Fuck me and this girl who’s toying with my damn mind.
Aiden: You’ll let me do anything?
Elsa: Maybe.
I smile.
“Is that Steel?” Jonathan’s voice wipes the smile off my face.
Fuck.
I forgot that he was just here — and probably watching me the entire time.
I tuck my phone in my pocket and face him with my neutral expression. “Why did you pick me up from school?”
He narrows his eyes because he doesn’t like to be ignored. “We’re here.”
The car comes to a stop and the driver nods at us from the mirror.
I stare through the window and tighten my grip on my phone.
Fucking Jonathan.
Pine trees stand tall in the distance like stones of memories.
Jonathan opens his door. “Come out.”
I close my eyes and take a long breath before I follow him.
He faces a tree with his hands in front of him like he’s a soldier.
The cliff beyond the huge tree appears like a giant mouth, ready to be fed.
The area is desolate with no people or animals in sight. Jonathan made sure to buy it so no trespassers would come near this road.
He even has his top-notch security company guard this place. Two agents dressed like MI6 spies nod at us. They stand in front of their black cars a short distance away — but not within hearing range.
Jonathan doesn’t nod back or acknowledge them.
His entire attention remains on the tree.
This tree stood tall for the past ten years despite the scratches at its trunk.
It’s funny how some things never change.
I stand beside Jonathan and shove both my hands in my trousers.
“Do you know what today is?” he asks without sparing me a glance.
“Alicia’s birthday.”
“Happy birthday.” His tone is emotionless, cold even. “You would’ve been forty today.”
I grind my jaw but say nothing.
“Alicia died here,” he repeats the piece of information as if I don’t know it.
His voice is still detached, but his eyes say something entirely different.