Chapter 130

“Please don’t think of me as a monster,” Angela says.

Too fucking late.

Angela isn’t throwing in the towel after a hardy effort to convince Neil to save himself. She’s throwing it all away without even bothering. Kind of like she’s throwing Neil away.

I fucking hate it.

“I don’t want Neil to die,” she says.

“Then… explain,” I say, not trusting myself to say much more. A feel a tirade building up under my skin, pressing into my lungs, sticking to the back of my teeth. If she doesn’t clarify herself right this fucking minute, I’m going to flip the table and call her a callous you-know-what.

And I like Angela.

But this? This is too cruel.

Neil could die! Why isn’t anyone having the appropriate level of concern about this?!

“I don’t want him to die,” she says again. I sense a ‘but’ coming, and when it does, I visibly cringe in bent-up fury. “But. If he gets injured enough, perhaps my father might have cause to cancel the wedding.”

I blink once, twice, because I must be mishearing. Angela won’t help because she wants Neil injured… to get out of her wedding?

I force calm into my voice. “But Neil could… die?!” It breaks into anger on the last word.

“Could,” Angela says. “Which means he’ll probably be fine. And therefore, we both can use this to our advantage. He and I don’t want this wedding. Not really. If he’s injured, he makes himself a less enticing offer as a partner. I can utilize this to –”

“I don’t believe this!” I think again about flipping the table.

Angela must notice. She places her hands flat on top of it, as if to stop me from doing so.

“This is how things are done here, Chloe,” she says, and damn it, there’s a touch of condensation in her voice, like she’s talking down to an ill-mannered child. Or someone unbearably ignorant. “It’s not personal against Neil. I like Neil. But this is a boon…”

I scoff. I can’t believe my ears. Has the world gone mad?

Angela continues talking. “A boon in disguise. I can’t go against it, not even for someone I generally like. Neil would understand.”

I want to argue that, but she’s probably right. He would be perfectly fine with this line of thinking.

Everyone’s out for themselves. I hate it here.

Angela watches me. At my lack of response, she relaxes somewhat, as if the matter is settled. “I’m glad you understand. Now. I ordered you some of these pancakes. They should be out soon. They bring them with fresh fruits. You have to try –”

I abruptly stand. Angela cuts herself off to look at me.

I’m seething so much, I’m surprised smoke isn’t coming out of my ears. Maybe it is. Angela’s looking at me like I’m a stranger.

“I’m leaving,” I snap. “I can’t sit around and enjoy breakfast while Neil is dying.”

Angela has the decency to look a bit sheepish. I don’t hate her, I wouldn’t. But there is a clearer chasm between us now. We are from two different worlds.

“I’m only being practical,” Angela says.

If I cut off my emotions, I guess I can see her side of it. But I can’t cut off my emotions. Maybe she generally likes Neil. Well, I care for him all the way. Joke’s on me, I guess. I’ll never be able to be indifferent like she can.

“Goodbye, Angela,” I say, because if I say anything else, I might trash our entire friendship. I don’t want to do that. But I can’t sit here and deal with this anymore.

So I leave her to her fruity pancakes, and I head back to the Pyramid.

Since I couldn’t convince Neil’s fiancé to help me, maybe I would have better luck with his family. Sure, the brothers didn’t exactly spring to action at the reveal of Neil’s silver wound, but that was before we truly knew the depth of the danger here.

Now that we know Neil’s life is on the line, maybe they can be convinced to do something to help Neil. At the very least, they might have some Gods damned empathy.

So I call them into the living room for a secret meeting about Neil. I’m surprised when Archer, Beau, and Steven all show up promptly. They each take a spot on the sofa, except Steven, who stands. He’s holding Mia and bouncing him as I had showed him at the last nanny lesson.

I pace in front of the sofa, even after they are all present.

“You are making me dizzy, Nanny,” Beau says. He covers his eyes with his hand.

I look at Steven. “Tell them what you told me about Neil’s silver poisoning.”

Steven looks at me surprised for a second. Realizing I gave him a command without meaning to, I quickly amend with a small, “Please,” and a smaller, “If you don’t mind.”

Steven straightens. Archer and Beau both look at him. Steven says simply, “It’s fatal.”

“No shit,” Beau says flatly.

“It’s silver,” Archer adds, like it’s so obvious.

Steven blushes a little and ducks his chin, embarrassed. Mia giggles and pats him on the chin.

“You act like you knew he’s dying,” I say, glaring at the two on the couch.

Archer glares back. Beau shrugs.

“You don’t put silver in someone and expect it to have a happy ending,” Beau says.

“We know what our father is capable of,” Archer says. “I’m more surprised he hasn’t used this tactic against Neil sooner.”

“Maybe he decided the beatings weren’t enough,” Beau says grimly.

Okay. I can work with this. If they know how bad things are, then surely they can understand better than anyone else why we need to act quickly to get that silver out of Neil before he gets himself killed.

“Neil has refused to remove the silver,” I say. “So what we need to do is figure out how to convince him.”

Archer and Beau look at each other. Steven continues giving Mia attention and won’t look at the rest of the room.

“Guys?” I prompt. I have a feeling that I might be drowning here, with no lifeguard coming to save me.

“We can’t go against his wishes,” Beau says to Archer.

“Silver is serious,” Archer says to Beau.

“Like it wasn’t serious before?”

“It wasn’t fatal before,” Archer says.

The fall quiet a moment. I wait with baited breath, hoping they come to the correct conclusion.

“Neil’s whole personality is obeying father,” Beau says. “If we take that from them both, neither will be happy with the rest of us.”

Archer is silent a beat too long.

“Cowards,” I snap. I couldn’t hold it in any longer.

Both Archer and Beau shift their attention to me.

“The fuck did you say?” Archer says.

I lift my chin, defiant. I’m still pissed from Angela’s complacency. I can’t believe I’m seeing the same here with the brothers. Maybe I’ve gotten too close to them, if I’m ready to argue with them where I couldn’t with Angela.

But Neil deserves someone who will fight for him. And if no one else will do it, I will.

“I called you cowards,” I say. “Too afraid to stand up to your father to save your oldest brother. The one who has repeatedly shielded and protected you all, even at great personal harm. Now that it’s your turn to return the favor, you… you’re…”

Archer stalks toward me, fury in his face. My own voice falters.

He walks right up into my space and peers down at me with sharp eyes. I’m pinned to the spot, held prisoner by the intensity of his gaze.

“Do not confuse our hesitation for indifference,” Archer says, and there’s a growl behind it that makes me shiver.

I swallow hard, pushing down my treacherous fear. “Does that mean you’ll help?”