Page 129 of Rapunzel Is Losing It

“Ow. Fuck. Maybe you should get in the ring, huh?”

“It’s okay,” I said again and reached out for Cordelia’s hand. She wove her fingers through mine instantly. This was the only thing that mattered. Even knowing that it was my father who haunted her, Cordelia was here. She chose me, against all odds, again and again. And I would have never known her if it hadn’t been for my cousin. “You don’t owe me anything, Luka.”

“Can you just keep us out of everything from now on, please?” Cordelia added. “We’re moving on. Maybe you should, too. You do cars, right?”

“Yeah, I do cars,” Luka chuckled and I knew him well enough to know that he wasnotmoving on, “speaking of moving on, where is that awful bow?”

“It’s not awful.”

“Got it.” Luka moved around my bed and I pushed myself up on the mattress. He grabbed a big purple something from the side table. “How do I switch it on?”

“What’s that?”

“My pin,” Cordelia replied, “one of them. Silas helped me modify them.”

“Silas?” I asked, only for Luka to click his tongue at me.

“Seriously, if you didn’t have a huge bandage on your head, I’d smack you. You and every straight man who gets so easily distracted by boobs. I thought you shot Lev because he realized Cordelia was recording the excommunication.”

“I don’t-”

“I’ve been filming. Here,” Cordelia grabbed her pin from Luka and placed it in my palm, all ruffles and ribbons, “there’s a small camera here.” She gently turned it over until I could feel the small, smooth surface. Even holding it up to the light, all I could see was purple with a small dark dot. It could have been a button for all I knew.

I racked my brain, trying to remember what she wore when she came to my uncle’s house. Therehadbeen a huge bow on her chest. She’d thrown it aside right before I’d gone down on her. And when she’d shown up to my fight in Canada, she’d worn another bow - and hadn’t let me pull her into the shower with her clothes on.

“Cameras on your chest? The whole time?”

“I’ve been told I have a great cleavage, so I figured I’d put it to good use.”

“Fuck,” I breathed, at a loss for words. Cordelia, who had panic attacks at the idea of being filmed just a few months ago, was wielding cameras like swords.

“Silas has the footage, and so does Del. I CC her in on everything.”

“Of course you do,” I chuckled.

“Switch it on for me,” Luka said, “and then I need you to sit on the video for like two weeks, so I can get my shit together and get out of the country.”

“Maldives?” Cordelia asked.

“I was thinking Beijing,” he replied.

“I hear they have great cars in China.”

“Great cars, and great asphalt.”

Cordelia pointed her pin at Luka, and for a split second I wanted to ask her to wait - and ask him to stay. I’d lost six years with him. Seeing Cordelia at ease with him just drove home how much we might have missed out on. But Luka was always going to be Luka.

“Ready?”

“Yep.”

“Recording.”

“My name is Luka Yelchin,” Luka bent down, leveling his face with Cordelia’s pin camera, “and my father is Piotr Yelchin. He’s pulled some shady shit over the past couple of years. I don’t have proof, so you’re just going to have to take my word for it. I’m of sound body and mind, and am recording this testimony voluntarily. Let’s see… I guess we can start with the money laundering.”

CHAPTER FORTY

“Del,if you don’t stop fussing-” Victor shut up the second Beck cleared his throat from the driver’s seat.