Heartless People

TWENTY-ONE

For there to be betrayal, there would have to have been trust first.
—Suzanne Collins

LAUREN.

"Look at Mommy go," I whispered to Ethan, bouncing him on my knee as Camz swam through the pool. I could barely keep up with her, she was like a motherfucking mermaid.

"Gagba," Ethan babbled, as he reached out for her.

"No swimming until you at least learn how to walk," I snickered, not that he paid much attention to me. He was just as mesmerized by her as I was.

She said she swam to clear her mind. I just wished I knew what she was trying to focus on. In a few short hours, we'd be at the White House for this afternoons award ceremony where Avian would undoubtedly be in attendance.

There was a small part of me that thought it best to simply kill him and be done with it. Who cared if he got the glory or a bloody parade in his honor as
long as he was dead. Somehow I knew that wasn't going to happen. Avian had spent decades planning and plotting, and I wouldn't have been surprised if there was some sort of contingency plan should he die. We needed to not only end him, but make sure our lives, our businesses, were safe.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

I blinked a few times to find Camz out of the water, drying her face off with a white towel. My gaze followed the residual water beads as they rolled down her chest before I looked up to meet her brown eyes.

"Only a penny? You can do better than that, baby," I winked at her. She rolled her eyes at me, but I could see the smirk that was slowly spreading across
her face.

"The chlorine is starting to get to you," she said as she bent over slightly and squeezed the water from her hair while she cooed at Ethan.

My eyes followed the lines of her body and I swallowed. "Believe me, its not the chlorine."

She wrapped the towel around herself, causing me to pout. "Can you take him inside? If its not getting to you, it may be irritating him. I don't want him getting high or something."

"High off chlorine?" I laughed as I rose from my chair and pulled Ethan to my chest. "Seriously, love, have you ever known anyone who has gotten high off
chlorine?"

She smacked my arm.

"Hey, baby on board." And to prove my point, Ethan immediately grew fussy.

"I have no clue what babies can and cannot get high off of. They are usually not in my company, and I don't want to take the chance, so go."

I looked to Ethan, as I bounced him around. "Mommy is bossy, you'll get used to it."

She rolled her eyes and stepped towards the outside shower to rinse herself off.

I was somewhat taken aback by Chris who was leaning against the couch with a glass of bourbon and a file in his hand.

"A little early, don't you think?" I asked him.

"Says the one who used to say A bottle a day, keeps the doctor at bay," he replied as he took another sip from his snifter. Walking towards Ethans
playpen, I laid him inside before I handed him his favorite teething toy.

"What is it, Chris?"

"Mina's out shopping with Mom, so I think now would be the best time to give you the information I've gathered." He waved the file at me.

Walking to him, I took the file and the bourbon, downing it all in one shot before I handed him back the empty snifter.

"Im guessing that this is about Mina?" Camz asked as she stepped inside.