Chapter 44
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I was already putting my spiel together, rehearsing my arguments silently in my head. I’d been in this thing for months now, and I had consistently been able to fool Vitalius no matter how many times he got suspicious of me. I can’t say I wasn’t nervous, but deep down I think I just assumed I could keep on scamming the old man forever. Once upon a time, Father had been able to manipulate me, to make a chump out of me – until I started to think like he did. Now I was the manipulator, and he was the chump.
Or so I thought, right up until the door opened and Greg Voss shoved me in. Because I didn’t see Vitalius Kohl at all. I saw a woman, about as old as Vitalius, but far more frail. Her skin was jaundiced, and her eyes, from what I could see behind the veil she wore, l
