Free The Inheritance (Volume Three) by Zelda Reed Page B

Alanis says.
    Lee looks at me.
    “That’s fine,” I say.
    “But that’s not all,” Lee says, smacking on another smile. “I want twenty-five percent of your father’s – I’m sorry, Neal’s – business. I want to be on the board, at every meeting, in the know whenever they make a big move.”
    My eyes flicker towards Alanis. She shrugs.
    I’m on my own.
    “Okay,” I say.
    Lee grins and holds out his hand. “Do we have a deal?”
    I shake it. “We have a deal.”
    Another chuckle runs through him. “Excellent. Su,” he says, to the man to his right, “give word that the man hunt on Neal Dietrich has now ceased.”
    Su nods and heads down the hall.
    Lee pushes his chair back and stands. We follow his lead.
    Lee’s fixing the buttons of his jacket when the restaurant door swings open. The bell above it rings. We crane our necks to see who it is. Footsteps round the corner and –
    “Chris,” Lee says, walking to greet him. “You were almost late.”
    Chris’s eyes land on mine. What the fuck are you doing here? “I’m twenty minutes early.”
    “What do I always say?” Lee says, patting his arm. “You Americans have the worst sense of time.”
    Lee turns to Alanis and me, standing near the booth. “How does Friday afternoon sound?”
    My flight leaves at noon.
    “Excellent,” Alanis says, holding out her hand, waiting for the return of her gun. The guard hands it over, sans clip.
    “Fantastic,” Lee says. “I’ll have my secretary call Martin to set it up.”
    Lee heads around the corner, back to the room he came from. He leads Chris with his hand on his arm, tugging him with the familiarity of a man who’s done this before.
    Chris doesn’t take his eyes off me until he disappears around the wall, the guards following Lee, except for one.
    “You can leave now,” he says, gruffly and in broken English.
    Alanis and I say nothing until we’re out of the restaurant and across the street, the guard watching us from the door.
    “That son of a bitch,” she says, wedging her car door open.
    I climb inside.
    Her words cut against her teeth. “That son of a --”
    “We should’ve told Chris,” I say.
    Her gaze whips in my direction. “Why the fuck would he do that?”
    “He’s in there trying to cut a deal for Neal’s life too.”
    Alanis laughs. It’s patronizing, the way she stares at me, white teeth glimmering as she shakes her head.
    “And here I thought you weren’t an idiot.”
    ______
     
    We drive down the road before rounding the corner and stopping. From the glove compartment Alanis pulls a thin rectangular device, silver with neon blue lines dancing across the screen. She hooks it up to the radio.
    “I had a feeling they were going to keep my clip so I left something for them. Listen,” she says, turning the volume on high.
    “ So that's it?” Chris says, his voice crackling on the other end. “You get what you want and I walk away with jack shit?”
    Lee chuckles. “You would be wise to lower your voice.”
    There's a pause.
    “I don't understand why you had to stray from the plan,” Chris says.
    “I refuse to believe you are that stupid,” Lee says. “But who knows? Maybe you are.”
    “I thought you –“
    The frequency muddles. Alanis fiddles with the radio, twisting the knob, changing stations.
    “Fuck,” she says, slapping the dashboard.
    Laughter fizzles out on the radio.
    “Fuck you,” Chris says.
    The laughter grows.
    “Fuck you,” he says again.
    All laughter stops.
    Alanis drops her hand and I imagine Lee and his men, surrounding Chris with their weapons drawn, his eyes wild with fury and fear.
    “It's time for you to leave,” Lee says. “Unless you wish to become a casualty in this senseless war you're attempting to wage.”
    Chris says nothing. The door to their room opens.
    “And Christopher?” Lee says. “No one’s stopping you from making your own moves, but I am out of the game.”
    The pair of us listen to the crackle of the radio,