Of All the Fake Heiresses I've Met, You're the Stupidest novel · Chapter 9 of 24

Chapter 9: The Tonic

"Who is the dead man?" I asked.

We were alone in the back hall, outside Sean's study.

Behind the door, the man in the navy jacket was telling Sean Kearney nothing at all.

Ronan stood with his back to the wall and his keys in his fist.

"My father," he said.

"And what happened to him?"

"He died on the water. Nineteen years ago."

"How?"

"A boat accident."

He said it too fast.

He looked straight at me, and he did not blink.

I had been watched by men who were lying to me my whole life.

Chester did it best.

Ronan did it worse.

"All right," I said.

"Erin."

"I said all right."

I went to dinner.

On the night before the vote, the Kearney house eats together.

It is an old custom.

The cook, the drivers, the guards, the maids and the family all sit at one long table in the kitchen, and nobody gets a better chair.

Sean sat at the head.

I sat on his right, because he asked me to.

Ronan sat across from me and did not look up from his plate.

At the far end, two guards held Savannah's chair, and she sat very straight with a smile fixed to her face.

Sean had let her out of the guest wing for the meal.

He said it was tradition.

I think he was watching to see what she would do.

The cook put a roast on the table, and everybody ate and talked about nothing, and the old wolfhound lay under Sean's chair with his chin on Sean's foot.

Halfway through, Savannah stood up.

"Papa," she said. "You look so tired."

"Sit down, Savannah."

"I have been thinking about how awful this week has been for your heart." She came around the table with a small crystal glass. "Chester made you this. It is a tonic."

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