Chapter 0065

I’m slightly shaken by the experience, to be honest – first talking to my father, and then reporting the

conversation to Kent. I know that I’m a pawn in their game, but I hadn’t realized that I’d be expected to

report, on either side, what the other had said.

How do I manage this? I hadn’t lied to Kent – had told him everything. But was that, really, my best

choice? Where did my allegiances lie?

I sigh, pushing through the kitchen door and then heading out to the back garden. I need some fresh

air.

When I pass through the back door, I’m pleased to see Daniel there, buttering a scone at the little table,

reading.

“Oh hey, Fay,” he says, smiling at me. “Do you want some tea?”

“Sure,” I say, sitting down and feeling better already. “Actually, tea sounds great.”

Kent waits for the door to his office to click shut before reaching towards the top drawer, which he

unlocks with a key from his pocket. Then he pulls it open and removes the tape recorder that’s sitting

inside, still running.

Deftly, he presses the stop button and then the rewind, waiting a few moments before pressing stop

again. Then he presses play and listens, carefully, to the entire conversation between Alden and Fay.

Kent smiles a little as the conversation passes, as he realizes that Fay told him precisely what was said

in precisely the same order. Not only does she have a good memory, but she didn’t leave anything out.

Good. This means his trust in her can remain, at least from now.

Kent smile deepens a bit as she hesitates when Alden asks if she and Daniel have been intimate.

Alden was pleased by her silence, suggesting a negation, and Kent can’t help feeling the same.

The smug happiness inside him is checked, though, by the sudden wonder of why Daniel and Fay

haven’t been intimate. Of course, selfishly, because he knows he wants her, Kent doesn’t want Daniel

to touch her.

But they’re young people who claim to be in love, their bedrooms basically next door to each other. If

Kent had been in Daniel’s place in his early 20s, he’d be sneaking over to his girlfriend’s room every

night.

So why wasn’t Daniel?

Kent sighs, putting the consideration away for another day, and moves to press stop on the tape

recorder just as the conversation is ending. He pauses, though, when he hears Fay hesitate.

“Um no. I don’t have anything to give you.” Fay had said, but her voice is oddly strained here. Kent

takes his hand off the stop button, listening closely. “Not…right now. At least.”

Kent frowns deeply at this, listening with only half an ear as the tape continues to roll, turning mostly to

footsteps and silence.

Not right now? What the hell did that mean? Did Fay expect to have something to give Alden in the

near future?

Narrowing his eyes, Kent gets to his feet.

Perhaps little Fay was starting to play the game. And not on his side.

Without hesitation, Kent steps out of his room, snapping his fingers at the guard who is standing there.

“Get two more guys,” he says. “We’re going upstairs.”

The guard nods, heading off to collect who he can, and Kent heads up the stairs.

He opens the door to Fay’s room, looking around carefully. She keeps her space neat, but not

obsessively so. The bed is nicely made, but there are books and writing tools placed casually around

the room as if she left them there unthinkingly, distracted.

When his guys pull up behind him, Kent gives his command without looking at them.

“Toss it,” he says. “The whole place. Anything strange, I want to see it. I don’t want a single corner

untouched.”

The guys nod, moving into the room and starting to tear it apart.