Page 8 of Morsel

“You’d better speak, Dolly.”

But I don’t.

I can’t bring myself to say anything else because I’m tired, and I’m scared, and I don’t know what’s going to happen next.

I’m quiet as Oscar pulls onto the highway. Somehow, he’s finding his way home. I’m not sure where Hank’s apartment was, and I’m not sure what he and Craig are going to do now, but that’s not of any concern to me.

What I’m starting to wonder is what’s going to happen to me.

“Where are you taking me?”

“No.”

“What?”

“That’s not how this works, Dolly. If you want information, you have to share.”

“But I-”

“That’s how it works. You speak, I speak. You speak, I speak. If you don’t share, I’m not telling you shit.”

“What the fuck?” I mutter the words before I can stop myself. The low laugh that escapes Oscar’s lips is dark.

And terrifying.

He’s going to hurt me, I realize. He’s not going to just drop me off at my apartment and pretend like everything is normal.

“What are you going to do to me?”

“There we go. That’s the question you should be asking.”

“Oscar?”

“No more talking, Dolly. The next time you speak, it’s going to be to answer questions. If you aren’t going to help me, you’re going to shut the fuck up.”

So I do.

I sit with my hands in my lap, and I wait until we get to Oscar’s apartment. He pulls the car into the basement parking lot of the building. I happen to know that he owns the entire building, but he lives on the top floor. I also know that he renovated the entire thing and his place is soundproof.

How do I know this?

I’m just the receptionist, and people talk. When people come by Shadowvale Industries, they stop in the lobby and spill their guts. In some ways, I feel like a hairdresser. People tell me all of their secrets. They don’t even think twice about it.

He parks the car, and then he turns to me.

“We’re going to get out of the car.”

“Okay.”

“We’re going to walk to the elevator.”

“I understand.”

“If you run, or you scream, or you try to signal for help, it won’t go well for you,” he says.

I believe him.

Oscar got to where he is today because his father was a rich man, but he stays where he is because he’s a cunning man. In my opinion, he’s the smartest of the three brothers. Ryan is broken and sad and mopey, and Phoenix is broody and sad and mopey, but Oscar is strategic. He’s the kind of guy who is always figuring out what his next move is going to be.

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