Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Anger builds in my gut. “I am aware of my father’s hooks and how deep they are in me, thank you.”
“I don’t want you to get hurt, that’s all.”
“He wouldn’t hurt me.”
“You don’t know—”
“He will not hurt me, Damiano.”
“Maybe not on purpose,” he relents. “But this is dangerous, and you know it. Especially for him, and with the Enzo issue? They could come for any of you at any time.”
“Still no movement from him?”
He shakes his head, glancing around, but we’re the only ones in the hall. “It makes no sense. Bronx showed me what she found, and it seems he’s content in Costa Rica. No sign he has any idea his fiancée is gone.”
“Boston is lying about something, I’m just not sure what it is. Sai has the car locked and loaded with weapons and all these new escape plans he told me not to tell anyone about, not even my dad, just in case. Yet my dad says nothing is happening. I need to talk to him again.”
“Speaking of your dad.” Damiano veers us right back when I thought I slid us past, but I should have known it was too easy. “What are you going to do when he finds out about the … about Bass?”
Sighing, I look to him. “The only thing I can do.”
If my dad finds out about Bastian, I have to cut him loose, show my dad he means nothing and he’s no one. That, in an instant, I can release him, and I wouldn’t care in the slightest.
It’s the only way my father won’t tie a brick to Bass’s ankles and throw him over the side of his yacht.
Dom gauges me, his expression growing as soft as his question. “You sure you’ll be able to do that?”
“Of course I will.”
I knew we’d get to that point eventually, as it’s the only place the road leads, so I’ve prepared for it. Expect it.
It’ll be easy.
Right?
I look up at Damiano, and suddenly I’m not so sure. “What?”
He gives a sad smile. “I said you misunderstand.”
“Misunderstand what?”
“I know you will do as you must, no matter how hard that might be for you, but I don’t think it’s that simple.”
When I frown, shaking my head, he dips down a little.
“You will walk away if you must. I know that, but …”
But Bastian won’t.
He won’t let go.
He won’t allow me to let him go.
He said it more than once now. I am his.
Shit.
I force a smile as I have many, many times, and lift a single shoulder. “Well, then I’ll simply have to make sure they steer clear of one another. It shouldn’t be too hard.”
Dom nods.
I nod.
And then we both straighten our spines when the man himself steps around the corner.
He tips his chin at Dom, his focus shifting to me. “What shouldn’t be too hard, daughter?”
Double shit.
I worried my dad had overheard too much earlier, and now I’m sitting here, dumbfounded as I stare at him, wondering if it would have been better that he had, but that’s ridiculous and would solve nothing as he’d still be here, in Greyson Manor, laying down the law.
“Absolutely not!” I shout, jumping to my feet.
“You will watch your tone.”
“Dad.”
“Daughter.”
I turn to Calvin. “Help me out here! The students at Greyson Prep are your responsibility. You can’t possibly be okay with Boston coming back to class.”
Calvin clenches his jaw but nods. “It’s not the worst idea,” he treads carefully, and I scoff before I can stop myself.
“Rocklin,” my father scolds.
I force my head to bow like a pathetic little princess would. “Sorry.”
When no one says anything for several moments, I peek at my dad, who watches me far too closely.
It’s clear enough Calvin isn’t happy about this, but it’s above him.
It’s above us all, way the fuck up there with Rayo Revenaw in his damn tower of terror.
“My sister signed a contract alongside both of you, giving herself to a man who wants to see the Greyson union fall so he can take our family down.”
“You mean to a man who thought to take me down and then thought better of it.”
“Right … because you gave him your daughter as a bartering tool, she was the white flag, and now that flag flew away. It’s here. She is here, and you want to put her in the school with the sons and daughters of people who would come at this place with everything they have if something happened to their kin in a zone they are promised it will not?”
“Like with Greyson Manor, we know Enzo won’t risk what would follow should he show up. You have just said it yourself. They will come with all they have, joining together for the first time under the same cause. He is an arrogant bastard, not an ignorant one.”
My father almost looks sure, smug. It’s as if he’s excited by the idea should Enzo do exactly the opposite of what he’s saying.