The Thief and the Globetrotter

Chapter Twenty-Five: The Executor

It would be easier if Rei could just hate Gwen, but they were much too complex for a word as simple as hate. How could Rei hate Gwen for not being there when Angelo collapsed? How could she be upset when Gwen had, after all, put her schedule on hold to come back to Temperance?

Rei kept walking, unwilling to let Gwen stop her in her tracks. Stiletto heels clicked behind her, reverberating down the hallway. Arrows pointed in the direction of the nearest nurses' station.

"Is this an ambush?" Rei asked.

"That depends," Gwen said. "Why is it you that gets to make decisions, Rei?"

Rei pursed her lips. She would've appreciated a straightforward explanation from the source, but that wasn't in the cards for her.

"Because I live here and you hardly live anywhere," Rei replied. It was a sensible, logical answer, but not necessarily the reason Rei believed in.

"He is my father," Gwen said, "in case you forgot." As if Rei ever could. In so many ways, Angelo didn't belong to her. He was her friend, her confidant, her support system, but Gwen's claim was biological and undeniable.

"I know," Rei said. The nurses' station loomed in front of her and it was all too real. Half of her wanted Gwen to fight her, pull her hair, until Rei agreed to insist the life support stay running. Instead, the click of heels stopped abruptly and no one stopped Rei from confirming Angelo's wishes.

It was the right thing to do, so why did she feel like the husk of a person, leaning against the desk for support?

Rei turned, forcing herself steady despite how her legs wanted to give out from under her. Sheer willpower held her upright. Will power and the overwhelming desire to not break down crying that the desk.

"Why?" Gwen asked, blinking back the glassiness in her eyes. If she dared let them spill, her mascara would bleed. If her mascara bled, people might get the idea that Gwen could care.

Rei desperately wanted to take Gwen by the shoulders and tell her over and over, it was okay to be upset. It was okay to feel things. All Rei wanted in that moment was to undo everything she ever heard Gwen's mother tell her: don't be a diva. Gwen's father was going to die and the inevitability of that was worth a reaction.

Instead, Rei walked down the hall, following the arrows to the elevator. Gwen's shoes tapped harder against the linoleum and Rei pursed her lips, fighting not just for the answer, but the words that would make it softer.

"Because it's not fair to make him wait until we're ready to say goodbye," Rei said. No matter how hard she tried, she couldn't melt into the wall or into the floor. There was no way to escape Gwen's disdain, so instead, Rei stood up a little taller.

"But why do you get to decide that it's time for everyone else to make due? Why do you get a say in who gets what? Who deserves what?" Gwen said. Rei resisted the urge to shrink. It had been so long since she'd seen a side of Gwen that didn't belong to the world. She remembered her friend who trusted only Rei to keep all her childhood secrets. No matter how graceful or elegant or flawless Gwen was, it didn't stop her parents from divorcing or remarrying or dying.

"You're allowed to cry, Gwen. You know that, right?" Rei said. If it hadn't been so long since they were friends, she might've touched Gwen, reached out a hand to comfort her. Couldn't they just mourn together? Did it really have to be a battle over who had more right to be devastated? For all the years Rei spent wanting to, she couldn't replace Gwen as Angelo's daughter. She never could. They couldn't swap families, no matter how many times Rei wanted to curse Gwen with two success-obsessed parents. Maybe Gwen could've thrived under a Collingwood roof, so controlled and exquisite.

Did they have to fight?

"Thank you so much for your permission," Gwen replied, "I hadn't realized my father granted you that right as well."

Rei paled. "Gwen..."

The elevator arrived, door sliding open. Rei stepped in, but it wasn't an escape when Gwen followed her. The door slid closed, trapping them together, alone.

"I've already called Cheng. I'm sure he misses you dearly," Gwen replied, "I think we have some similar concerns about the will. We can... discuss them as a group."

Rei stiffened. Oh no. A hopeful, naive part of her hadn't considered Gwen and Cheng joining forces against her. They never got along before, why start now?

Except, of course, Rei knew the answer to that.

"Oh, of course. How silly of me to think that could possibly wait a day," Rei replied.

"Maybe you should have thought of that before you killed him," Gwen snapped back. She looked up, very carefully brushing the tears out of her eyes before they spilled through her makeup.

Rei shut her eyes just to keep from crying herself. That wasn't fair. It was the stroke. The stroke killed him, it just did so slowly. The logical, reasonable side of Rei knew that was true, but it didn't stop Gwen's accusation from sinking into her soul.

"Cheng has graciously offered to pick us up after he's done visiting your... I don't know what you want to call him," Gwen said, "at this point, pawn seems appropriate."

"What are you talking about? What pawn?" Rei replied.

Gwen rolled her eyes. "Don't play dumb. I know he was in your little hiding place. I found his glove there."

Rei didn't know it was possible for her heart to sink any lower until it did. Sébastien? She was talking about Sébastien? Rei's chest tightened.

"He's not my pawn," Rei managed in protest.

Behind all Gwen's quiet hatred, there was a hint of amusement and it made Rei sick.

"I'm sorry, what would you prefer?" Gwen did what Gwen was good at: asking the kind of question that made Rei squirm. There was no right answer, not when Gwen got some kind of smug satisfaction from having him already. There was definitely no right answer when Cheng would get to him before Rei had the chance.

Rei swallowed, holding Gwen's gaze.

The elevator pinged on their arrival to the main level. Gwen hooked her arm into Rei's as if they were still the best of friends, maybe comforting each other through their shared tragedy.

Numb, Rei let Gwen dragged her out of the elevator and toward the waiting room.

"And why exactly should I let you drag me into this conversation?" Rei asked. She was in the position where everyone appeared to want what she had and no one else had anything to offer her in return.

Gwen shrugged. "You know, I thought about this a lot while you were gone, but I think Cheng is really the one who found an elegant solution to that problem."

They didn't intend to bribe her at all. Bribery was far to juvenile. No, when her brother had already forgone bribery, blackmail, and extortion, what stopped them from crossing other boundaries?

Gwen didn't wait for Rei to speak.

"I am really curious, Rei. I'm guessing you did not meet Baz in Europe," Gwen said.

Rei shook her head. That was the lie he told Gwen? What if she had? In another alternate universe, maybe that was the truth.

"We had a class together at Faraday," Rei answered quietly. It was too late to deny a connection. Rei could just imagine the conversation. Gwen would threaten lightly that if they didn't know each other, then it wouldn't bother Rei whether or not he ended up in prison. Or worse.

No, it was better to forgo that scenario, the one Rei would have to back out of immediately.

"He seemed like your type," Gwen said, mocking, "good kisser."

Rei imagined reaching for Gwen's hair and tearing it out of its bun.