The Girl in The Green Scarf

F o r t y - e i g h t | Sebastian

C H A P T E R

48

– S e b a s t i a n –

"Insanity is everyone expecting you not to fall apart when you find out everything you believed in was a lie."
—Anonymous.

"I know I promised I wouldn't bring this up again mate," Alex says, collapsing down on the grass out in the back garden.

"Then don't," I interject, closing one eye as I lifted the dart up to the level of the dartboard hung on the apple tree's trunk. "I'm trying to concentrate."

"Concentrate all you want, you won't beat my ton 80," Alex says with a snicker.

"We'll see." And I launch the first dart—which completely misses the dartboard and hits a branch instead.

Alex erupts with laughter. "We definitely saw."

I point a dart at him and he shuts up, lifting his hands up in surrender.

I return my attention to the dartboard but before I shoot, Alex speaks up again.

He sits up, crossing his legs. "You see, I did some research about David."

I give him the stink eye for bringing my father up while we're trying to chill.

He flicks his eyes upwards. "Okay, I asked around. Nobody would spill but in the end, after I begged and begged, Guy finally opened up to me."

I fold my arms, lifting a brow. "Alex."

"Wait, Bash, I know you said you didn't want to know anything about anything, but just hear me out."

I sigh, locking my jaw. "Okay, you have exactly twenty seconds."

Alex's eyes shine and he hops to his feet. "So Guy said that General Walsh — AKA your dear old dad — was sent to Aurora originally to make a deal with their governor. We would help them extract their oil and get a share out of it—"

"Ten seconds left."

Alex gulps in air and rushes his words so much that they become jumbled.

"But your father took over instead, and it became a military occupation."

"Your time is up," I say, turning back to the dartboard.

"But Bash, I'm telling you that—"

"You're telling me my father is a jerk, a liar and a thief, nothing new about that."

I squint my eyes, take a deep breath and imagine my father's face in place of the bull's eye. I release the dart with all power in my arm and grin when it hits the target.

"Yes!" I exclaim.

Alex takes my chin and makes me look at him. "What's new though is that your mother knew who your father truly was and she didn't agree with him."

I slap away his hand and give him a pointed look--he knows not to bring the subject of my mother, but Alex is determined to end with a dart on his forehead tonight.

"She was going to report him to the authorities, but she never made it. That Muslim attack happened before her flight to London."

"Bugg off, Alex."

I throw the last dart, letting all my annoyance out on the launch. It hits the guard standing two feet away from the tree and then falls to the grass. He yelps in pain but quickly regains composition, kneeling down to retrieve the dart.

Serves him right for following me around the house. I am no longer a prisoner in my room, but I'm accompanied by two guards everywhere within the mansion gates.