Page 111 of Snake

Knox

I’m glad Nim’s announcement doesn’t just catch me off guard. I already feel like a fucking imbecile for not making some of these connections before. But I have to hand it to these three families—if keeping secrets was an Olympic sport, they’d all have come home with the gold.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen my mother speaking directly to Jet or Dona before today. Which, now that I’m thinking about it, must have taken quite some social maneuvering. The Harts, Furinos, and Zaras organize at least five philanthropic events a year between the three of them.

Now, just when I think I’m getting a handle on this whole situation, Nim’s gone and blown my mind.

“Blackmail?” Dona squeaks, right on top of Vicky’s rough, “Sweetie, please.”

Jet leans back in his seat, snapping his fingers. Waitstaff appears out of thin air to start clearing the table. He murmurs in the ear of one of them, and then stands. “I need a cigar.”

I’m on my feet in an instant. “May we join you?”

Jet glances over at me, then at Mason and Silas and Nim. “Yeah, why the hell not,” he says dryly. “We’re beyond standing on ceremony today.”

I’m still turning to push in my chair when Nim sweeps past me, her hands clenched in fists. For a second, I’m concerned for Jet’s safety, seeing the angry swish in her hips. But I’m sure it’s not him she’s pissed off at. It’s her parents.

Blackmail? I guess if anyone would know, it’d be Nim. I’ve never even met her parents. I share a look with Silas and Mason, the three of us walking abreast as we follow Nim and Jet deeper into the house. When I hear the click of heels on the tiles behind me, I turn and give Vicky and Ophelia a double take.

Geri and Donatella apparently don’t smoke, or have decided to sit out the next round of revelations. Dona especially looks particularly distraught.

Jet opens a darkly-paneled den, stepping aside and ushering us in with a sweep of his hand. The fireplace is lit, but I’m sure in a house like this it’s more ornamental than anything else. It adds an air of introspection and mystery, most appropriate for the unveiling of dark secrets.Jet goes over to a glass-walled humidor in one corner, Vicky joining him a moment later. They murmur quietly to each other as Jet selects a box of cigars. My mother’s face is tight, and when she glances at us over her shoulder and happens to lock eyes with me, she frowns and quickly looks away.

Guess she doesn’t like the idea that we’re all here. But it looks like she doesn’t have a say in the matter.

Nim looks about to storm over to Jet, but Ophelia turns to her and touches the edge of her short, honey-brown hair, giving Nim a warm smile. “I’m glad you didn’t get Jet’s hair,” she says. “It would have washed you out terribly.”

I don’t know why that should calm Nim, but her hands unfurl as she gives Ophelia a tight smile. Then she glances over her shoulder at us, a small crease of concern at the corners of her hazel eyes.

Our girl has got a lot on her mind.

She looks back at where Jet and Vicky are holding their clandestine meeting, and then walks over to us. She plucks a photograph out from the bosom of her dress, smoothing it out over her thigh before handing it to me.

“No use hiding this anymore, is there?”

I take it from her carefully, looking at Silas and Mason as they come to stand beside me. Unlike the other photos in Nim’s shoebox, I recognize every face in the photo.Even Lorenzo, lurking in the background like a fucking creep.

But Nim’s right. There are no more secrets to be gleaned from this card stock. I hand it back to her, but she shakes her head and pushes it back toward me. “I don’t want it,” she says bitterly, and there’s a glimmer in her eyes I don’t like one bit.

I take her elbow, pulling her back with me as I move further away from Ophelia. “Take it easy,” I murmur. “You’ll always catch more flies with honey than vinegar.”

She lets out a cold chuckle. “That’s rich, coming from you.”

I don’t let her anger get to me. I’d be pissed off too if I was in her situation. But she’s not making any friends acting like this, and I have a feeling she’s going to need as many people as possible on her side in the coming months and years.

Has she even thought about it like that? It’s easy for Jet to say that it was time for her to rejoin the fold, but do any of them realize how fucking difficult it’s going to be for Nim to gain acceptance in a town where people tout their family names like royal ranks? She may be Jet Hart’s daughter, but she’s also Donatella Furino’s daughter. An illegitimate child, forced out of Cinderhart when she was so young that no one here remembers her.

She has a fucking tough road ahead...and she’s not even twenty-one yet.

Vicky’s raised voice reaches me then. “—told you this would happen, but you never—”

Jet hushes her, grabbing her arm and turning her so she has her back to the rest of the room. I don’t know how long they’re going to be there, arguing with each other while Ophelia stands like a deserted island between our two groups.

There are also no signs of those cigars being opened any time soon.

“I need a cigarette,” I mutter. “You two, stay here and keep an eye on things until we’re back.”

I cock my head at Nim, and she glances back at Jet before nodding reluctantly. As I open the door, Silas says, “Wait for me.”

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