Page 11 of Truth (Wicked Empire 2)

Then he turned and looked at me, his expression assessing.

“You’ve been avoiding me.”

“No shit,” I countered.

To my surprise, he smiled, though the expression was fleeting.

“That won’t do,” he said.

“Why not?” I responded, though I was in no mood to hear his answer.

“It just won’t,” he said.

“What kind of answer is that?”

“Mine,” he responded.

“How did you do that?” I asked, changing topics.

“Do what?”

“Make it look like Keenan had died in a car accident,” I said.

He shrugged. “There are ways.”

“I just…”

I trailed off, wondering if I wanted to go down this path. What would be the point? The more I knew, the more compromised I was, the more danger I was in.

But then again, could my position be even worse than it was?

A question I decided I didn’t want to even consider the answer to.

Instead, I looked at him, and he returned my gaze before he again gave me one of those fleeting smiles.

“What? Did you think I was just going to make him disappear?”

“Yes,” I said.

He shook his head. “People watch too many movies. He disappears without a trace, and there are questions,” he said.

“And you hate a questions,” I added.

“Yes, I do. Now it’s a clean, simple story. A promising young man cut down in the prime of his life. What bullshit,” he said with a scoff.

I didn’t respond, and he looked at me, tilted his head.

There was something in his expression, perhaps irritation, and despite my desire to keep my distance, I couldn’t help but ask.

“What is it?” I said.

“At the memorial today, it looked like you were going to cry,” he said.

His disapproval couldn’t be any clearer.

“Why wouldn’t I? I mean…”

“You mean what?”

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