I knew I’d been right.
As if sensing it himself, Abram moves in. “Silas, we can talk in my office.” Voice sterner than before.
“Here is fine.”
“I think my office will be better.” There’s a hint of threat laced in Abram’s tone as he bares his teeth.
Silas scans his face a second before glowering. His hazel eyes scare me. There’s a crazy zing in them tonight. Inflexible is what that expression says. He doesn’t care who’s around.
I stand here pretending I’m eager when I’m really petrified. Cole’s father is unbalanced.
“Checked our accounts lately, Abram? Noticed anythingdifferentabout them?” Silas’s smirk is cocky, one used to destroy a rival. He looks at Abram right now as the enemy.
Abram eyes him skeptically.
Silas watches him grow more impatient and alert. “I have been, in case you’re wondering. Been checking statements for months.”
Abram’s eyes heat, ablaze in his fury. “You’ve been monitoring us?”
Silas snorts. “Us?”
The way he says that one word, with so much underlying hostility, venom. He doesn’t trust him. Neither of them does the other in this moment.
Abram keeps his face passive. He seems relieved but also alert. Everyone feels so out of reach.
The room hums with hot energy and too much testosterone. This is not how I’d expected the conversation to go. A small part of me is relieved by this.
Whatever this is, it’s distracting from the obvious.
How I’d never noticed the similarities before this evening, shocking. The signs have been there this entire time. Subtly, but once you know, you can’t unsee the truth for what it is.
It’s undeniable.
“How’d you do it?”
My head shifts, following Silas’s comment. Same as everyone else’s. All of us watching whatever this is going down between business partners. Some of us more aware than others.
“We’re supposed to be equals!” Silas snarls. His temper finally getting the better of him. Overboiling.
“We are,” Abram says, matching the heat, unafraid.
Silas clicks his tongue, eyes more alive than I’d ever seen them before. “You know how our partnership works. The arrangement set in place for both families.”
Abram’s head snaps back. “What are you talking about?”
“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
My eyes flicker over to Finn. He and Eli both standing beside each other, unmoving since this began.
“You come into my home, on my time, and in front ofmychildren accuse me of what, stealing?” Abram’s words carry as much shock as they do disbelief.
At that single word, Silas’s jaw clicks. His motives shift as the corners of his mouth lift. Cheshire-like as he changes course, like the idea suddenly sprouted in his awful, toxic mind.
The answer to his question blooming before us.
I know exactly which one he’s chosen to cling to and it’s as disturbing as it’s unsettling.
I may have only just found out, seeing the papers in Abram’s study, but this is textbook Silas Kellet. Finding ways to use things only when they become of value to him.