Page 59 of The Carver

I knew what had really happened.

I slept like shit every night, having nightmares about the violence I’d witnessed. I didn’t care about the welfare of the man with a stab wound in his leg beside me, but I wondered if he’d survived. Or maybe he did survive, and then Bastien killed him.

I knew Bastien was really wrapped up in the chaos when he didn’t text me. It was the first time in our relationship that I felt his absence when I needed him more. But out of fear of seeming clingy or desperate, I let it be.

Chapter 10

Bastien

I entered my mother’s house and was escorted to the drawing room. Like she was a queen and I was a peasant, I waited for her to join me.

Nearly twenty minutes later, she graced me with her presence, fully done up like she expected a male suitor. Luminous pearls hung around her neck, and she wore a gray and black ensemble, like she was ready to go out rather than spend the evening at home.

“I hope I’m not interrupting your plans for the evening.”

“You’re never an interruption, dear.” She came to me, and I had to bend my knees so she could kiss me on each cheek. “Would you like to join me for dinner?”

I was too busy to sit down for a meal. Had been too busy even to see my girl. “I need to speak with Godric.”

Her eyes glazed over with disappointment. “I helped you once. I won’t do it again.”

“It’s important?—”

“It’s always important.”

“I just need his number.”

“Your brother is already not speaking to me. I know in time he’ll come around because I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place with you two. But if I give this to you, it’ll take even longer for him to come back to me.”

“He doesn’t need to know you gave it to me, Mom.”

Her hands came together at her tight waist, her nails done in French tips. “Don’t put me in the middle.”

“I’m not?—”

“You are. All I want is to be a mother to my two sons, not be a soldier on the battlefield, fighting in a war I don’t support. What I want is for the two of you to reconcile, to put aside your differences and be brothers?—”

“We weren’t brothers when we were kids, we aren’t brothers now, and we’ll never be brothers.” I didn’t mean to be harsh, but I needed my mother to understand that her wish was hopeless. “I’m sorry.”

“I don’t understand.”

“The details don’t matter.” He betrayed me and I betrayed him. Simple as that.

She continued to stare into my eyes with a slight plea. “I won’t help you, Bastien.”

“I have no intention of harming him. I just need to speak to him.”

“With your grand shadow across this city, I’m surprised you don’t have the resources to find what you seek on your own.”

It was far more complicated than she realized. “If I pursue him myself, one of us will end up dead. Out of respect for you, I’ve kept my distance so I won’t kill him and he won’t kill me. If you want it to stay that way, then you’ll give me his number.”

She gave a sigh as she looked away, frustrated that she was in the middle once again. “When we had Godric, your father was satisfied he’d gotten his son and had no desire for more children. I insisted on another because I didn’t want Godric to be alone when we were gone. But it looks like that’s going to happen anyway.”

My father never showed love to either one of us. We’d always been workers in his anthill. We had one purpose, to continue the family business under the Dupont name, like it was some kind of fucking legacy. “I won’t tell him you were the source.”

“Then what will you say?”

“Trust me, he won’t ask.” Any respectable man wouldn’t ask for his enemy’s playbook. Too much pride. Too much stubbornness. And Godric had a healthy dose of both those things.

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