Page 123 of Lies (Wicked Empire 1)

“The price. It looks like Keenan had haggled him down to seventy-five instead of the hundred thousand that I had estimated,” I said.

“He always has loved a bargain,” Amy said, though I could hear the heartbreak in her voice.

“Keenan?” I said, looking at him.

But he was looking at her and had probably figured out that she was his only lifeline.

“Amy, I…” he started but then trailed off.

“Explain this,” she said.

Her expression was completely unreadable, and the only tell of emotion was the way she pushed her glasses up against her face.

It was a nervous tic, one I didn’t think she even noticed.

“I would never do that. I love you,” he said.

“If I didn’t think you were lying before, I would know you’re lying now,” she said, her voice completely flat.

“Of course I’m not lying, Ames. You’ve always been special to me. And I know I’m special to you. I was your first,” he said. “You don’t share something like that with someone who means nothing to you.”

She looked at him, though there was still no emotion on her face.

“So I guess that makes more sense than anything,” she said, though she didn’t seemed to be talking to anyone in particular.

“What’s that—”

“Don’t interrupt me, Keenan,” she said.

“He asked me to marry him before the attack,” she said, shifting slightly to face me.

“Yeah,” I responded.

I hadn’t known that, but it made sense.

“How did he get a policy on me? He has no insurable interest in my life,” she said.

“He used James Industries. Got a key man policy with him as the beneficiary on behalf of the company. Not that a penny of that money would have gone to it,” I said.

“And somebody accepted that?”

I shrugged. “You’d be amazed at what a couple hundred thousand dollars can get you.”

“Apparently,” she said, though I could tell her thoughts were still spinning.

She looked at Keenan.

“Why?”

“Amy, I—”

“Don’t lie, Keenan. Not now,” she said.

He stared at her a long moment, then seemed to crumble. “I was in deep, Ames. I didn’t see another way out.”

She narrowed her eyes. “What do you mean?”

“I was supposed to go pro. Be set for life. Not working some nine to five,” he said, his voice brimming with self-pity.

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