Page 47 of Pretty Psychos
"Where's Sable?" Forrest demanded, his hands on the desk, body leaning toward the older man like he wanted to loom over him. Forrest was good at looming, but I doubted Benjamin would be intimidated.
Proving me right, Benjamin poured himself a glass of whiskey from a decanter.
"She's gone."
"Gone where?" Forrest asked. He looked as though he was going to find a set of darts and use Benjamin's face as a dartboard.
I was here for it if he did. The bullseye would be either of his eyes. Or his groin.
"That's none of your business," Benjamin said easily. "She had things she needed to work out."
"What are you talking about?" I asked.
If I thought the security guard looked at me like I was nothing, it was practically royalty to the way Benjamin was looking at me now. Lucky for me, I didn't need his permission or his approval to exist. He could fuck right off.
"You have to understand something about my daughter," Benjamin said slowly. He lowered himself into his chair behind his desk like he was Emperor of the Universe. "She seems sweet, but she takes after her mother. She longs for power and money. She likes to attach herself to influential people who can give her the things she wants. When she's finished with them, she walks away. Be glad she left you alive." He addressed that to Forrest.
I immediately wanted to say she wasn't like that, but he was voicing the concerns I'd had when she started to get together with us. She grew up with money. She married my father. When he died, she got his money.
I'd warned Forrest and Leif that she might be after them for the same thing. That they might end up the same way my father did. Was I right about that all along? Was Sable Kohl really a black widow?
"She would never…" Leif shook his head, but he was also frowning. His mind was turning, thinking back to the things I'd said. Not wanting to believe it, but hearing it from someone who, in theory, knew her better than we did?
"She very much would," Benjamin said.
"She didn't kill Wolfgang," Leif said.
"I'm sure she didn't do itliterally," Benjamin agreed. "But she wouldn't be the first to hire someone to do it for her." He made it sound so casual, like he was talking about hiring a new pool boy.
I wanted to refute the suggestion, given we knew exactly who held the knife. I'd seen them together. Sable was grateful to Harlow and Archer for what they'd done. Wasn't she?
Was there a chance she'd hired them? Or gone to them asking for help? If she was who Benjamin said she was, she had to be a fucking good actor.
I'd seen her with the senator. I knew how good an actor she was. Better than most. Better than me. I was probably wearing my anger on my face like a red flag.
"Where is she?" Forrest asked again.
"She's getting the help she needs," Benjamin replied smoothly. "Technically, I should speak to the police, but you know how it is. She's my daughter. I don't want to see her go to prison. What she has, it's like a sickness. She needs the kind of help we can't give her."
"That's not for you to decide," Leif said.
Benjamin laughed. "Of course it is. I'm her father. When I confronted her, she agreed. Shewantsto be helped. She didn't argue or put up a fight. She was willing to go. Eager. In fact, she thanked me for suggesting it."
That tracked with what I'd seen. She did seem to be willing. She'd walked right to that car and got inside, like it was her choice.
My heart sank.
I should have gone with my first instinct when it came to the woman. Not to trust her. To keep my distance physically and emotionally.
Right now I felt as if she'd ripped my heart out of my chest and stomped on it with her heels.
You're a fucking idiot,I told myself.You knew what was right in front of you and you ignored it. Fooled by a pretty face and a pretty pussy.
I turned and stalked out of the room, punching the doorframe on the way out. It sent a jolt of pain through me, but it was nothing compared to the pain in my heart.
CHAPTER 17
SABLE
