Page 56 of Filthy Liar
“What was the story that got killed?”
“It’s weird, you know. On one hand, it’s a college experience like any other. Okay, not quite like any other, and I knew that. But on the other hand…sometimes you find out that a classmate’s relative funded the overthrow of a government of a country that you have other classmates from. It’s fucked up. You see that intense difference in the absolute upper classes right up close in technicolor.”
“What country?”
I tell him, and his eyes go wide. “You tried to write about the financier of a revolution?”
“Kind of foreshadowed how my career in the foreign service would go. Because the grandchildren of billionaires either actively work to never be a billionaire themselves, or they think they can overthrow governments for sport. There is no in between. It’s hereditary toxic bullshit.”
Jason frowns. “I feel like you’re leading me somewhere with this.”
I try to swallow and I can’t, my throat is too dry.
“You’re the grandchild of a billionaire,” I say weakly.
“And I have no interest in being one myself.” His frown gets darker. “What is your point?”
I can’t say it.
The darkness in his glower gathers into a full-force gale. “Ellie, what are you saying?”
“Mack,” I whisper. “It’s Mack.”
20
Melinda
The shockon his face sucks all the air out of the room.
He didn’t see it. He never saw it, and I’m the one who had to tell him.
“My brother?” His voice cracks and goes up at the end, and I see the little boy inside who worshiped the older brother, the rightful heir, who never really had time for little Jason. Product of a second marriage that didn’t last all that long.
The first time I met Mack Evans, at Harvard, I knew he was evil. I was an undergrad. He was an alumnus brought in as part of the CIA’s recruitment strategy, although I didn’t know it then.
When I found out he’d given seed money to the Horus Group, I knew what my first investigation would be. I had to get inside this organization and expose it for the rot it had to contain.
Instead, I found broken men at a crossroads—and just as I was prepared to reveal who they were, they chose a better path.
And I fell in love.
The second time I met Mack Evans, I thought he didn’t recognize me.
Five years later, I’m realizing I was too naïve for this world.
“He knew who I was,” I say, as gently as I could. “He brought me into the CIA. So when he saw me here…in hindsight, he knew.”
“I don’t understand.”
“He was an associate of Gerome Lively.”
“No.”
“Yes. It will all come out, one way or another.” I hope so, anyway. Mack’s a loose cannon now. It’s possible he’s going to try to take me down with him. But I’m not the only one who knows about the incriminating documents Lively stored—and I am more convinced than ever that Mack is the one who inherited that stash. “And he wants the PRISM council seat.”
Jason shakes his head. “No. He’s…he’s…”
I grimace. “Angling for a role in this President’s administration? A sinking ship? Does that sound right to you?”
