CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT - CHRISTINE
There is an air of competitiveness between Eliza and me and I hate it. I used to enjoy it. A little. Back when I first met her. I used to think she was so cool. So smooth. So in control. So slick. I thought she was the mistress of thieves. She might even have been my role model.
Which now makes me want to gag.
But that was before I found out she was falling in love with my Alec.
He is mine.
There is no doubt.
I know this, she knows this, he knows this.
So why do I let her get to me?
Jealousy, I suppose.
Which is why, when Alec leads the way across the lawn, she and I power-walk, silently competing with each other to be directly behind him.
I can practically feel Russell rolling his eyes because he hangs back a few yards, stalking forward alone.
“I’m sorry,” Eliza whispers into the night.
“What?” I hiss back.
“I said I’m sorry. I didn’t know about you and… well… I didn’t know. I thought we had an agreement.”
I huff out some air, shaking my head. “About?”
“Alec. I thought… you knew. As long as we were in England it was fine. I thought you knew.”
“Are we really having this talk right now?”
“I’m just trying to make peace before… whatever happens, happens.”
What does she think is happening? “Fine. Whatever,” I whisper.
“You knew about us, right?”
“Yes,” I hiss. “It wasn’t about you, Eliza. Don't flatter yourself.”
“I know that now,” she says, turning her head to find my gaze. We continue to power-walk but the air of competitiveness has dissipated a little. “But I had no idea that you—”
“Just shut up, OK?”
“I have always liked you, Christine. Have always respected you. We were friends.”
“Just… later, for fuck’s sake.”
“I know he’s yours. I understand that. Accepted it long ago. Before Andra came along. Before any of that. He has always been yours. He has always belonged to you and Danny. I never had any illusions otherwise. I just want you to know I’m not a threat. OK?”
I don’t know what to say. I want to hate her with every fiber of my being. I want to give in to the loathing and the blame. Make her my archenemy for life.
But the truth is… it’s no one’s fault. No one did this to me. No one made me into this person, or forced me into this life, or took anything away from me.
It just happened.
And if I really take a good hard look at things… every one of these people here gave me something more than what I had. Alec and Danny are my family. We are married to each other. We are in love. We are a team. It’s us three against the world.
But the Watsons are like family too. They have been around us for several years now. We’ve done jobs together and we played the game of who can steal it better. Sometimes we won, sometimes they won, but the fact is… they’re here. Right now, with us, doing this.
And we’re all here for the same reason.
Some might say we’re all here for Andra. And I guess that’s true. No one wants her to be collateral damage in the shit we do. But that’s not the only reason we’re here. We’re here for each other.
We might never admit it. We might even hate it. But it’s the truth.
So I say, “OK,” and leave it at that. Because we’ve made our way across the lawn and are now on the walkway that leads around the house.
There truly is no one here. No lights on in the mansion, no outside lights on the walkways, no cars in the driveway. No one and nothing moves except us.
I spot Danny, Charlie, and Brenden on the other side, coming in from their neck of the woods.
Charlie and Brenden are clowning around like twin brothers. Jabbing each other, smacking each other, and generally being fucking idiots. They aren’t loud. Not in any real sense of the word. But they are loud in this world of thieves we’re in right now.
They chuckle and joke as we make our way down the dark pathway toward the front of the house. Danny probably wants to murder them. He catches my eye and shakes his head.
Why do you like this asshole? that shake says.
He’s fun, my silent look back replies. And he was there for me.
Which makes Danny sigh as our two groups meet up at the front door.
The front door.
Which is ridiculous.
“Dun. Dunt, dunt, dunt, dun. Dunt. Dun. Dunt. Dun,” sings Brenden as they close the last few yards between us.
“Neener neeer. Neener neer. Neeener neer. Nit net,” adds Charlie.
We all just look at them like… Mission: Impossible song? Really?
Danny’s look says: How the fuck these two idiots are still alive, I’ll never understand.
My look says: I got nothing for that.
Russell slaps them both upside the head and says out loud, “Shut the fuck up.”
Charlie and Brenden try for a look of professional gravity but fail miserably. Charlie says, “Ain’t no one home, mates.”
To which Brenden replies, “Look, the arseholes didn’t even bother locking up.”
We all turn to stare at the door, which is slightly ajar.
“What the hell is happening?” Eliza asks.
“It’s a trap,” Russell says.
“Or,” Charlie adds, “blokes have up and left,” and pushes past us to give the door a shove. “And there ain’t no fucks left to give about security because there ain’t no one here.”
The door opens wide with a creak that seems oddly out of place and creepy as fuck at the same time. Beyond is just a hazy darkness. The outline of a grand staircase. The faint moonlight passing through a long hallway coming from a window on the far side of the house.
And silence.