Page 18 of Vengeful

I closed my laptop and rested my arms on the table in front of me, one folded over the other.

"I know, I was there. Armed mercenaries. Death and destruction." I knew that wasn't what she was referring to, but the reminder of what dad did would add weight to what she actually meant.

She leaned forward and placed her elbows on the table. "The cars he sent. The brakes were tampered with. The accident wasn't an accident. I know your car was messed with too."

The surprise on my face was genuine. She was right, but I didn't know howsheknew that.

I shrugged and picked up a pen to toy with. "Dad said he'd send us another test."

She glanced down at her hands, miserably. "And I failed. I jumped straight into one of the cars and almost killed Zachary and me."

"I didn't see Zachary trying to stop you," I pointed out. "How is he?"

She looked back up. "He'll be okay. The doctors were worried about his neck, but they did all of the x-rays and shit and he's fine. They let him out of the hospital this morning, but told him to rest for a couple more days."

She chewed on her lip. "You're right though, he didn't try to stop me. I might not have listened. I believed the car was a genuine gift. Iwantedto believe it. It never crossed my mind that…"

"Dad had an ulterior motive?" I suggested. "I think at this point we have to assume pretty much everyone has an ulterior motive." I was surprised she didn't try to blame me.

"You did," she said. "You didn't get into your car and drive it into a tree. You must have suspected something was up." She tilted her head and regarded me warily.

"I suppose I did," I said as blandly as I could. Of course I did, somethingwasup. "I spoke to Dad about it."

Her skin paled. "You told dad I didn't hesitate?"

"Yes, I did," I said as evenly as I could. Should I feel bad about pinning this on our father? My sense of self preservation left me feeling somewhat numb. I was doing nothing less than what Ihadto do.

"Don't worry about it too much," I added. "He didn't seem to give a shit. All he said was that I wasn't doing enough."

I didn't bother trying to keep the bitterness out of my tone. "Don't get too cocky, he doesn't think you're doing enough, either."

"He never will," she whispered. "I don't think either of us will ever do enough or be enough to please him. What does he want from us?"

I sighed softly. "I have no idea. I'm not even sure this is about us and Zachary anymore." When she gave me a puzzled look, I added, "He was with someone. A woman. They seemed…intimate."

Chloe grimaced. "I'm sure it's not the first time."

"No, but something about this was different," I said slowly. "She's not his usual type. He might be thinking about replacing all of us."

Chloe blinked a couple of times. "You think she's pregnant? Or influencing him in some way?"

"I don't know, and possibly." I tapped the side of the pen on my fingertip. "She didn't look like the sort of person who would suggest he send us cars with tampered breaks."

She looked more like the kind of person who would suggest he send us kittens, but I knew better than to judge a person by their outward appearance.

"If she's pregnant and he's planning to replace all of us…" Chloe frowned.

"We should find out," I said.

"That too." She nodded slowly. "I was thinking more along the lines of…all of this is for nothing."

My blood froze. I hadn't considered that before.

"If it's for nothing, then—" Fuck. I couldn't get my head around the implications.

"Then he really meant to kill us?" She swallowed visibly. "To get us out of the way of a new baby."

I considered telling her the truth about the cars, but put the thought aside for now.

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