Page 84 of The Fixer

He sighed and nodded. “That’s probably for the best.”

“You’re the only one I have left, Uncle Niles. Everyone else has left me. They’ve used me. They’ve hurt me. Betrayed me. You’re the only one still here.”

That grimace pulled tight, a wobbly smile stretching his lips. “You know I’m here for you, Eliza. Just like I’ve always been. Now,” he turned, walking around the table and into the kitchen, “why don’t you have a seat? I can get you something to drink.”

“I can’t stay,” I told him, wiping at a stray tear on my cheek. “I’ve got a few more boxes for you down in my car. Then I have to get back. I’m trying to get Dad’s condo ready to sell.”

Niles pulled to a stop, his eyes shifting from the cupboard between the stove and the fridge. “Where’d you park?”

“Down in the garage.”

His head bobbed, eyes darting around the room. “Why don’t I come with you? You don’t need to be carrying those boxes by yourself.”

“Thank you. I’d appreciate that.”

“Let me get my shoes, then we can go.” He disappeared into the back room, and I shifted on my feet, then swept a hair over my ear. When he came back, boat shoes on his feet and a smile on his face, we left the apartment and went downstairs.

My car was parked toward the middle of the fifth floor. Though there weren’t normally many cars parked here during the day, the spaces around it were mostly filled. I opened the trunk, then stood back so Niles could see inside.

“It’s really too bad,” I told him as he stared down into my trunk, at the two small boxes that remained. “You and Dad were such good friends for so many years. He trusted you with everything. With his family. With his business. And this is all that’s left.”

I reached out, lifting one of the boxes that weighed only a couple pounds. Cold steel pressed into the side of my head, and I stood slowly, hands raised to my sides.

“You’re right,” Niles hissed at my back. “I worked my ass off for that man, giving him my time, my name for the company. This job took my wife, Eliza. Took any chance I had with her, so she could go find some other man with pockets full of cash. And all I get out of it is a few worthless records. Tell me, how is that fair?”

Shaking my head, I mumbled, “It’s not.”

“Turn around.”

I did what I was told, turning slowly, hands trembling in the air. My palms were damp, and I wished I could wipe them off, but I was too afraid to move.

“Your father tried to take everything from me.”

“No,” I whimpered, shaking my head. “He would never do that.”

“Oh, but he did. He found the discrepancies in our books, see. And he was all ready to turn me in to the police. I couldn’t let him do that, not after everything I gave up. What’s a little money stolen from our clients when we’ve had that many years of friendship?”

“So, you killed him?”

“That money was mine,” he spit. “I wasn’t going to jail so he could sit on his high horse and look down his nose at me. He owed me. And when he wouldn’t give it to me, I took his life.”

“And then you tried to take mine.” Niles’s head jerked back, and I didn’t stop to let him speak. “After you poisoned him, you tried to kill me with that soup, and ended up killing my cat. Then you broke into my apartment looking for a key to Dad’s safe deposit box, didn’t you? Because you couldn’t find it in his safe?”

Niles narrowed his eyes at me, then lifted his chin. “Such a smart girl, Eliza. You’re just like your dad. But just like him, all those smarts are going to get you nothing but dead.”

“I don’t think so.” Before he could react, I swung my hands up, blocking the gun as I ducked. Except, unlike in my training with Jet, the gun didn’t go off.

I’d surprised him.

Niles’s grip on the gun didn’t hold. It went flying through the air, landing with a bang on the cement floor. He didn’t let it deter him, though. He balled up his fist, swinging it at me just like Nathan used to do.

I stepped into him, blocking with one hand while smashing the heel of my palm into his nose. His head slammed up and he stumbled back, dripping blood down his face.

“You stupid bitch.”

He ran at me, the man quicker than I expected, catching me around the middle and slamming me against the back corner of my car. Pain ricocheted through my hip, but rather than stopping, I pushed through. Gripped my hands together and brought them down on top of his back.

Niles fell to the ground, groaning for a moment before he was moving again. Crawling along the cement, racing for the gun.