Chapter 4
ENEMIES
Summer
I wasn’t even going to go to the dinner.
Felix had let it slip weeks ago that Henry and Ashley were hosting.
I assumed it was their annual Halloween-themed gathering to kick off the season and wondered why weeks had passed and I still hadn’t received an invite.
They were neighbors and friends. They always invited me to their gatherings, and it stung.
I’d promised myself I wouldn’t go on principle.
Then, a few days ago, while pushing my shopping cart at the grocery store, Ashley ran into me and cried real tears for the oversight.
She thought Henry had invited me, and now, looking at Thaddeus, I knew why he hadn’t.
I took a deep breath as the entire room’s eyes were on me.
No one stared at the one among us who’d actually murdered someone.
I was the one they were gawking at. Determined not to let Thaddeus win, I started to take off my jacket.
“Summer, listen, there’s been a mistake,” Henry mumbled.
Daisy echoed his sentiment. “Yeah. Maybe we should go.”
I heard her but waited for Henry to tell her she was crazy. He didn’t. Did he want me to leave? Me? The one who had no blood on my hands? When he didn’t disagree, I took a deep breath and tried to ignore my embarrassment.
Thank God Ashley jumped to my rescue. “I don’t know what this is all about, but Summer doesn’t have to leave.”
“Nobody has to leave,” Eden, my friend, said.
She hurried to take my arm. Wow, it was really the boys against the girls once again, except we’d long left high school.
I looked at Felix, challenging him to come to my aid.
He’d known me long before he’d ever met Thaddeus.
He was clearly working on his routine as a mute. Fuck men.
Eden and Ashley led me to the table decorated with a red tablecloth, black plates, wine glasses, and cutlery. Ashley, bless her heart, had clearly gone all out. Two bottles of red wine sat on the table—not enough to get me through the dinner. I took my seat.
“Okay, let’s do this,” Felix said.
I allowed myself a moment to imagine punching him in the throat.
Henry and Ashley whispered together in the corner of the room.
He was, I assumed, giving his wife a quick summary of what Thaddeus did, and why he hadn’t invited me.
The woman looked between the both of us with a pained expression.
Unable to take it, I glanced around at the setting of the decorations.
Then I spotted my final breaking point. A banner. “Welcome Home, Thad.”
He didn’t just happen to be at the annual Halloween dinner; this was a welcome-home dinner for him. A welcome-home dinner that my friends had thrown for the guy who murdered my father.
“Fucking figures,” I muttered.
Daisy eyed me and whispered, “Please, let’s just go.”
“No,” I said and planted my feet.
Thaddeus stood. “Ashley, it was nice meeting you. I don’t want to ruin your beautiful dinner, so I’ll go.”
Shit. The great state of New York actually taught the man some decency after all.
“No.” Henry looked at me with the most uncaring expression I’d ever seen. “This is your welcome-home dinner. Summer, I’m sorry for the confusion. If you want to stay, then okay, but if you feel uncomfortable, please go. I’m not letting Thad leave his own party.”
“Henry.” Ashley shot her husband a questioning glare.
I wasn’t wanted here. I stood.
“She doesn’t have to go. I’m totally fine with her staying; it’s no big deal to me,” Thaddeus said without looking at me.
My cheeks flamed. How fucking gracious of you! What was he saying? I couldn’t handle this? Did Thaddeus think he was better than me? Fuck that.
I slammed back down into my chair. An internal struggle raged through me. “Eating a meal with my dad’s murderer is no big deal. I used to sleep with him, after all.” I hoped the words sounded as nonchalant as I intended them to.
The tension in the room was so thick one could choke on it, but I wasn’t about to leave. No, I won’t give you the satisfaction of seeing me run.
When he killed my dad, he settled a sick score that no man with a heart would even keep count of.
But I understood Thaddeus’s game now. He enjoyed the power he held over me. He wanted me to squirm, to be uncomfortable. Meanwhile, he’s a murderer getting a celebration dinner.
I’d stick out this ridiculous evening. It would only be a handful of hours at best, and if I got to wound his ego by showing how unbothered I was, then that was a win for me. Since, you know, we were keeping score of adding to each other’s misery.
Thaddeus
The night was unbearable. Summer sat at the far end of the table, squeezing her napkin for dear life, trying to pretend my presence wasn’t impacting her.
