Page 111 of Voracious

“I don’t lie. When my son told me to back off, I did. Maybe you should do the same. I’m starting to think you want a piece of me too.”

I give him the finger without sparing him a glance.

He chuckles. “Very mature of you. Are you going to eat those chips, or do you plan on staring at them like they’ve offended you?”

I had no idea I was, but I grab the packet of Lays and toss it at him. “You owe me my entire lunch by the way.”

“You’ll live. Have you spent any of that money yet?”

Chewing my lip, I shake my head, but then I stop. “I bought a coffee from Starbucks the other day. I felt bad though.”

“You have eight-six million in your bank and you feltbadfor buying a coffee?”

“Hey, I said from the start I wasn’t going to spend a penny!”

“Was it at least a large coffee?”

“No, the large wasn’t worth the money.”

“You are the worst visitor I’ve ever had in my life.”

“Yet I’m still your favourite.”

All he does is grunt like a damn dog while eating the crisps – or what he calls chips.

If I’m not here, he calls me on his secret phone. Sometimes I’m not able to answer, but his obsessive side makes him continuously call until I pick up. I know he doesn’t mean to be overbearing, so I try to be as patient as possible with him.

“I’ll be back later tonight, but I have a hair appointment tomorrow, so I can’t come,” I say, leaning my cheek on my palm, elbow on the table as I swing my legs. “Think you can handle a day without me?”

“Could you handle a day without me?”

“Stop answering my questions with a question! God, you’re more like Kade than you think. Both idiots.”

All Tobias does is chuckle and continue to read.

Once I knock all the chess pieces into the box and fold the board away, I grab my satchel and pull out two notebooks, an iPad and two pens.

I zoom in on the map I bring up and circle an area. “Okay, so based on our latest findings, Kade is in this small town in the west of Russia called Uglich. Barry thinks he’s doing work there until next month.”

That gets Tobias’s attention. He tosses aside the book and joins me at the table. He stands behind my chair and leans over my shoulder. “Did he mention how he is?”

“No, just that he was with…” I gulp down a lump. “Bernadette has a daughter, and he’s with her a lot. Plus, there was a transaction of two million between him and an unknown source two days ago, and the guy Barry has on the inside thinks it’s Kade’s way of trying to do undercover work without his boss knowing.”

“I still don’t understand why I’ve to stay here,” he says, frowning and walking to his side of the table. “My son needs my help.”

“What exactly are you going to do? She has an entire country, and you don’t even have a passport.”

“Do you think I’ve spent the last twenty-two years doing nothing? If I wanted to leave, I could be out of here within the hour.”

I tut. “No, you couldn’t. How would you escape, let alone get to Russia?”

He shrugs, and I have my answer.

“Barry is working on it. We’ll keep tracking him.”

Tobias chews his lip, sadness taking over his expression. “How many people has my son killed?”

“This month? Only five.”

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