Page 47 of The Monster I Loved
One thing about rich men is that they always had all the audacity that only money could buy.
“Leave my job?”
“You heard me.”
Taking deep, sharp breaths, I glared at him. “Me, work at Fitzgerald?”
“Yeah, you! Working alongside Thaddeus, proving the past is behind you. Weren’t you the one who preached about forgiveness? Now it’s time to lead by example.”
The use of that F-word made my body stiffen.
“I was naïve. Your son was right. When someone you love one is taken, forgiveness is impossible.”
John chuckled. “I won’t tell him you admitted that. Anyway, you don’t really have to forgive each other.”
“You just said . . .”
John stood as if this conversation was finished. “Publicly, the two of you will rebuild the Starlight property. I don’t care if you want to kill each other outside of the public eye.”
Kill? Yeah. The corners of my mouth twisted upward. I’d get access to Thaddeus on a daily basis.
“Summer, it’s a good idea,” Sean said.
“Come to the office tomorrow, and we’ll get you set up,” the cocky bastard said when I hadn’t even agreed yet.
“Fine,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I thought so. Shit, convincing you was way easier than it will be with that son of mine!” John added before the door slammed behind him.
The smile still remained on my face. No need to damage a perfectly good car. I just needed to get my hands on another pistol. Then I’d just walk into the building and put a bullet into Thaddeus. Wait, did their building have metal detectors downstairs?
“Summer. Summer, are you listening?”
I grabbed my coffee and purse. There was a lot to do. Most important, I had to tell Olivia I was leaving.
“Send me the bill.”
Olivia soundedconfused but was understanding when I explained that I was going to work at Fitzgerald. After our talk, I called Marni to see if she could fit me in. Everything was going so fast, and maybe I needed to talk to someone I could trust. The good doctor had a spot, and I ran over after lunch.
“Are you okay?” Marni inquired, her face filled with worry.
I sidestepped her and tossed myself onto my favorite couch. “I’m great.” I could hear the note of glee in my voice.
“Really?” she asked, studying me so intently you’d think I was a recently invented species.
“Yes.”
“Why?” She looked at me skeptically.
Obviously, I wasn’t going to tell her about my newest murder plot; she’d be bound to report me. Instead, we chatted about everything else. During my last session, I’d already told her about my plan to murder Thaddeus, and how badly it had gone. Conveniently, I kept the part about us sleeping together tomyself. It was too embarrassing to talk about—even to her. She’d been concerned but chalked it up to a moment of weakness. I promised I’d never do such a thing again. The lie had come easier than I thought it would.
In today’s session, I wanted to talk about Fitzgerald. Marni had the same reaction I’d had when I told her about starting to work for the bastards: mouth open, eyes wide and filled with a mix of shock and concern. She lowered the pad and pencil and stared intently at me. “Summer, why?”
I bit my lip. “I have no choice. You remember how my stupid plan to kill Thaddeus went bad?”
She nodded, looking a little panicked, probably wondering if she needed to make a call of some kind.
“Well...” I gave her a brief overview of my conversation with John Fitzgerald andmylawyer.
