Page 31 of Obsession

He was once all I had. Now the tables have turned, and I’m his point of safety—the reason he’s still alive.

The urge to burst into hysterical laughter hits me out of nowhere, but I force it back down. Now is not the time to fall apart.

“You’re a good daughter,” Charlotte says, crouching down beside me. She takes my hand in hers, stroking her thumbs over the top, and offers me a kind smile. “No matter what the future holds, no matter the hardships, you have been a good daughter.”

If only she knew.

I’m not good. I don’t have a good bone in my body. I’m just as coldhearted as my father was back then.

Robbie sees the truth in me. I can’t hide who I am when he’s around.

“It’s okay to have a down day, sweetheart. But you must not allow yourself to wallow in your own sorrows. You let yourself feel whatever troubles you today, and then you pick yourself back up tomorrow and do what must be done.”

It shouldn’t have surprisedme that Elliot took me to such a fancy restaurant. The chandeliers overhead gleam, the oyster on the menu costs enough to cause me to choke on my own saliva, and the expensive wine in front of me has me wondering how Elliot can afford such luxury on our meager wage.

Or maybe I am too swamped with medical bills to know what’s normal in the real world.

There’s also the possibility that he earns a lot more than me, considering he’s more experienced despite his younger age and has a swinging dick between his legs. On the other hand, I’m a young woman in a ruthless business.

I push that thought aside—no point dwelling on the negatives. Robbie’s story will set me up for a successful career.

Just when I begin to wonder if the toilet swallowed Elliot whole, he returns, weaving through tables.

“The food arrived,” I say, unsure why I let him talk me into the oysters. Nothing about it looks appetizing.

“There was a queue,” he explains, and I frown.

“Really? A queue?”

He crouches down, and I look at him in time to spot him holding out my keys for me to take.

“They must have fallen off the table.”

Grateful, I offer him a smile as I take the keys from his open palm and zip them away inside my bag.

When he’s seated, he fills my glass. The wine sloshes against the sides, and he puts the bottle back on the table. “I owe you an apology.”

“For what? Sexual harassment at work or blackmailing me to come here?”

Wincing, he ruffles his blonde hair. His smile is sheepish and could be charming to some girls, but I won’t be swayed that easily. I wouldn’t even be here if it weren’t for his threat to tell James.

While I believe Robbie is right, I don’t dare to bank on it. This story and the opportunity it presents are very important to me. So it’s a small sacrifice to suffer through a meal with Elliot while he tells me how sorry he is. Even if he got me here by being an ass.

“About that… I only said it because I knew you wouldn’t agree otherwise. Trust me, I wouldn’t have gone to James.”

Unimpressed, I let my gaze linger on his face, trying to decipher his angle. I can smell bullshit a mile away.

He takes a sip of his wine, and I mirror him.

“So…” He puts the glass down and looks at me expectantly. “Is Hammond spilling his secrets?”

I take another sip to buy myself some time. Of course, he’s trying to get a read on me. That’s why we’re here, isn’t it? He wants to gain insight, and he’s hoping a fancy meal and some expensive wine will make me trust him enough to share my progress.

Maybe he’s hoping to steal the information from me and write his own article.

The wine tastes sour on my tongue as I place the glass down on the table, spinning the thin stem between my fingers. “Hammond is a private man.”

“A private man?” He chuckles with a hint of disbelief bleeding through the notes. “What does that mean? Will youhave a complete article or not by the deadline? Has he told you about the murders yet?”