by C. L. Stone
“We’re safe here,” Soma said. “No one is getting beyond the wall.”
Loïc smirked. “Maybe she pushes it because she got mad at you.” He turned to me. “I don’t care if you need more shampoo, just push the button, please?”
Soma stiffened and reached into his back pocket for his phone. He checked the message. “It’s Ace.” He straightened. “He’s just made it to the gate. I’ll go meet him.”
“I’ll stay here until you get back.”
Soma gave him a lingering eye, as if debating whether to say something. Eventually, he turned away and headed out of the house.
“I know you irritate Ace,” I said to him. I turned toward the bed, not caring for decorum when I was feeling exhausted. I crawled up onto the bed, sitting on the plush down comforter, feeling the softness of it. “I don’t understand how you seem to make Soma worry what you’re up to. He’s always so nice.”
“I know he is,” Loïc said. “I knew that when I hired him.”
I was sure I hadn’t heard him right. “You mean he worked for you?”
“He used to,” he said. He touched his chin, looking quizzically at the ceiling. “Actually, I wonder if he’s still on payroll. I don’t think I ever took him off.”
My mouth fell open. Soma had said he had found opportunities when he came to Charleston.
He neglected to mention he used to work for Loïc.
“Why did he change?” I asked.
“Ace was so far behind in the game,” Loïc said. He came closer to the bed, stuffing his hands into his front pockets. “He was also causing a whole lot of trouble, impulsive as he is. So I loaned him Soma.”
“He’s on loan?”
“Well, he started out that way, but the loan turned permanent.” He smirked. “Like I said, good loyalty can’t be bought. They’re more friends now. We all are, technically.”
I nodded slowly. Soma seemed to put up with a lot from Ace, and he didn’t exactly seem like an assistant who just followed orders. Maybe he was on payroll for one of them, but this was different somehow.
“I hope you sleep well,” he said and he turned toward the door. “Maybe you’ll join me for breakfast. We should talk.”
“About Zoey?” I asked.
“About the chaos you unleashed at my party,” he said. “I forgive you, but we’ll have to go over game rules if you want to keep things going. Soma gave you a couple of points for the Instagram stunt earlier, but I’m still debating the point for this afternoon with Mrs. Harvey. I’d call it a sympathy point, and no one wants those.”
I got points? How did he know all this? We’d just left Ace’s house in a rush.
I didn’t know what to say to him. Soma was right, though. He was driven, relentless about the points, like the score mattered.
It was odd that Soma seemed to be the final decision maker about points. They had to appeal to him.
And I’d earned three?
Escape
I sat on the bed after Loïc left the room. I knew he didn’t completely leave the house. He said he wasn’t going to leave me, but I didn’t seek him out to talk to him more. When Soma and Ace came back, they talked in the living room for so long but I didn’t want to get up from the bed once I was down.
I slept hard through the night. I wasn’t sure I would at first once I crawled between the sheets. The comforter and bedding was cool and I remained very comfortable through the night. I was pretty sure I slept with the lights still on.
It made it very hard to wake up in the morning. After stretching and remembering where I was, I sat up, looking around. The suitcase had been removed. Did Soma come put things away while I’d slept?
It was early. Outside the sky was still gray, clouds barely lit up as the sun was rising behind them. After the disaster yesterday, I was surprised I hadn’t slept in.
There were no sounds in the house, except the gentle whirr of the air conditioner.
I tiptoed into the hallway, slipping a little on the hardwood floor in my fuzzy socks.
The second bedroom door was open. One bed was made up. The other was still occupied by a sleeping Ace. He’d removed his shirt. His arm was stretched over his head. Sleeping sound.
I checked the kitchen and living room. No Soma.
I thought it curious until I went back and saw my phone was charging on the nightstand. There was a new text message from Soma.
SOMA: Returned to the house to check up on it. Call me when you read this.
I dialed, closing the master bedroom door to not wake Ace.
Soma answered quickly. “Did I wake you when I left?”
“No,” I said. “I don’t think so at least.”
“I’m going back to the house to check on it and to give some more notes to security. You were asleep before I had a chance to get back to you, about what you were saying before Zoey showed up.”
“Loïc said you gave me a point or two for what happened with Zoey?”
“Using your Instagram to get Zoey to try to be a good person and using that vanity against her to do it was smart. The bonus was you sending her to help the very girls you’d wanted to help. I’m proud of you.”
I beamed at the wall. “I may not have made a great decision. More people will show up on that block. Zoey might fail at this.”
“An attempt is all we can do. There’s a time to make an effort, and a time to let it go. Our obligation is fulfilled. In the meantime, we’ll need to stay away and those crowds will get tired of an empty house. They were mostly dispersed this morning.”
“Are we staying here?”
“Unless Ace wants to go somewhere else. You’re always welcome to stay wherever you want.”
“Why did you get me started on this game?”
He paused. “Because I liked what I was learning about you. Once Ace learned who you really were, he wasn’t the only one looking in on what you had been up to.”
“You read my blog?”
“And went through your Instagram. And other public postings about you. You were more than a lovely face. You care about things. Deeply. I thought it would be good to see if this game would appeal to you.”
