Page 119 of Dance of Ruin

Dad takes another slow breath. “What are you doing with that man, Naomi?”

“I don’t think that’s a conversion a father wants to have with his daughter, is it?”

That’swaybeyond anything I would normally say, especially to him. But I say it anyway, just to try to get some reaction other than that fake, phony smile.

For second, there’s the smallest crack in his facade: a small flicker of disgust in his eyes, his lips turning down just a little as he grits his teeth.

I’ll call it a win, even if he fixes it immediately.

“You’re smarter than this, Naomi.”

The insult wrapped in silk. The tactic he’s always used to get me back in line.

“You really thought there wouldn’t be consequences to being seen with someone likehim? Naomi, Nico Barone is?—”

Fire flares in my chest.

“Iknowwho he is.”

His smile doesn’t waver. But his voice drops. “Thenactlike it.”

I take a breath. Hold it. Let it out.

And then the question I wasn’t even sure I was going to have the courage to ask comes rattling right out, too.

“Did you have anything to do with the bombing at the Barone house?”

Dad’s smile freezes for a beat too long.

Then it rearranges itself back into place like it never cracked.

“If that’s a joke, I’m not sure I quite understand it,” he says, voice lighter than it should be.

“What if it’s not?” I say pointedly. “A joke, I mean.”

Dad’s brow furrows deeply. “Christ, Naomi. Do you honestly think I’m capable of something like that?”

“I didn’t say you were,” I reply. “I asked if you had anything todowith it.”

Leonard leans back, folding his hands neatly in his lap. “Naomi, really?—”

The waiter approaches, menus in hand, hovering like he’s afraid to interrupt. Leonard smiles at him warmly and confidently, like nothing’s wrong at all.

“We’ll need another moment,” he says kindly. The waiter nods and backs away.

Leonard’s eyes return to me.

“I would never be involved in anything so unsavory. You know that.”

“Do I?” I ask quietly.

He sighs, like I’ve inconvenienced him with the question. “Let’s pretend, for the sake of argument, that I am,” he says, shaking his head. “Let’s say I’m secretly a deranged, blood-spilling criminal…” He smiles icily. “Like your boyfriend.”

I grit my teeth.

“Even assuming all that, we’re still faced with the reality that I’ve just been appointed to a goddamnCabinet seat, Naomi. Do you understand what kind of scrutiny I’m under? Do you really think I’d risk my entirecareerby playing games with a family like the Barones?”

“Just answer the question,” I say. “Did you or did you not have anything to do with the Syndicate attack?”

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