It wasn’t a successful performance, and every time I spoke, or God forbid, laughed, her body tensed.
Me, sitting this close, enjoying my own fucking party was infuriating to her.
I must admit, I laughed a bit more often because of that.
I kept catching Daisy’s eye. The last time I saw her before the sentencing, I’d thanked Summer’s best friend for the phone call and promised never to reveal the tip that led me to Clive.
I hadn’t expected the two of them to still be friends.
Now that I think about it, that little spy Daisy might come in handy again. Maybe she could help me manage Summer during our little historical project. I’d get her number from Henry.
“So, Thaddeus, what are you doing at Fitzgerald?” a strange voice asked from across the table, probably desperate to get the guys and women to have the same conversation for once tonight.
I noted her jet-black hair and distinct green eyes.
We were strangers, and I’d earned a scary reputation as a murderer, yet this woman still boldly stared over at me, tapping her fingers on the table as she waited for my response.
She wore a simple black dress, which hugged her curvaceous body closely.
Damn, I’d been out for two days and still hadn’t had sex.
That foolishness needed to be remedied as soon as possible.
“That’s Mimi, well Melissa,” Henry announced with a smile. “Ashley’s best friend.”
Grateful to him for providing background information, I nodded, remembering her question about plans at Fitzgerald. “I received an assignment for a project to save some old people from dying in a building about to fall any day now.”
“That sounds easy,” Melissa said lightly.
Felix looked around. “Since when does Fitzgerald do charity?”
I cleared my throat. “We don’t. Once the building is gone, we’ll do what we do best,” I said, knowing that Summer wouldn’t be able to help herself.
She lowered her wineglass, took a deep breath, and then did exactly what I expected her to do. “There are so many employees at that company. People with far more experience than you, given where you’ve been the last ten years. Why did your father give you that assignment?”
The table fell silent again; this time everyone was probably surprised she was addressing me directly. I shrugged.
Summer continued, “Those people have lived there all their lives. The building just needs a bit of work. If something doesn’t work, you fix it, you don’t tear it apart.
” Her voice gained an edge to it, subtle enough that you could miss it if she weren’t gripping her wineglass like she was the Hulk. Something was simmering inside her.
Daisy shook her head. “Wait, don’t tell me you two are working on the same project.”
“Seems that way,” I muttered and winked at her. She wanted to claw my eyes out. I could tell.
Summer rolled her eyes. “We won’t be taking this lying down.”
Laughter erupted from me. “Standing. Lying, on all fours, I don’t care. There’s nothing you can do to stop this. Fitzgerald already has what we want. The building has been stripped of its landmark protection. A sale is imminent. It’s just a courtesy that we’re doing these meetings.”
“You fucking piece of shit.” There go the minutes wasted earlier pretending she wasn’t affected. Summer stood, grasping a knife in her hand. “Fitzgerald would have to ram that wrecking ball through me to destroy that building.”
“You think I wouldn’t give them the go-ahead to do that? I’m a murderer, remember?”
Around the table, jaws dropped. They knew I killed Clive, and many understood my reason, could even excuse it, but the heaviness in the air told me that my threat scared them right now.
Daisy stood, taking the butter knife from Summer. “Let’s go. I’m not hungry anymore.”
Predictably, all the women rose with her. My new friend Mimi hesitated but then joined them. They filed out of the front door. Once it closed behind them, Felix spoke. “Try to put yourself in Summer’s shoes. This is hard for her.”
“Was that what you’ve been doing for the last ten years, understanding Summer?” I hurled.
Felix looked guilty. “Come on, man, this is hard all around. I knew Clive. We all did—”
“And what? You didn’t know my mother well enough to be bothered about her death?” A red mist descended over my vision. If this man knew half of what I’d been through since that night, he wouldn’t hurl this moral nonsense at me.
Take the higher road, as if I wasn’t blindsided by the death of my own mother at the hands of a drunken coward who could have saved her. The woman I loved betrayed me.
Yet, here he was, grasping for righteousness like Summer hadn’t tossed justice right out the window when it was her father in the firing line.
At least our company was actually building something that’d help the community. Henry looked about to jump in when I shot him a look. “No! I want to hear this. Go ahead.”
Felix couldn’t meet my eyes.
“All the hugging and patting like we’re still friends, what was that?” I stared daggers at Felix.
He looked at the floor. “I’m your friend. I just have a problem with what you did.”