“Ace made it sound like it was him that made that choice. You...in the beginning...”
“Sometimes I let Ace think things are his idea,” he said. “To be honest, I like you, Eva. And I thought it was time someone else joined the game. It’s been just these two for a couple of years. The rivalry needed some shifting.”
“But won’t you be on Ace’s team? Helping him?”
“I don’t have to be. I can choose who I want to help.”
I felt my heart quicken. “I don’t know what I want yet.”
“Consider it. I’d join in, but it’d be biased if the scorekeeper joined in.” He paused again. “I have to go. I’m at the house.”
I held the phone in my hands after he disconnected. I struggled with the idea that Soma wanted me on the scoreboard.
And he was willing to change teams. Maybe his loyalty couldn’t be bought. I really had nothing to offer him.
I replaced the phone and went about getting cleaned up and dressed. This time in a cotton blend summer dress from Gretta’s collection, and a simple cardigan while it was still cool in the morning.
With Ace still sleeping and with myself restless, I left a note for Ace to let him know I was out taking a walk. I had a decision to make.
To stay or leave? And with who?
I followed a sidewalk out of the house and around a path that led to an orchard. There was a line of pineapple plants, short enough to be just bushes instead of full trees. Further down, the rows turned from cherry trees, to peaches, to a couple of kumquat trees and others I couldn’t figure out.
Loïc’s estate seemed endless. No matter where I turned, there were things to see.
I’d found my way to a motor court when Oliver came around the corner. He stopped when he spotted me, hand at his hip.
I stilled, not wanting to seem like a thr
eat and waiting for him to get close enough to recognize me.
Oliver eventually relaxed his hand and jogged to get closer. He wore a dark T-shirt and jeans, and combat boots.
He wiped across his brow when he got to me. “Girl, you scared me.”
“I would say little ole me? But after Zoey, I don’t blame you.”
“Yeah, I thought she jumped the wall somehow. Sensors should have been triggered, but nothing’s perfect.”
“Did I trigger any?”
“Yeah. That’s why I came out. This early in the morning, no one is usually awake yet. What are you doing out here?”
I shrugged. “Sorry. I was just awake. I started wandering around.”
“We’re kind of on high alert. Zoey doxed you once. We’re not totally sure she’ll play nice now. Plus, we don’t know what attention this has attracted. Maybe someone worse will come by to vlog it.”
I stiffened, turning to him. “Soma left earlier today to go check on the house.”
“Hopefully he knows to not talk to anyone on his way.” He motioned to the house. “Let me walk with you. Loïc is already up, said something about waiting for you for breakfast.”
“He’s up early.” I walked beside him toward the garage and then on to the house.
“If you ask me, he doesn’t sleep enough. He’s up until past midnight and then out and about before the sun comes up. I can’t keep those hours.”
“Does he expect you to?”
“No, but I’m not happy to be asleep while he’s awake. Sometimes he’s not even here when I wake up. He doesn’t tell me where he’s going.”
“I hear he has a habit of not informing people when he should.”
“Right-o.”
We stood together just outside the front door of Belle Cielo. Just beyond the door, the house seemed to still be sleeping, silent. Lights were dim. What little morning sun pierced through the clouds at the horizon didn’t do much for the shadows inside.
He hesitated going in and turned to me. “Things have gotten a little crazy, but I hear Loïc did wonders for you in Atlanta.”
I nodded slowly. “Seems like Ace was okay, too,” I said. “I think we can trust him.”
“If you say so,” Oliver said. He pushed a palm to his cheek, rubbing. “I know I sound paranoid. I’m still trying to figure this out. Sometimes Courteau says come crazy things about Ace, but then he says nice things.”
I wasn’t sure what to make of it either.
“You’re a free girl now, though,” Oliver said. “You could take off any time you wanted. Get away from this craziness.”
“I could,” I said quietly, and then motioned to the front door of Loïc’s estate and then beyond. “But I may stick it out a little while longer. Someone’s got to watch your back, right?”
Oliver chuckled, turned and opened the door. “I knew you were a little on the crazy side when I met you.”
Oliver guided me down the side of the house I hadn’t been in, where there was a large dining room with a stately, dark oak table.
Noises came from a door further down the hallway. Oliver and I followed the sounds.
We entered an immense, modern kitchen. There was a main sink along one counter near the back, a large island with two sinks on either side, two fridges next to each other. The kitchen could have housed an army of chefs. Loïc was there, looking into the fridge, a frying pan in one hand. He turned around when Oliver walked up to get his attention. He blinked at him and then at me and then turned back to Oliver. “Have you slept?”
“No. I was pretty sure I wasn’t going to until tonight.”
“Time to start,” Loïc said. “You’re no good to me dead on your feet.”
“I was waiting for word from Soma.”
“Soma has been doing this longer than you. He can handle himself. Go to bed.”
Oliver rolled his eyes, flashed a tired smirk at me and then drifted out through the dining room and disappeared.
“I take back what I said last night,” Loïc said. He pulled out a carton of eggs and a stick of butter. He shut the door with a foot. “Oliver isn’t quite as loyal yet as someone like Soma.”
