Page 51 of Waters that Drown Us

Emily

“Ishould fucking killbothof you!”

Clara’s voice is muffled by the closed door at the end of the hallway, but she’s screaming loud enough for me to hear pretty clearly. I drag my hands down my face and lean back against Bea’s couch, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my palms.

“Could be worse. We could both be dead already.”

Alice’s voice next to me is the only thing bringing me comfort. The feeling of her thigh inches from mine. And her smell—sea salt and blackberries, like I knew it would be, even far from that boat.

The whispers of my family hiding in Bea’s dining area are certainly not calming me. Charlie, Gwen, and Deniz sit very far away, glancing over at Alisa and I surreptitiously. Well, itwouldbe surreptitiously, if they weren’t less than fifty fucking feet from us.

“Death might be preferable."

My statement is validated by the shattering of glass behind the closed door at the end of the hall.

It’s only been four days since Ilya took us from that boat, but it feels like a lifetime. Bea and I got as much out of Ilyaas we could, considering his organs were deteriorating rapidly. But even in that state, he had quite a bit more fortitude than his younger brother did. Whether because the poison addled his mind, or because he was unwilling to be a traitor to Konstantin, even in death, he gave us very little.

Which, of course, was not going to make things any better with Clara.

Bea had insisted that we proceed as directed—bring Alice to her townhouse in Tokyo, explain what happened, try to convince her not to excommunicate us and throw us to literal wolves.

It seems like Bea is on my side, but that may be more Alice’s doing than mine. Of all my cousins, Bea and I have always been the most distant. She’s so much more serious than I ever was, calm in the face of everything that startled me, emotionally detached when I was shaken. I resented her for how easily she seemed to fit into this life.

I think she resented me for how gentle my parents were with me.

But I think Bea sees a bit of herself in Alice. Someone who lost one parent that was supposed to coddle and care for them, and was left to endure the pain of the other who prioritized work over anything else.

All that to say, she could be throwing me under the bus right now, locked in that office with Clara. It was quite the scene when the rest of our family arrived at the townhouse I’d never set foot in. Alice and I stood in the corner, my body instinctively covering hers as Charlie, Gwen, Deniz, and Clara were led in by Bea. I swear I saw Clara’s hand twitch for her waistband, but she was blessedly unarmed. She might have lunged at me, tried to kill me with her bare hands, if it wasn’t for Deniz’s arm around her shoulder and Bea tugging on her elbow toward the office.

There’s been quite a lot of yelling over the past two hours.

Currently, there’s some particularly loud murmuring from the dining table. I don’t remove my palms from my eyes until I hear footsteps headed our way.

Deniz stands in front of us, staring down at Alice. His eyes are narrowed, but more from curiosity than suspicion, if I could guess. He doesn’t give me a second glance, and neither does Alice. Deniz can be an intimidating guy, but my brave girl doesn’t cower, as per the usual.

“Your fiancé killed my brother,” Deniz says bluntly, his lips pressing into a thin line as he takes a deep breath. “Your father ordered the assassination that ended his life.”

I watch Alice carefully, but she doesn’t flinch. It’s not the unaffected, glazed facade she dons to hide herself. It's an honest, raw understanding of the man who raised her, and the one she was promised to.

“My father has enough blood on his hands to color the ocean red,” she says. Her fingers twitch on the couch beside me, but she doesn’t reach for my hand. “I’m sorry he took your brother from you. He took my mother from me, too. I hope we both get to avenge them one day.”

Deniz’s expression doesn’t change. He simply watches Alice for a few moments more. They have some silent conversation, battle of wills or test of character. After a few tense beats, Deniz nods and turns back to the table with Charlie and Gwen.

Charlie looks at me like he has no fucking clue what’s going on, his eyebrows permanently furrowed and raised toward his hairline. Gwen is looking at me like I’m an idiot.

I think we should stop having family reunions. They’re never much fun.

Suddenly, the door at the end of the hall slides open. Clara steps out first, steam almost visibly rising from her ears as she stalks into the living room. The only one brave enough to get close to her is Deniz, drawn like an object in her gravitationalpull. He floats to her side as she finds her place in the center of the room, even as the rest of my family slinks further against the wall.

I don’t blame them. I’d like to be out of her trajectory right now, too.

“You two are going to answer my questions with a simple yes or no,” she demands, brokering no room for argument. Alice is immediately on edge, maybe even a little frightened. She shifts toward me, keeping her wary eyes on Clara’s hands. Good to know my cousin is objectively more terrifying than both an international arms dealer and human trafficker.

“What if?—”

“I swear on Nonno’s grave, Emily, if you say another word other thanyesornoI will put a bullet between your eyes.”

I want to say that I wasn’t trying to be difficult, that I was only going to explain what happened in my own words, but I’m smart enough to seal my lips.