Page 68 of Run, Little Rabbit

“Veon!” he barks. “Get her out of my sight.”

“Yes, Boss,” Veon replies, his voice void of emotion. He places his hand on my arm to coerce me towards the door, and I turn my anger on him.

“Don’t you fucking touch me, Veon.”

He swallows and looks away. At least he has the decency to look sheepish.

I turn back to my dad, and I’m so disappointed and angry. “You don’t deserve to be in charge, Dad. You’re no leader, and I’m ashamed to be your daughter.”

“Veon,” Dad says in a dark whisper. “Get her out of here.”

“That’s okay,” I say, holding my head high. “I can find my own way out.”

“What an asshole,” Sphinx says as he drops a mug of coffee in front of me. “Your dad said that to you?”

“Yep. Looked me right in my damn face and lied.” I look towards Veon, who’s standing in the doorway trying to look inconspicuous and failing. “You can wait in the car.”

His shoulders drop a little. “Echo—”

“Miss Quinn.”

His jaw clenches like he’s chewing glass. “Very well, Miss Quinn.”

Then he turns around and leaves the house, closing the door softly behind him.

Sphinx snorts. “How long are you going to keep torturing the guy?”

“Until I’m no longer pissed at him, or he dies. Whichever happens first.”

“That’s fair,” Sphinx replies with a shrug. “What are you going to do about your dad?”

“That’s easy.”

“It is?” he asks, his eyebrows furrowed. “How’d you figure that?”

I put the mug down and look deep into his eyes. “Six is going to blackmail him.”

“Six? As in your murderous alter ego?”

I flinch back. “Wait. You know about that?”

I’m kind of pissed he’s taken the wind out of my sails. There I am, gearing up for a big reveal like a magician at the end of their big trick, and he spoils it by knowing the damn secret.

Sphinx scoffs. “Don’t be offended, honey. I’m smart, and it tookmesome time to put the pieces together. Your secret is pretty safely kept.”

Hmm, I’m not holding out much hope that the twins haven’t figured it out then, but neither of them has mentioned it. Is it going to be one of those situations where everyone knows, but nobodysaysthat they know, and it eventually blows up in everyone’s face like some prime-time drama?

Knowing my luck, it probably will be.

“Okay, so what’s the plan?” Sphinx asks as he heads over to his computer setup.

“I’m going to send him a couple of the photos with one of my calling cards and force him to meet me. Obviously, he won’tknow that it’s me; he’ll think it’s Six, but I’ll force him to confess.”

“And then what?”

“What do you mean?”

He spins around in his chair to face me. “You get the great Rory Quinn to confess he killed his wife, and then what? Are you going to kill him? Take his throne for yourself or let the twins have it? What’s next, Echo?”