Annihilate Me (Vol. 3) (The Annihilate Me Series) (5 page)

“For Alex or for Wenn?”

“Is there a difference?”

Of course there wasn’t.
 
Alex
was
Wenn.
 
So, I agreed.

CHAPTER
SIX

Before I left, I wanted to see Alex.
 

Blackwell and I had lunch, which was so
good that she insisted that Charlie contact her
tout suite
about a
possible scholarship through Wenn, which she confided to me she’d make certain
he’d receive.
 
Then, with the guard
following us at a discreet distance, we went back to Alex’s room.

“How long will I have a guard tailing me?”

“As long as it takes for the police and
the FBI to do their jobs and find out who was behind the shooting.”

“That could take days.
 
Weeks.”

“You’d rather have no protection?”

That shut me up.
 
We stepped into the room, and I was surprised to find Alex
sitting up in bed.
 
He didn’t look
as groggy as he had before.
 
In
fact, he looked alert.
 
When he saw
me, he smiled.

“Would you two like a moment alone?”
Blackwell asked.

“No,” I said.
 
“Please stay.
 
I’m sure Alex wants to see you.”

“Of course he does,” she said.
 
“Just a touch of my naturally cheerful
personality should give him all he needs to heal.”
 
She went around the bed and took his hand.
 
“Are you feeling better, dear?”

“I want to get the hell out of here.”

“So, you
are
feeling better.”
 
She leaned down and kissed him on the
forehead.
 
“That’s good to see.”

“I feel fine now.
 
Why do I have to stay another day?”

“Stop behaving as if you’re twelve.
 
You’re here to make certain that there
are no complications.
 
From what I
understand, you struck your head quite hard.”

“There’s work to do.”

“Work is getting done without you.
 
Yes—it’s true, Alex.
 
Imagine that.
 
Wenn can manage without you for a few days, just as it did
when you two were in Maine.
 
The
board obviously is concerned, and they’re moving forward with what you’ve
already approved while keeping everything else on hold until you get back
tomorrow.
 
Does that suit?”

“Yes, but I see no reason why I can’t go
home tonight.
 
I’ll just rest in my
own bed.
 
I’ll take it easy.
 
I promise.”
 
He looked over at me.
 
“Jennifer will be with me.
 
She’ll make sure of it.
 
Won’t you?”

I exchanged a glance with Blackwell, who
took the lead.
 
“Henri Dufort is
circling,” she said.

“About the Streamed deal?”

“That’s right.”

He shrugged.
 
“Great.
 
I can
meet with him tomorrow.”

“That’s the thing,” Blackwell said.
 
“He wants to meet tonight.
 
He knows that Jennifer is intimate with
the deal, and he’d like to meet with her to keep the conversation and the
possibilities going.
 
He’s asked
that she attend a dinner party with him so they can discuss those
possibilities.”

For a moment, Alex went silent.
 
Then he turned to me.
 
“How do you feel about that?”

“I’m happy to do whatever I can.”

“But do you want to do this?”

“If it means making sure that we bring him
in, I think I should do this.
 
And
it’s at an informal setting, which is good—it will help to keep the
discussions light.
 
I’ll answer his
questions, but all negotiations must go through you.”

“I’m not comfortable with you being out in
public right now.”

“She’ll have security with her,” Blackwell
said.
 
“I’ll make certain of it.”

“Who’s having the party?” Alex asked.

“Peachy Van Prout at her mansion on Park.”

“Jesus,” Alex said.
 
“She’ll have two hundred people there
for cocktails.
 
Then have fifty for
dinner.
 
Am I right?”

“You’re correct.”

“I can’t stand Van Prout.”

“That’s because your mother liked her.”

“Probably.”

“Definitely.
 
But Peachy is nice—and she’s always adored you.
 
You know that.
 
She's always been kind to you.”

“She’s been kinder to her image.
 
What’s the party for?
 
To cure some disease Peachy probably
learned about through her publicist?
 
Let me guess.
 
Now she’s
determined to rid the world of something she could care less about.”

“It’s something like that,” Blackwell
admitted.

“Something or exactly?”

“Maybe exactly.”

“She’s such a fake.”

“No comment.”

“Immaculata is friends with Peachy.
 
So is Tootie-Staunton Miller.
 
Jennifer, you’ll need to be aware that
they’ll be there and that you’ll need to deal with them on your own, not that
you can’t.
 
I’ve seen you in action.
 
I know that you can handle—”
 
He stopped speaking and furrowed his
brow at me.
 
“What’s the matter?”

I quickly wiped my eyes.
 
“Nothing.”

“That’s not true.
 
What’s wrong?”

I blinked away tears and when I spoke, my
voice was thick.
 
“It’s just that
you seem yourself again, and I’m relieved.
 
I’ve been sick with worry over you.
 
You seem better.”

“And here is where I leave,” Blackwell
said.
 
“I’ll be just outside if you
need me.”

She put her hand on my shoulder before she
left the room.

