Tessa had no good retort for that. Her face turned red with anger, and she frowned, ready to rebuke, but Laurel quickly stopped her, “Calm down, guys. Let’s talk this through. We don’t have to fight. It’s pointless. And we’re all safe and sound, and that’s a cause for celebration.”
Everyone fell silent, and Tessa stood up. “I’m full. You guys go ahead.” Then she went upstairs.
Tabitha and Nora said nothing, while Laurel looked at me and shifted the topic, “Are you going straight to A City after you go back, Scarlett?”
I nodded. “Yeah. I want to see my daughter.”
“You have a daughter?” She was surprised. “But you look so young. How old is your daughter now?”
“Five. Almost six, actually.”
They looked at one another, and Nora threw me a look of curiosity. “So you’re married? Does Armond know about it?”
That question was weird, but I nodded. “He does.”
“Huh?” The girls were stunned. “He knows you’re a married woman, but he’s still that nice to you? Is he sick in the head?”
“Didn’t know hotties like him love young MILFs.”
The conversation went in a weird direction, and I laughed. “Don’t think too much about it. He’s helping me out for something in return. I have something he needs, so this is nothing but a transaction.”
“Transaction?” Nora was surprised, and also flummoxed. “Is the thing he’s looking for worth the lives of five?”
“It’s a box my grandma gave me before she passed on. It’s a puzzle box. I have one, but the other one was auctioned off. He’s looking for this box, but I don’t know why.” I wasn’t sure who Armond was. His last name was Murphy, so I thought he was probably a part of the Murphys.
But if that was the case, why did he take the trouble to hold that auction in J City and sold off the box he had? If he wasn’t a part of the Murphys though, then why was he aiming for that box?
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