Page 81 of Sweet Lies

Rebecca glances at me, and I know she doesn’t want to leave my side. “Rebecca, go. It’ll be fine. Claire wants to get to the bottom of this, and I don’t blame her. Go.”

She eyes her sister once more before leaving the room. “How did you find out?” I ask, not daring to move.

She eyes me like a cat would a mouse. I’d always thought that Claire was the most dangerous of the Rossi siblings and never more than at this moment.

“The idiot left you a message asking, no, demanding a report on progress. Whoever hired you is a moron.”

“I don’t disagree. I’m telling you the truth, Claire. Put the gun away. You won’t shoot an unarmed person.”

She laughs. “Don’t tempt me, Andre. This wouldn’t even end up on my list of wrongs for hell.”

“I always respected you for your stance on right and wrong, Claire. You’ll see I’m speaking the truth.”

“We’ll see,” she answers as Elijah and Rebecca enter.

“Elijah, it’s time for you to clear some things up before Claire kills me, and you have to clean blood out of the carpet.”

Claire doesn’t look away from me as she directs her question to her brother. “Did you know that a hit has been taken out on Alex?”

“Yes.”

She immediately steps to the side, facing all three of us. Her gun is held in such a way that it could quickly move to aim at any one of us.

“Rebecca, why don’t you leave us?”

“No,” Claire orders. “She stays. I don’t trust any of you.”

“Claire,” Elijah starts, taking a slight step forward and then sliding back. “Don’t you see they’re trying to turn us against each other? This could end with all of us dead—which is just what the others want. Yes, I know because Andre came to me when it happened. The reason I didn’t tell you was that I know when it comes to Alex, you lose all control. You would be on red alert, and the others would take note. The fewer people who knew, the better. In hindsight, it may have been poor judgment on my part.”

“Poor judgment?” Claire huffs. “You think? Now I don’t trust any of you. For all I know, all three of you are in on killing him. You’ve never liked him,” she throws at Elijah. “You’ve made clear your opinion of him,” she tosses in Bec’s direction. “And you”—she glances at me—are just a means to an end.”

“Tell me how you truly feel, Claire. Here I thought we were friends,” I joke, trying to defuse the situation. I could make a move for the gun, but there’s a good chance someone would get shot. I don’t know what weapons Elijah and Rebecca brought in, if any.

“At one time. Tonight, I don’t know who you are. I don’t know who any of you are.”

I can sense the turmoil coursing through her. It’s obvious she loves Alex if she’s willing to shoot anyone in this room for him.

“No one is after you, Claire. Or at least no one in this room. Alex and I have come to an understanding. I would never do anything that would hurt you or my niece. You know that, if you don’t know anything else. You know that I’m telling the truth. Wewillfind out who put the hit out and take care of the threat. Multiple threats need to be neutralized and soon. But we’ll do it together, not apart.”

For the first time, I see her wavering in her belief. Slowly she moves the gun to her side. “Iwillprotect what’s mine. Don’t test me! We need to talk,” she flings at Elijah and stomps away.

Elijah follows her out the door.

Turning to face Rebecca, I feel rage burning. “Don’t ever step between me and a gun again. I don’t care if your sister is the one holding it.”

“You’re nuts. A simple thank you works. If I hadn’t walked in, she would have killed you,” she snaps back, her hands becoming fists at her sides.

“You could have been shot,” I fire back at her, needing her to understand.

“You’re unbelievable.”

“And you have a death wish,” I state, annoyed at her and myself.

“You’re crazy.” She rolls on her heels before stepping back.

Something comes over me. I’m always in control, but at this moment, I’ve lost all sense of that. Grabbing hold of her arm, I swing her back and kiss her. For a second, she’s frozen, shocked, but then her lips move against mine, giving and taking as she pleases.

Claire could have shot me tonight. I could tell by the look in her eyes she would’ve done it and not spared me a backward glance. I felt death at my back. I’ve felt it many times, but tonight felt different. Rebecca always invaded my mind in those moments, and I knew I needed to say goodbye to her. I needed to feel her body pressed against mine one more time. I needed to hear her voice and feel her touch. I shouldn’t be kissing her, but nothing else has ever felt so right in my life, and she needs to know that if anything happens to me, she’ll be the last person I think of. I put all of those emotions into our kiss.

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