“Oliver seems to be doing okay,” I said.
“He doesn’t fully trust me, and he doesn’t fully trust Soma or Ace. I knew that’d take time, but it’s taking longer than I wanted, especially since I said to trust them.” He put the pan on a gas stove that was in the middle of a large kitchen island in the center. He put the food down on the countertop beside it and began looking around again. “Have you seen bread anywhere?”
I gazed around the large kitchen, stepping away as he searched cupboards, and went to poke my head into a pantry, and then again into a butler’s pantry, finding two loaves of bread on the counter inside. “Wheat or white?” I called.
“Both.”
I brought the packages over. “I don’t want to sound like a snob, but don’t you have a chef or something to work for you?”
“I don’t need a chef to make me eggs and toast,” he said. He started a flame and used a spatula to cut a dab of butter out of a stick and toss it into the bottom of the pan. “Besides, he has the day off today. After yesterday...Speaking of which, you and I need to have a conversation. Pull up a stool.”
I found one positioned under the counter of the island in front of the stove. I perched on it to watch. He placed slices of bread into the melted butter in the pan.
“You don’t use a toaster?” I asked.
“Why? I’ve got a flame going for eggs. It can make toast, too.” He pointed the spatula at me. “Makes an amazing difference if you’d have a little patience.”
I remained quiet while he focused on making four pieces, two of each toast, buttering and heating up both sides.
It was an odd moment. The elegant Loïc had somehow turned into someone domestic, relatable. Where was the guy who snubbed me the day before?
To my surprise, I didn’t feel uncomfortable. Not this time. Not like I needed to impress him. “What did we need to go over?”
Loïc cracked an egg and split the shell to drop the contents into the hot pan. “Soma awarded the points to you, but he said it was because of something you told him last night. What did you say?”
My mind crawled with retorts I wanted to throw at him for being so single minded, but I didn’t care after all this. After a night’s rest, I was ready to debate my side. “I told him I didn’t care about Mrs. Harvey, I wanted to help the kids. I wanted to figure out how to get those girls into school, medical attention, and to ensure no one else worked in that place with such horrible conditions. I didn’t know how to do it though. I told him how I confronted Mrs. Harvey but it felt useless because it didn’t actually do much. Before I could go into any details, Zoey was at the door.”
Loïc rolled his eyes, crushing eggshells completely in his hand before he tossed them into the trash can. He wiped his hand on a kitchen towel before he started poking eggs with his spatula. “Over easy?”
“Yes, please.”
“Good. A girl with taste.” He salted the eggs and then waited for them to finish. “Anyway, that’s completely ridiculous. I should have gotten one of those points.”
“Which—”
“Because the money was already collected to send those girls to a school,” Loïc said. “The charity already picked out. What makes him think that just because you wanted to help”—he pointed the spatula at me again—“but I was already doing it.” He lowered the spatula again, “What makes him think you get the point?”
My mouth fell open. “What money?”
“The art auction. Yesterday.”
“That was for...”
He raised an eyebrow and then coughed once. “Take a wild guess where that money was going to in the first place.” He shook his head and plated two eggs per plate and turned off the stove, leaving the spatula on the counter and the pan on a cool stovetop.
I had a feeling, but I wanted to hear him say it. “I didn’t see
anything about what the money was for.”
He fished out spoons from a drawer, placed the plates on the counter, one in front of me. He leaned over, placing his hands on the marble top to peer at me. “You left before I could make the final announcement to tally up the numbers and say where the money was going.”
“Did Soma know that?”
“I wasn’t going to tell anyone until the end of the night. They knew the charity name, but not what they did. Only that it helped kids. Which kids, they didn’t really question.” He pulled out a bottle of iced coffee from the fridge and two glasses and brought them over. He slid a second stool out with his foot and sat down beside me. “Later, when Mrs. Harvey left and you left, I explained the photos had been meant for the end, to introduce who the charity was targeting next.” He smirked. “But you know, everyone recognized the label. I wasn’t going to use actual faces, but you were about to win the point, or so I thought. Getting her to call that factory and fix things. Before I could even finalize the charity event. You were really close.”
I pressed my fingertips to my forehead, staring at the eggs he had made for me. “How did you know about Mrs. Harvey anyway? That Soma had gotten me to work on her?”
A slick dark eyebrow arched. “Who did you think gave Soma a suggestion of what women’s undergarments to buy for a mysterious girl who showed up from the middle of nowhere?”
My heart raced. “How did you know I was there?”
“Soma tried to keep it a secret, but he never was good at hiding information from me. I came over for our usual morning coffee meeting to catch up on what was going on.”
The two cups in the drying rack that morning. “You visit Soma?”
“At least once a week. We have breakfast and I go over my plans and he lets me know, as much as I’m allowed, what Ace is up to. Just so we’re not stepping on each other’s toes too much in this town.”
I poked at the yellows of my eggs, letting it run off the whites in my plate. “And you got Soma to get that brand... So you knew before Soma about Mrs. Harvey? You wanted me to react to it and set Soma up to...”
“If you were the type of person I suspected you were, I’d a feeling you’d ask him to return them. You did well.”
