Page 77 of Vendetta

He had no idea just how badly I wanted that to be the case. How badly I wish I could go back and slap some sense into myself before I did any of those awful things that I had done. If only I had known just how important she would end up becoming to me. I hated myself for ruining the one great thingthat had happened to me, ruining any chance I might ever have with her because of my own stupidity.

“It’s not,” I bit out, sharp enough to hopefully end the conversation. This isn’t what I came here to talk about.

“I need to ask you something, Dad.”

He turned to face me, handing me the crystal rocks glass as he sat down across from me. Picking up on my serious expression, he leaned back in his seat and nodded for me to proceed.

“Emory’s death wasn’t an accident, was it.”

It was more of a statement than a question. David froze, his expression not giving anything away as he slowly leaned forward to place his glass down on the glass coffee table between us. The clink was loud through the silent office.

“No, I don’t believe that it was,” he finally responded, meeting my eyes.

I had already been aware of the fact, but hearing it confirmed brought newfound fury flowing through my veins. I braced my elbows on my knees, keeping my calm as I collected my thoughts.

“Did you know? That somebody was coming after her?”

He refused to meet my eyes at that question, the seconds ticking by before he finally responded.

“Yes.” He intertwined his fingers, bracing his arms over his knees as he bowed his head. I had to steel my bones to keep from leaping out of my chair to strangle him.

He had known… He had known that somebody was coming after Emory, and he had still allowed it to happen. I forced myself to stay silent, to let him continue.

“Cashton… I need you to understand. If I had known, if I had genuinely thought that there had been a threat…” his voice cracked. “I am so sorry. I will never forgive myself for not taking the threat more seriously.”

For the second time in my life, I watched tears begin to form in my David’s eyes.

“Who?” I asked through clenched teeth, my heart tearing open. His eyes finally met mine, the sorrow evident within them.

“I don’t know.” There was nothing but pure honesty in his tone.

“I need you to tell me everything.”

He got up to pour himself another glass, topping mine off before sitting back down.

“I received a threat a few months prior. It said that I had until the end of the year to end my Centennial Eastside Initiative project. It was left in our mailbox. It didn’t say who it was from, only having my name on it. Someone had physically dropped it off. There was a picture of Emory inside, one taken as she was leaving soccer practice. A picture that I can guarantee she wasn’t aware had been taken.”

My heart began racing. Somebody had been following her, somebody that none of us had noticed. And that meant that Arthur would have received a similar threat, one with Landry’s photo. The thought of somebody following the both of them without their knowledge sent a chill down my spine. My fists clenched as everything inside of me threatened to tear through the city with my bare hands until I figured out who was responsible.

“I took precautions. I even hired security to follow Emory around, just in case it was a real threat. I didn’t want toalarm any of you, so I made them keep their distance. I thought it was a prank, or somebody trying to scare me. I had gotten threats before, and none of them had ever panned out…”

He took in a breath, pulling himself back together as best as he could.

“I’m so sorry, Cashton. She never left the house other than to go to school, I didn’t think there was any way that anybody could even get close to her. I didn’t know about the party…”

“You were out of the country,” I finished for him. He hadn’t known she had planned on attending the party.

I locked down my emotions, forcing myself to think about this from an outside perspective. Something still didn’t add up.

“The Centennial Eastside Initiative was pro bono—Why would anybody have the motive to shut it down?”

“I don’t know, your guess is as good as mine,” he answered, downing the rest of his drink as he tried to hide his watery eyes. “But listen to me, son. You need to stop looking into this. What’s done is done. I ended the project in hopes that they wouldn’t come after you or your mother next. They got what they wanted, and we paid a steep price because of my mistake of not listening to them sooner. I can’t afford to lose you too.”

I searched his face for any sign of disingenuity but found none.

We headed back downstairs once we finished our conversation, the tension within me running high with all of this newfound information. I was so lost in thought that I nearly raninto David when he halted on the last step. Looking past him, I took in the sight that had made him stop in his tracks.

Landry and my mom sat on the far sofa, my mother’s arm draped over Landry’s shoulder as Landry leaned into her. A photo album sat in my mom’s lap as she pointed at pictures with her free hand, the two of them giggling like a pair of schoolgirls.

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