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The elevator dings again, and I step to the doors, exiting the car the instant they part, and striding toward the front of the hotel

"Good aze scanning for E Finally, I reach the double glass doors, and they part, and I exit to find Tai just outside to round beyond

"Did you see Emily leave?" I ask him

He looks baffled "No sir Should I have?"

"Did anyone else?" I ask, ignoring his question

"I’ Considering the weather, she’d have needed a car and I would have handled that for her"

"If she didn’t coh here, where would she be?"

"This is the only exit other than the garage She e Fuck me "If she shows up, stall her and callhi up the space between oal I reach the elevators and opt for the stairs, heading down a level to the only floor allowing access to the street Entering the garage, I scan and find no signs of E in the rain, I head forthe locks, I’m about to open the door, when I spy a note on the frontI grab it and find the delicate scribble of a woman’s hand

I’m too complicated I can’t do that to you I’ue be your worst enemy

--John Franzese

CHAPTER EIGHT

SHANE

I tellbattered by the stor she’s not in need of aid But I don’t find her, and she’s made it clear she doesn’t want my help The problem is, I can’t seem to shake the idea that she needs it, nor can I dis the note she’d left into my pocket, I reluctantly accept that for the moment, my search is over, and I drive toward the office My father’s words when I’hway, heading towardout what is going on with both of them

The next twentyfor a Manhattan subway to cut the time that is money, all the while in my own head, and not my father’s I don’t need to consider what he’d meant with his accusation ofonto New York and a career I’d busted my ass to create But I’m past that now, and my focus is Derek’s weakness: his lack of the reed By the tihborhood wherefourteen-thousand-square-foot tan stuccoto have to turn those things around on hilad the rain has stopped, allowing me to key in a code Once it opens, I continue past the brick paved gardens in front of the house, iant birdbath with a lion spraying water My father is everywhere and the idea that he will soon be nowhere but ouroff that idea, I pull to the back of the property, parking outside the five-car garage my father keeps filled with toys he never drives, and kill the engine Shoving open the door, I’lance at the caller ID confir answers to certain questions from my mother before I’ out of the car, I’m almost to the back door when it opens My mother, who normally sleeps until at least nine, appears in the doorway fully dressed, her raven hair puffed and sprayed, her lips painted red "I expected I’d see you this , which I return before pulling back to eye her black skirt andsilk blouse scooped a little too low for my approval

"I know you didn’t dress like that for et dressed?" she asks,out, "I figured you’d need it after your all-night co the liet her reiant foyer that is n on the rounded ceiling, the expensive art on the walls, or the any stairwell to my left Memories ofat me in a less than kind way

"Shane?"left, I walk directly into an L-shaped kitchen larger than most Manhattan apartments, the centerpiece an island lined with pale wooden drawers and topped with a brown slate counter My mother pours coffee into two cups I round the island and take one of the for everyone else"

"And yet you’re about to drink it"

She walks to the fridge, opening the door "With half a bottle of vanilla crearabs the bottle and carries it to the island and fills her cup, while I step to the other side, directly across frole" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">