Page 53 of Violent Little Thing

What the hell had I walked in on?

“You won’t do it anymore?” the older man, Seth, asked. “He killed our daughter!”

“He did,” Missy sniffled. “It was an accident. A horrible, no good accident. He didn’t choose to drink and drive. He didn’t mean to do it. And, let’s be completely honest here, you sick bastard. The car company had a recall. They literally said to you in private, when y’all settled, that it was likely a manufacturing fault. That car’s front tire had gone out in every single model. It caused several other wrecks just like that one. Two of which had people die.”

What the hell had I just heard?

“That was neither here nor there,” Seth snorted. “He was drunk. He killed my daughter. My unborn granddaughter. He was at fault.”

“You never liked him.” Zinnia stomped, breaking her father’s phone which had been resting on the floor of the elevator. “And when he needed us the most, you forced us to leave him to rot. He never would’ve gotten a prison sentence if it wasn’t for you. Then he got out, and it was PROVEN that he really was telling the truth on his health status, and you just ignored it. Like he still did it on purpose. We’ve gone with you every step of the way, but no more. He was missing the light in his eyes, Daddy. And you’re the one that stole it.”

“I didn’t steal anything,” Seth snapped. “He stole my daughter! He stole my baby! My one and only shot at grandchildren.”

Zinnia flinched as if he’d hit her. “So we’ve just decided that since I produced a dud, I’ll keep doing so?”

“Zee, honey…” Missy whispered, catching her hand.

Zinnia “Zee” stiffened her spine, raised her chin, and said, “If that’s how you truly feel, then I guess that we’re done here.”

Seth seemed to know that he’d fucked up.

I wanted to know more, but I had no way of finding that information out without exposing myself.

At this point, I wasn’t even sure they knew I was here.

The elevator doors opened, and it was only then that I realized that we’d been on the elevator for a really long time. Too long.

Almost as if someone was helping keep them there by leaving the doors closed longer than necessary.

Zee stormed out, Missy not far behind.

Seth followed much more sedately, not looking back once.

Nor did he pick up his broken phone.

He just strolled out behind them as if he was going for a casual walk.

I picked up the cracked phone and shoved it into my pocket.

Maybe Court’s friend, Apollo, could pull something off of it.

Maybe he could find out more information on what it was that I’d just overheard.

I was a walking zombie as I made it out of the elevator once I’d ridden it back to the top.

Court, seeing that I was losing it, caught me by the wrist and said, “We’re done for the day. I just spoke with Guzman. He’s being escorted from the building as we speak. As for us…we have no more reason to be here.”

He had no clue.

None.

I was about to break his heart.

I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

“Does your friend have access to the cameras inside the elevator?” I asked carefully.

“He does,” Court said as he started his truck. “Why?”