“It must be difficult for you to have to keep coming to Cameron for money,” I said.
Frances sneered. “I don’t need to come here and I certainly don’t need their money … Bill
had opened a bank account for Daniel and I before he died.” She half-turned her head to me,
never fully taking her eyes off the guards.
“You know how much money your brother had when he died,” she stated in passing.
When I shrugged, she raised her eyebrows.
“Didn’t you get Bill’s money after he died?”
I shook my head in response.
Frances became somber, pensive. The guards had finally gotten sunstroked from watching us and
went back to rest in the shade of the trees down the property line.
“Why do you come all the way here if you don’t really need—”
She interrupted me by turning her attention completely to me and leaning in very close. “We don
’t have a lot of time,” she whispered. “Are you okay? Have they hurt you?”
“I’m fine,” I answered awkwardly. “Has who hurt me?”
“Cameron, for one—”
“Of course not!” I immediately said.
With a wield of the hand, she shushed me and glanced around erratically. When she was reassured
of our seclusion, she brought her blue eyes back to me.
“Cameron is … very nice,” I whispered, trying to find a descriptor that wouldn’t make me
flush. It was pointless. The blood was already climbing up my neck in a ladder of red blotches.
She paused long enough to catch sight of my ruddiness.
“Cameron is handsome …” she ventured with awareness, watching my expression.
I went back to watching my feet splash in the water.
She exhaled very deeply. “Emily, you need to be extremely careful around Cameron. He’s young
… too young to be a boss, too young to be doing what he’s doing.” There was a resentful edge
to her voice. “He’s charming and very smart, which is why he has managed to keep himself alive
for so long, but he’s immature. When he gets bored, or when things start to get too hard for
him … bad things start to happen.” She seemed rushed. “Am I making any sense?”
I shook my head.
“He’s not like that,” I assured her confidently, even though my voice was the squeak of a
mouse.
She put her hand on my shoulder, willing me to look at her.
“Your brother was a terrific boss,” she cooed. “Cameron always looked up to him. They were
like brothers. Spider was very jealous of Bill because of that. When Bill died, he tried to take
over the business. But the other bosses wouldn’t have it. They didn’t trust him, didn’t think
that he was smart enough to manage the business for them and make them money. They picked
Cameron.” Her voice was bitter, and she shifted in her seat. “Spider knows that Cameron is too
young to make the tough decisions, and he uses this to get what he wants … to control the
business … to control Cameron.”
I shook my head, trying to find the words to explain to her that Cameron wasn’t the fickle
monster she was making him out to be, but she wasn’t done.
“From what I saw the last time I was here, Cameron seems to be taken with you. You’re like a
new, expensive toy to him … but this won’t last. I’ll help you get out of here, but I have to
find a safe place for Daniel and my mom, somewhere they can’t find them. You need to keep
Cameron happy until I can come get you out.”
“Frances, really, I’m fine,” I insisted. “Everyone has been nothing but nice to me—”
“There’s nothing nice about these people—”
“Frances,” interrupted a stern voice from behind us. We simultaneously wheeled around.
Spider was standing by the basement doorway, glaring. Frances looked momentarily terrified, but
she quickly regained her self-assurance and her cheerful smile to replace the fear on her face.
She got up and strolled toward Spider. Unlike the guards, Spider’s mood did not improve as she
approached him.
“It was very nice to meet you, Emily.” Frances disappeared into the house, closely followed by
Spider.
Frances was wrong. Griff was wrong. They didn’t see what was under the surface. I knew what
Cameron looked like to everyone else—cold, scary. I had unwillingly seen this side of him—this
morning for example—and I didn’t like it either. But when the hard surface melted and Cameron
reappeared, he was magnificent. It infuriated me that I couldn’t let anyone else in on this
secret. They were all wrong.
By the time I made it back to the front of the house, Frances was rushing out with a paper bag
in her hand.
“Take care of yourself, Emily,” she whispered intently as she passed by and speed walked to
her car.
Spider followed her out and stood in the driveway until her Mercedes rushed out of sight. After
a fierce look at me, he made his way toward the garage.