Page 9 of Run, Little Rabbit

“Well, it might be worthless,” I state with a sigh. “I’ll figure out what to do with it in the morning.”

I’m not convinced that I will miraculously come up with a solution to the problem, but Mum always said that things would look better in the morning.

God, I miss her.

“Okay,” Kai whispers, interrupting my thoughts before they could descend into grief. “Let’s make some popcorn and watch some shitty horror movie.”

“Sounds good, but it’s my turn to pick.”

“Sure thing, baby girl. I’ll grab the snacks.” Kai jumps to his feet and heads out of the room, leaving me with the ever-growing worry that maybe this time, I went a step too far.

Conor and Cillian eyeball me from across the table. They both have matching smirks on their faces, which is always unsettling. If they’re enjoying something, then someone, somewhere has probably either just been killed or lost a limb.

Veon stands at my back, and Kai sits further down the table with Jace. A myriad of other faces are sat around the table, all men who work for my father. This can’t be good if my dad has pulled everyone together. Either shit is about to hit the fan, or this has something to do with Bennie.

The door slams open, and in walks my father. Rory Quinn. I don’t look much like him, with my face bearing the more delicate lines of my mother’s elfin features, but the twins share the harsh lines and ruggedness that sit upon my father’s features. They make his face look sharp and mean, like he’ll cut you just for looking at him funny, and his scowl seems especially deep this morning.

Fuck.

That means trouble.

I flick a glance towards Kai, and there’s a grim set to his mouth.Fuckity, fuck. This is absolutely about Bennie.

“If you’ve all finished, let’s begin.” Dad’s voice is irritated, his words clipped. “For those of you who haven’t heard yet, Bennie Walker was found murdered in the early hours of this morning.”

The silence in the room is deafening. Guess Bennie was more than mere middle management.

Dad’s eyes wander the room, looking at everyone individually. “Six left their calling card on the body; his phone is missing, and now there is a hunt on for Bennie’s secrets. We need to find it first.”

“Why?” I ask, knowing full well Veon has it in his breast pocket. He hadn’t been able to crack it last night, and we were on the way to an acquaintance of mine when Dad called the emergency meeting. Bet that thing is burning a hole in his pocket.

“Because I don’t want anyone else to have the information,” Dad says, seemingly more impatient than normal. Does he have secrets on there?

“There are murmurings Bennie was into young boys,” Jace says bitterly, his lip curled in disgust. “I think he got what he deserved.”

“Whether he deserved it isn’t the issue,” Dad snaps. “Somewhere this idiot’s phone is circulating with God knows what on it. We need to find it—”

“And then what?” Conor interrupts, a long finger tracing his top lip. “What happens then?”

Cillian cocks his head to the side like a creepy German Shepherd. “Do we open it? Sell the secrets or destroy it?”

Dad stares at his sons like they’ve gone crazy. Sorry, Dad, but that ship sailed a long time ago.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.” Dad’s eyes narrow slightly, the movement almost imperceptible.

The twins snort and shake their heads. Dad’s like me, though. He’ll want to open that phone to know all the secrets on it and then figure out how best to use them. Conor and Cillian couldn’t give two shits. They just like to know what the plan is; otherwise, they go a little feral, and who knows what would happen then.

“What’s the princess doing here?” Conor asks Dad without even looking at me.

“Fuck you,” I reply.

“Language!” Dad barks. “I’ve asked Echo to join because she was one of the last people to see Bennie alive.”

Shit.

I feel Veon stiffen behind me.

“I was?”