Page 58 of Vicarious

“I wish I was,” I mutter to Bella as we sit in our favorite seats while we watch the children play.

“What the fucking hell was Pray thinking?”

“He was thinking that it would be impossible to catch him. And it would be otherwise.”

“Even if you never get caught, you can always be caught,” Bella says. “That’s the first thing we’re taught. You always prepare to be caught. And preparing for it certainly doesn’t mean keeping a paper trail of your misdeeds in one place for the fucking feds to find.”

“Unless you’re preparing to betrayed one day and want to blow shit up and take everything and everyone with you.”

“Sounds like something Pray would do.”

“In a way, we’re lucky we found it.”

“Lucky if not for the fact that it’s in the hands of the person who will activate the fucking bomb to explode it. A person protected by the man whose power is only second to the fucking man she wants to destroy,” Bella says. She turns to me and says, “Adrian isn’t going to do shit about his wife. So you’re going to have to.”

“I told you, if Viper wants to fall victim to Phae batting those pretty brown eyes and speeches of nobleness and righteousness, he can have at it. I’m not fighting that anymore.”

“I’m not talking about your relationship, even though I disagree with giving up like that. I’m talking about doing something about her before she ruins all our lives. Our children’s lives.”

I glance over at Leon and Lady. Leon is telling some dramatic story while Velia listens with clear enthusiasm and Lady sits next to her while rolling her eyes and clearly not impressed by her brother’s storytelling.

“Her children. Technically.”

“By blood, maybe. But not where it counts. Not that anyone knows they aren’t yours by blood.”

“I can’t kill her,” I finally say.

“You may not have a choice.”

“Mrs. Uccello,” one of the servants says walking onto the patio.

The first thing I notice is that she seems… uneasy.

“Yes.”

“There’s a visitor here. For Miss Bianchi. He says he won’t leave until he’s allowed to see her.”

I sit up. “He?”

Before I can get up and see who the hell this person is, Viper steps out onto the patio, rubbing his gloved hands together and pulling his coat tighter around him. I smile some at the reminder that he despises the cold after spending the first part of his life in the hot climate of Texas.

My smile falters when I realize that Viper’s here. With his dark blonde hair, blue eyes, and rugged boyish handsome features without a disguise in a city where a lot of people wouldn’t hesitate to kill him because of his connections to Stephen Pray. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of reasons he shouldn’t be here.

“What the fuck, Vi—”

“D—Mr. Blake,” Leon amends when he runs up to Viper and stops just short of hugging him.

Lady comes behind him and says, “Adrian. We didn’t know you were coming here.”

Viper gives Lady an annoyed look, but otherwise says nothing about the fact that Lady has taken to calling him by his first name when she’s not sure she can call him dad instead. Lady is also very aware of the fact that it annoys him, hence the grin she shoots Viper at the look he gives her.

“I’m running an errand and need your mother’s assistance,” he finally says to Leon and Lady.

“You’re not staying, is what you’re saying,” Leon surmises sourly.

“I’m not. But I left something behind in the foyer that I hope will help make up for it.”

“What?” Lady asks.

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