Total pages in book: 96
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91809 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 459(@200wpm)___ 367(@250wpm)___ 306(@300wpm)
“Ahmed is a douche. He treated Piper like crap, but she stayed with him to cover up what she was doing with her cousin. She wouldn’t end it, so I ended it for her. No one treats my friends like that.”
“You treat your friends like that! You caused problems between Katie and Piper by spilling her secret about Ahmed.”
“I didn’t mean to! I was pissed because Katie was blowing us off to hang with your bitch ass. It just came out.”
“Ugh!” I threw up my hands, almost sending my phone flying. Victor edged away. “Only you can twist everything to make it not your fault. You came after my bitch ass from day one. You threw my sister’s suicide in my face. Said horrible things about her! How do you justify that, Saylor? I dare you to try!”
“I can’t,” she screamed. “I was wrong. I’m sorry!”
Words clogged in my throat. What did she say?
“I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t know until a few days ago how wrong I was.” She dropped her voice. A gusty sigh crackled through the phone. “The Wilsons didn’t start with you. They sniffed around Winter first. I didn’t care. I thought she was just some Dreg they were using to lock him down before Victor knocked up another Royal.
“But then Everleigh got in my head. She said the Wilsons were using the marriage as some kind of play against the Burkhardts. Claimed she overheard Martha and John talking in her office the night we all went to their Christmas Eve party.
“When people started going after Winter, I didn’t stop it. Figured the Dreg deserved it for plotting with the Wilsons to overthrow me. But if I’d known the truth about Everleigh. If I’d known it was all heading toward... Ashton. I would’ve, Sinclair. I would have stopped it.”
I was quiet for a long time.
“You’re saying you just took Everleigh’s word that Winter, and then me, was a threat. You didn’t bother to find out why? You—” My fist balled. “You didn’t discover that we’re cousins?”
“She didn’t say that we were cousins,” Saylor confessed. “She said you were my aunts.”
I frowned. “Your aunts?”
“Grandpa William’s daughters. I didn’t believe her at first. My grandpa siring a bunch of illegitimate brats with the help? I thought it was a lie until I found out I wasn’t set to inherit the entire company. The lawyer wouldn’t give me names or information. All they’d say is that Grandpa’s will gave me a thirty-three percent share,” she said. “It didn’t make sense. I was his only grandchild. The only person to take over after Daddy stepped down to take office. Unless... I wasn’t.”
The pieces began falling into place. “You figured it had to be Winter. But Burkhardts don’t go after Burkhardts, so you let everyone else get rid of her for you.”
“Yes.” She spoke so softly I almost didn’t catch it. “Then you showed up and had to go too. You definitely couldn’t marry Victor and give the Wilsons a third of my company. Everleigh played me. She made me think you two were the enemy when it was her all along.”
I swallowed a few times, trying to form a response. “If this is true and you’re sorry for what happened to Winter, why are we still fighting, Saylor? Why won’t you let me see William?”
“Because Winter might have been decent, but you’re a bitch. You turned the whole town against me. Piper and Gabriella wouldn’t be with Everleigh if you didn’t make it easy for them.”
Any soft feelings I might’ve felt for her imploded. “Family doesn’t have to like each other. Thor knows I’ll never like you.”
“Feeling’s mutual,” she returned. “But that’s not why I won’t let you near Grandpa. You can’t see what’s right in front of your face, Sinclair.”
My brows snapped together. “What does that mean?”
“Have you asked yourself where I got my info? Worthless husbands sleeping around. Ava’s father raping and impregnating his sister. How would I know any of that stuff?”
“How did you know?” I asked, glancing at Victor. He was scrolling through the club site with his brows all the way to his hairline.
“I was given that information and told I had to use it. Use it to help Daddy’s campaign, to keep me on top, to keep the Burkhardts on top.”
“Wait. Are you saying your grandfather told you to fuck with people’s lives just so you could—”
“No,” she sliced in. “My grandpa didn’t know about any of this until you told the world. Half of the stuff I’m being villainized for, I did under Grandmother’s orders.”
“Your grandmother,” I said quietly. “You mean Alistair’s mother. The coldest, most unforgiving taskmaster that ever wielded a Mastercard.”
“That’s putting it nicely.” A sharp edge crept into her voice. “My dad and grandpa weren’t even mad at me when they heard about the texts. They knew I couldn’t have done all of that on my own. Now they’re furious at her, and she’s furious at you.”