Page 27 of Seduce & Destroy

“She says she’s homeschooled, Neenan.”

“You were homeschooled too.” I started to argue but Neenan raised his hand to my face. “If someone came up to you right now and they asked how you were educated, what would you say?”

“That I’m homeschooled.”

“Yes!”

“With a stint at public school.”

Neenan’s face fell. But he was undeterred. Really, I wished to talk about anything else besides Kenna and her lies. “Okay, okay, but what if she did the same? And just said homeschooled to simplify it.”

Making sure to fully face him, I moulded my expression to reflect the ridiculous conspiracy that he was concocting. “Can we just set up the fire pit?” I said, exasperated as I looked away again.

“No.” Neenan grabbed my chin, his eyes bored into mine. “It doesn’t have to be a personal betrayal. She might not have known that it would hurt you so.”

“I don’t want to talk about it!” Anger simmered under my skin, but I refused to let it boil. I needed the subject to change right now. “I’m sure we still have some marshmallows here somewhere,” I said, jumping up from my seat and rummaging through various cupboards and tins. “I’ll grab the nail polish after we get set up and everything.”

His eyes were wide as he took in my frantic movements but thankfully, he let it go. “Yeah, they’re by the kettle. Forrester likes marshmallows in his hot chocolate.”

“Really?” I laughed, grateful to disperse some of the tension in my body.

“Really, really. Has done so since I was a kid. He made me drink hot chocolate before tea. Very un-British of him.” He jokingly scolded.

I grabbed the marshmallows and got some skewers before we went to the backdoor.

Chapter 10

KENNA

My relentless knocking was making my knuckles hurt. A light was coming from under her door, so I knew she was inside.

“I know you are in there, Laney. Open up!” I halfway yelled.

It was just about to turn nine o'clock and the lingering echoes of commands and instructions are starting to fade. All that remained was my steady beating on Laney's door. Sharing a wall meant that I learned her routine fast. At this time of night, she'd be curled into bed with the fire roaring, the flipping of pages the only sound. But whilst the fire crackled, the paper wasn’t shuffling. Had something changed?

As I continued to knock, the growing redness around my knuckles made me pause and in that split second of silence, I noted a different kind of shuffle. Not of pages, but of boots.

“Miss Whether, what are you doing at my daughter’s door screaming?”

Jesus Christ, again? Richard Ravencroft stood behind me, watching, about ten feet away. He was flanked on both sides by a rotation of men, his usual entourage. I held still to avoid rolling my eyes.

“I noticed how you’ve become close with her quickly. What are your intentions?” He narrowed his already dead eyes. Twenty-three days.

Turning toward him, I held my hands up and smiled. “Completely chaste ones, Sir, I promise. Just wanted to see if she wanted to have a cup of tea with me and sit by the fireplace.” Even my most polite voice couldn't hide the simmering anger and disappointment of his daughter's decision to ignore me.

He hummed and came closer, leaving his guards a couple steps behind him, until his body loomed over me. “Your racket could be heard all the way in my office. I don’t enjoy interruption.”

“Of course, Sir.” I laid the charm on thick. “Do you know where Laney is? If not here?”

Flicking his wrist upward, he prompted his men to leave.

I love when a man underestimates me. He clearly didn’t think of me as a threat as my hand slipped behind me, out of view from his glaring eyes. They stayed fixed above me, intimidating only if I hadn't been fuelled by the irritation of his family name.

He ignored my question. “Tomorrow is Tilly’s funeral. Do I trust that you will attend without causing a nuisance? Drama seems to follow you.”

I nodded. Under the hem of my shirt, I found the butt end of a handgun. His grating voice beamed over me as I cocked the safety off. It always paid to be prepared.

This wasn't the perfect time. But it was a rare opportunity where I had caught him alone. I looked up at him, wondering if, in his arrogance, he could see the damage he bestowed onto his surrounding soldiers. He wasn't going to win the war.

---