Page 8 of A Corruption Dark & Deadly

"The house wasn't ours, Annie," Bruce repeated. "The deed just lists me as owner, not you."

"But the will-"

"We read the will that way because we didn't want you to be upset," Bruce said. "It was my idea. I ordered Lisa to read it that way."

"As an attorney, she's legally obligated to read it truthfully," Annie told him.

"Annie, you received your own copy of the will," Bruce pointed out, his voice gentle. "You can go through it yourself and see. Mom and Dad put it under my name because they didn't want to burden you with the taxes. You had just graduated from college when they made the will and they had big expectations for me." He clenched his jaw. "It's mine, Annie. The house is mine to do what I want with it."

Annie felt tears start to accumulate in her eyes and she bit the inside of her bottom lip to hold back from actually crying. She would not cry here, not in front of Jericho or these three nameless bodyguards in this strange place.

Her parents hadn't put her name on the deed? They hadn't bestowed the house - at least half of it - to her? How could they trust Bruce with this? He hadn't even gone to college! He hadn't committed to sitting in front of a whiteboard in a classroom for four years to better his life. He couldn't be bothered to do anything, to be responsible for anything but himself. He didn't have a steady girlfriend, he still worked part-time. And yet because he was older than she was by a year, seven months and thirteen days, her parents decided to give the house to him? It made no sense.

She blinked away her tears. Her heart pounded with disappointment in her parents. Why would they do this? Because of their death, they had taken on a holy reputation where they could do no wrong in her eyes. And now, this decision almost tainted their reputation. Which was blasphemous, even to think. But it still didn't make sense why they would allow Bruce to retain the house.

"Are you saying that you currently occupy the house in question?" Jericho asked, pressing the back of his fingers against his lips, as though he were deep in thought about something important.

"Yes," she told him, flashing a hazel glare at him. Her voice cracked and she hated herself for it. He already knew this. Why ask her again? "I live there."

He turned his attention back to Bruce. "Why would you offer your sister's only place of residence as collateral?" he asked.

"I thought she could stay with me," he said with a one-shoulder shrug. "We used to be super close when we lived with each other. Then I got a job with you in the city and I wanted to be closer to that. But then me and Annie lost touch and..." He let his voice trail off. "I was hoping that if she moved in with me, we could get close again."

It was silent. Jericho was looking at Annie to see how she would respond. Annie was looking at Bruce, gap-mouthed.

"Bullshit," she finally said.

Even Bruce looked surprised by her swearing. "Excuse me?" he asked.

"You heard me," Annie said. "That is such bullshit. Do you actually believe that? Do you actually believe your lies?"

"Annie-"

"If you really wanted to be around me like you say you do, you could have moved back home," she pointed out. "I work in the city, too. The thing is, you wanted your own space. You know how much I hate the city. There's no way in hell I would move to the city. And you know that. Stop pretending like you didn't know that."

Jericho tilted his head to the side once again. "You don't like the city?" he asked, his curiosity clearly tainting his tone.

Annie had almost forgotten he was there. He peered at her with those pale green eyes, piqued with interest in what she had to say. Annie felt herself shift uncomfortably underneath his penetrating gaze. It was as though he could see straight through her, see the blood coursing through her system, her heart skip out of time underneath the gaze, to the muscles and the guts and the organs. It was like he was looking for one of her weaknesses, and she was certain he would find something, considering she had plenty of those.

At first, she didn't want to respond. She didn't want to talk to Jericho, let alone be here with him. There was something about the way he asked simple questions, something that made her suspicious there was something more than just a typical inquiry. He was cataloging responses, checking to see if her answer benefitted him in any way, and, if it did, how he could exploit it. Why did he want to know about her anyway? She meant nothing to him; she was a no one, just some accountant who happened to be related to someone who worked for him.

However, Annie could tell from the way he was currently staring at her, she knew he would wait for however long it took to get that answer out of her. And right now, all she wanted was to go home and pretend this never happened, that Bruce didn't owe Jericho a shit ton of money and that it didn't affect her one way or the other.

"No," she finally responded. "I don't like the city."

"She doesn't like it when there are too many people," Bruce put in, deciding that Annie's answer was insufficient for Jericho and he needed to add to it. Annie shot her brother a look, which he pointedly ignored. "Prefers the solitude. The quiet. I have no idea how she does it. We have a house on the edge of the woods, and it used to creep me the fuck out that if something happened to me and I screamed, nobody would hear."

Jericho gently pressed his brows together, hearing Bruce's response but the look on his face indicated he didn't particularly care. He turned his attention back to Annie.

"I don't like people much, either," he told her. "Sometimes, they talk so much, it feels like they're looking for any kind of excuse to hear themselves speak."

Annie shot Bruce a look as if to say He’s talking about you. She didn't respond to Jericho's attempt at conversation, however. She wasn't sure why she needed to talk to him in the first place.

"I have a house in the woods as well," Jericho kept going.

Annie rolled her eyes and snorted.

"Jesus, Annie," Bruce said from the corner of his mouth.