

I do my best to hold back my glare as I slowly lick my spoon, savoring every drop. “Luckily,” I say, lowering my silverware

leisurely to the table, “that’s not something I have to worry about, Natalia.” I give a little shrug. “Maybe in twenty, thirty years.”

Her smile falters a little on her face and I decide that this little victory is the perfect note on which to make my exit.

“Thank you!” I say, getting to my feet and stretching my arms above my head in the growing dark. “This was lovely. Daniel?” I

say, turning to him. “Are you coming up?”

“Sure,” he says, getting to his feet as well and saying his goodnights and thank-yous around the table, as polite as he always is.

Natalia, Kent, and Alessi say their farewells to us as well, but they stay at the table, turning towards each other as Daniel and I

head to the door.

As Daniel leans forward to grab the handle, though, some of Alessi’s words catch my ear.

“Kent,” he says, “perhaps now is a good time to go through the details of the little deal that we’re working through —*

I turn then, my curiosity getting the better of me, and immediately meet Kent’s eyes as he frowns at me. I know, instantly, that

he’s sending me a very precise message: that this conversation is not for me.

But, stubborn, I pause, turning my head and doing my best to listen further as Daniel pulls open the door and takes my hand,

pulling me with him.

“Wait,” I murmur, straining my hearing to catch Alessi saying something about plans, about a shipment —

But then Daniel catches his father’s glare as well, and he hurries to pull me through the door, despite my silent protest.

“Hey!” I say, frowning up at Daniel as he closes the door to the patio behind us. “I was listening to that!”

“You were eavesdropping, Fay,” he shoots back, frowning at me. “There’s a reason they were waiting to talk about it until we left.”

“Yah,” I say, looking up at him as if it’s obvious. “Which is why I wanted to hear what they were saying!”

“Dad doesn’t like that,” Daniel says, putting an arm around my shoulders and guiding me through the now-empty kitchen towards

the door so we can go upstairs.

“Just because he doesn't want us to

know isn’t a reason for us to let him

keep it secret,” I Peed

ie Davie’ Kady, st pping in my

tracks and making him turn to me.

“We're in bad shape. This is not the

time to be willingly ignorant about the

goings-on of this family.” Please read

the original content at

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And then I take a minute to give him the short version of what Ivan told me this afternoon — that there’s only about a week,

maybe less, before something big is coming our way. That our lives are at stake.

“Fay,” Daniel says, sighing and

running an anxious hand eros

hair as he looks bgckalthe do fl

Hear thath)Su're anxious about this —

but honestly, this is stuff that’s all

best left to my dad — he knows what

he’s doing —" Please read the original

content at .

“Daniell” I protest, shocked and a little appalled. “I have as much faith in Kent as you do! But clearly, clearly this is getting out of

even his hands! We need to know more!”

“Don't let him hear you say that, Fay,”

Daniel says, looking down at me with

a worried expressian cHwitt not

eRe Wal, you suggest that this is

somehow out of his hands. Because

of something fucking Ivan told you.”

Please read the original content at

.