Page 63 of The Carver

Instead of Adrien meeting me in the entryway as with all our other conversations, the butler escorted me into the living room. The TV was on and showed the news. Adrien was in an armchair in his sweatpants and t-shirt, his beard dark from skipping the shave for at least a week.

When he looked at me, his eyes were empty and glazed like he was either drunk or depressed—or maybe both. “Want a drink?”

I sat in the other armchair with the coffee table between us.

He had an empty glass on the table, just water on the bottom because the ice cubes had melted.

“I’m good.”

He grabbed the remote and turned off the TV before he ran his fingers through his unkempt hair. The wedding ring he usually wore was absent from his left hand. He wiped the corner of his eye before he regarded me, looking half dead. “You want a drink?”

Fuck, how drunk was he? “You alright, Adrien?”

He propped his chin on his closed fist and looked at me, suddenly having lines around his eyes and looking withered like a flower that had been chopped at the stem. “What do you want?”

“I came here to see if you’ve changed your mind about the business. I have to report to Oscar this week, and if I give himthe answer he doesn’t want to hear, he’s coming for your head. Reconsider, Adrien.”

“Tell him to come. Like I give a fuck.”

“Adrien, your life is a lot more valuable than money?—”

“Is it?” he asked incredulously. “I lost the one thing that mattered…so nothing matters. My own family hates me for what I did. My father doesn’t look at me the same anymore. Now that I’m free to fuck around all I want, there’s not a single woman I desire except for the one who doesn’t want me anymore.”

I almost pitied him.Almost. “Just because you and Fleur aren’t together anymore doesn’t mean she doesn’t care about you, Adrien. She doesn’t want you dead in an oil drum off the coast somewhere in the Atlantic.”

His eyes glazed over like he didn’t hear what I said. “Work is all I have, and I’m not giving it up.”

“Adrien—”

“I have nothing to live for. I love her with all my heart, but that doesn’t fucking matter because now she loves you.” He looked like he was on the verge of tears, about to cry in front of another man. That was how drunk he was. “I pleaded with her to give me another chance. Was about to get on my knees and fucking beg. And then she kicked my chest and cracked it in half and said she’s in love with you. So it’s over…it’s fucking over.”

I watched him writhe in pain, watched him fight back tears of weakness, but it was an out-of-body experience, my head floating in the clouds, my heart skipping beats several times in a row. A smile emerged on my lips no matter how hard I tried tofight it, an unstoppable smirk that reached all the way down into my chest. “She said that?”

He sank into the chair like he wanted to disappear into the cushions like melted butter. He stared at the blank TV screen without blinking as if he was reliving the horror of the memory behind his eyes. He was so drunk, there was no way he would remember this in the morning. If he were in his right state of mind, he wouldn’t have told me any of this, wouldn’t let me see him at his worst like I was his friend rather than his enemy. “Yes.”

I walked into the empty bar. It had closed an hour ago, so the counters had been wiped and the floor mopped.

Luca sat alone at a table, a drink in front of him that he’d made himself. He was texting when I walked in, and without pausing his message, he addressed me. “Bring me one while you’re up there.”

“You already have a drink.”

“Just do it, asshole.”

I smirked and made two drinks, a scotch on the rocks with a twist. I came back to the table and placed the glass next to his half-empty one.

Luca finished his message before he set the phone on the table. “Cameron doesn’t know shit, and Jeremy is a snitch and he still doesn’t know anything. I know they must run in circles with Godric and those fucking psychopaths.”

“And you’d be right.” I took a drink then licked my lips.

Luca stared at me for a hard second. “You talked to Godric?”

“He didn’t give me a name but confirmed what I suspected.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do to get your brother to talk.”

I took another drink.

“We hit him hard, torture him, and get that answer.”

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