All the Way (Romancing Manhattan #1)(63)

“Okay.” He frowns. “Are you okay?”

“I don’t know. Where’s Finn?”

“I think he just ran to the bathroom. Do you want to wait for him?”

“No.” I shake my head and offer him a smile. “I won’t be long. Just let him know that I ran home.”

He nods and I hurry out, walking to my building, which is only three blocks away. It’ll take longer to hail a cab.

Roger the doorman is working today, and smiles when I approach. “Hello, Miss Watson. Your brother is waiting for you inside.”

“Yes, I know.” He can see that I’m not smiling.

“Do you need me to call for help?”

“I don’t know yet.”

I hurry past without smiling, and wait impatiently for the elevator. What the fuck is Kyle doing in New York?

Why isn’t he in North Carolina?

He was within inches of Gabby, and there’s no scenario in the world where that’s okay.

I open the door to my apartment, and don’t see him at first. But my eyes immediately go to the kitchen island and the floppy-eared bunny from my playhouse that’s sitting there.

“Hi,” Kyle says as he walks out of my bedroom. He’s dressed in a nice white button-down shirt, black slacks, and a red tie.

“I did see you at the party.”

“Oh yeah,” he says with a smile. “Great little shindig. But I wanted to have a little talk with you while everyone else is busy.”

“Okay.” I frown. “You’re not crying.”

He smirks, and then his face crumples and he starts to act. “I’m so sorry, London. I’m sooooo scared.” He stops and rolls his eyes. “That whole act was getting old. You’re not the only performer in the family, you know.”

“I guess not.” I clear my throat, and try to think of the nearest weapon. My heels would leave a mark if need be. “Why are you here?”

“Well, if I tell you that, I’ll skip all of the good parts, and I don’t want to do that.” He smiles widely, showing me his teeth. Teeth that used to be rotten.

“So, I guess this means that you won’t be going to rehab? That you’re not clean?”

“Oh, London. I’ve been clean for years. This is just who I am.” He holds his hands out at his sides and then shrugs.

“What, an asshole?”

“Yeah, that’s a good word.” He nods happily. “At least, I’m an asshole where you’re concerned. Because you always got everything you ever wanted, and Dad always treated me like I was an imposition.”

You were an imposition.

But I don’t say it. I want to know where this is going.

“Okay, start from the beginning, then. What’s up, Kyle?”

“This is the best story,” he says, and does a little dance of excitement. “Okay, first of all, you’re supposed to be dead. And the fact that you aren’t really pisses me off.”

I blink at him, not responding.

“I set the fire,” he says with pride. “I set the perfect fire, one that looked like a tragic accident, to kill all of you. If you’d have died, I would have inherited everything and be walking on easy street right now.

“But no, you didn’t die, did you? Fucking little bitch, you always did screw everything up for me.”

“Wait.” I shake my head. “You killed our parents? For money?”

“Look who’s catching up. You’re not exactly the smartest girl in the room, are you, honey? Yes. I. Killed. Our. Parents. And I was supposed to kill you too. Who knew you’d be brave and jump out of that fucking window?”

I want to kill him. I want to run at him and tear him apart with my bare hands. But I don’t. I stay where I am and listen, because he’s going down for all of this if it’s the last thing I do.

“You looked completely stoned in Finn’s office that day.”

“I’d been awake for days, pissed off that you lived. And then when he told me that those two assholes left everything to you, I flipped the fuck out.”

“Why didn’t you just say that you’re sober? All it would take is one blood test to confirm, and the money is yours, Kyle.”

“Because I shouldn’t have to prove dick!” he yells back at me. “It’s mine. All of it. You have your own goddamn money, you don’t need it. And what do you do after the will reading? You go to Martha’s Vineyard to live the life of luxury in your fancy house.”

“That was our house,” I remind him, but he just glares at me.

“It’s your house now because you stole what was rightfully mine. Do you think I haven’t been following you? Watching? How do you think I got the stupid bunny? You thought it was the storm that fucked up your stupid playhouse, but it wasn’t. It was me. I screwed with the battery in the car. I’ve been following you.”

“I knew I saw you.”

“Yeah, I got a little sloppy the last few weeks because I wanted you to see me and get scared.”

“You don’t scare me.”

He smirks and pulls a gun out of the back of his pants and points it at me. “I should scare you.”

“You wouldn’t hurt me.” This can’t be real.