“Come here,” Alex said when she was
gone.
 
He moved over a little and
patted the side of the bed.
 
“Sit
with me.”

I went over and sat beside him.
 
As I did so, he leaned forward and
kissed me on the lips.
 
“Are you
all right?” he asked.

“I’ve been so worried.”

“I mean physically.
 
Are you all right physically?”

“I cut my arm and bruised my hip.
 
I didn’t get it nearly as bad as you
did.
 
I’ll be fine.
 
Alex, I’m so sorry for reacting the way
I did.
 
I’m the reason you’re here
now.
 
I’m sure of it.”

“You know better than that.”

“I’m sorry, but I don’t.
 
At the time, did I think I was doing
the right thing?
 
Yes.
 
But looking back, do I think I did the
right thing?
 
Absolutely not.
 
I was scared, and I didn’t keep my
cool.
 
And look what happened.
 
Hell, look what could have happened.
 
I could have lost you.”

“But because of you, you didn’t.
 
If I’d been standing beside that car
when it exploded, I’d be dead now.
 
We both know that.
 
By
standing up to me, you got me away from the car before the explosion caused
serious damage, which it would have.
 
What happened that night is on me.
 
I should have told you about the threat before we went to Maine, but I
didn’t because I didn’t want to lose you again.
 
I didn’t want you to see what my life is really like.
 
At least not yet.
 
I thought that if I fully let you in,
you’d leave me again, if only to protect yourself.
 
And who could blame you if you did?
 
That decision was selfish on my part.
 
If I’d told you the truth, you would
have been prepared when you were threatened with that email.
 
You said yourself that you would have
told me immediately about it because you would have known the two incidents
were linked.
 
I’m sorry, Jennifer.
 
I really fucked this up.”

I put my hand on the side of his
face.
 
“Why don’t you take these
things seriously?”

He kissed my palm and, for a moment, he
closed his eyes and pressed his face against it before he straightened and
looked at me.
 
“For the first year,
I did.
 
For the first year, before
my parents died, I took every threat seriously, even though I knew this sort of
thing was routine for my father.
 
But over the years, just like with my father, nothing ever
happened.
 
Nobody ever followed
through with their threats, so I had a false sense of security.
 
Now, somebody has finally acted.”

“Who is behind this?”

He shrugged.
 
“I don’t know.
 
It’s like I told you that night.
 
Wenn has made its share of enemies.
  
We’ve driven people out of business.
 
Some people have lost everything
because of us.
 
It could be anyone.
 
I’m assuming the FBI and the police are
investigating.
 
Any word on who
that man was in the car?”

“Not that I know of.
 
He was dead by the time your guard got
to him.
 
From what I understand, he
had no ID and the car he was driving was stolen.
 
So that gives us nothing with the exception of the source
behind the texts you received and the emails I received.
 
The last time one of your men updated
me, which was yesterday afternoon, the police didn’t know if they were sent
from a TracFone or from some other device.
 
Maybe that’s changed today.
 
Let’s hope it has.”

He looked disappointed.
 
“Not every mystery has a solution,
Jennifer.
 
You need to be prepared
for the fact that we might never know who did this.
 
This isn’t a book and it isn’t a movie where everything is
wrapped up in a neat bow at the end.
 
Those stories are illusions.
 
This is real life, and real life often fails us.
 
Whoever attacked us might be satisfied
with me in a hospital bed.
 
That
could have been all they needed to feel vindicated for whatever it is they
needed to feel vindicated about.
 
It could end with this, or it could have just begun.
 
Until I speak with my team, that’s all
I know.
 
And that’s the truth.”

“Thank you for telling me the truth.”

“I should have told you the truth a week
ago.”

“We’re beyond that now, OK?”

“All right.”

“And thank you for the note you left
me.
 
It was lovely.”

A wariness crossed his face that I hadn’t
seen in him before.
 
For a moment,
he looked on edge.
 
“You’ve read
it?”

“Of course I read it.”

“When?”

“That night on the roof deck.
 
I read it when you were with Henri
Dufort.”

“And then the shit hit right
afterward.
 
My timing is
impeccable.
 
I was hoping that it
would lead to a special evening between us after the party.
 
It didn’t.”

“So it didn’t.
 
But we’re here now.
 
You’re focused and your eyes are clear, for which I’m grateful.
 
And I’m all right.
 
My bruises and cuts will heal, and so
will yours.”
 
At that moment, I
made a decision.
 
I pushed my inner
demons aside, leaned down to his ear and told him the truth about how I felt
about us.
 
“And as your girlfriend,
I can’t wait to get you out of here and home so we can make love in your bed.”

I kissed him, and he kissed me back with
such ferocity that it surprised me.
 
I thought he was still weak.
 
Not the case—his strength was back.
 
He gripped the back of my head and pulled me in close to
him.
 
It was a kiss filled with
such passion, relief and meaning—and with what Blackwell likely
considered love—that I let it wash over me and tumble through me such
that my heart started to quicken as my stomach fell away.