Page 116

“I…then what is Becky doing?”
Becky sat up in her chair, yawning as she stretched. “I was just getting out of work. IT is so boring.”
“Babe, it’s what you love,” Coop said.
“No, what I love is chopping down trees. I think I was really meant to be a lumberjack.”
“But why is it that Knight got the final book,” Cap interrupted. “I mean, seriously, it’s a series about me. My last name is literally in the series title. Why does Knight get the final book? Couldn’t it have been GoodCap?”
Knight swore under his breath. “It’s a play on words, you idiot. Good night to the series. My name is Knight. Good. Knight. Get it?”
“Whatever. Everyone loves you because you’re all dark and dangerous, but let me tell you, the good guys win too.”
Jules snorted. “Sure, for some of you. I had amnesia and basically bitch about modern technology.”
“At least you have a thing,” Chris grumbled. “I’m barely talked about in other storylines. My kid has more of a storyline than me. And you know what I heard?” he scoffed, looking around at all of us. “Giulia is actually going to create an entire series for Axel.” We all gasped. “Yeah, and that’s not all,” he continued. “She’s got Matthew Hosea as the cover model for every cover, which means Axel is going to be on the cover of every single fucking book. He literally has a series all to himself! And when that’s done, he’s moving on to Reed Security.”
Cap’s gaze snapped to Chris. “Wait, if he gets his own series and then moves on to Reed Security that means…”
“That means he’s going to take over one day.”
Cap stumbled back in surprise. “Does that mean Giulia’s going to change the name? Will it be Axel Security? Or McKay Security? Oh, God. My name is going down the drain!”
“Just be happy you got the lead for as long as you did,” I snapped. “You know, I’m the only character in the series who didn’t get an actual book. Me! It’s like —I’m just a secondary character. Hell, even Sebastian’s friends made more appearances than I did in this series.”
“That’s because she likes them all better,” Cap teased.
“Readers literally asked for me. In her group, Sheryl said she’d love to read about me. And Tena said she thinks I deserve a book. Mechelle called me Poor Rob. That’s not because I’m not a memorable character,” I snapped.
“No, she called you poor because you’re sad and pathetic,” Chris snapped.
I was about to punch him when Knight shouted for everyone to shut up. “The game is on,” he said, his voice deep and terrifying.
I turned back to the screen and saw the fear in her words. Why would you do that?
Because I can. I replied. You have one hour or another character dies.
“One hour for what?” Cap asked. “You didn’t make any demands.”
“Yes, I did. It was implied. She knows what I expect from her.”
“But you didn’t state it,” Cap sighed. “Jesus, it’s like you’ve never been in a thriller before.”
“I haven’t,” I snapped. “Or did you forget that she leaves me out of everything?”
He flushed. “Right, sorry. So are you going to add anything?”
I turned and stared at the blinking cursor on the screen. “No, she knows where we stand now.”
38
GIULIA
“One hour,” I scoffed. “Like this is a negotiation. This is my book!” I shouted at the screen. “You don’t get to decide what happens in my books!”
“Honey?”
I spun around, fuming as I stared at my husband. “What?”