Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
“You’ve always been jealous of us. You’re selfish. It’s why your father died of a broken heart,” Bianca retorts.
It happens so quickly but in slow motion. Cinder hauls back and slaps Bianca harder than she slapped her daughter. Spit flies and her head snaps to the side.
“Yes,” my mother and Coraline cheer in unison at my side.
Their reactions snap me out of my shock. I’ve been speechless since she started to tear into me. She has it all wrong.
“Cinder,” I call. She turns her glare on me. “You have it all wrong.”
“No, I have it very right. I heard you. You’re planning an engagement party, not a ball to find a wife. Why are you here?”
“I did you a favor. You don’t owe me an explanation. I left so you didn’t have to look me in my eyes to crush my heart.” She stops to suck in a breath.
Tears spill over as she continues. She shakes her head with her next words. “Oh, right, you want me to pay for my parents’ sins. I knew I was being foolish to start things up with you when you had your duties to fulfill as a prince.
“But I lied to myself, thinking I could have my cake and eat it too. Unfortunately, the cake devoured me and my heart. Bravo, you found the missing princess and got your retribution,” she says with a coldness so unlike her.
“We’re going to bury you,” the other sister says as she stands next to her mother and sister, who are cradling their bruised cheeks.
Cinder spins on her and feigns lunging at her as if she’s going to slap her too. The stepsister flinches and hides behind the other two. “Try me. You ruined my mother’s dress. I’ll drag you through this house for that alone,” she hisses.
I move to get closer to her, placing a hand on her back. She turns toward me, fire in her eyes. I look down at her and want to tug her into me.
“Will you let me explain?”
She looks past me. “Ms. Randell. Your accent, where are you from?”
I close my eyes, this is getting worse by the minute. I noted Ms. Trueman’s accent as well. It’s very distinct from Verlez and Fru Fru Palms. Something Cinder pointed out about my people while she was there.
“Fru Fru Palms. I—”
“Say no more,” Cinder says sharply. “You can all go to hell.”
With that, she storms from the room. My mother and Coraline call after her. I start after her, but I’m stopped in my tracks by the words that come from behind me.
“My daughters would never behave like that. She doesn’t deserve a prince or anything else. I plan to take everything she has,” Bianca vows.
I spin on her. “She deserves everything she has and so much more. You have taken enough from her. I plan to make it my personal business to see to it that the three of you rot in a jail cell.”
“If you so much as breathe in her direction, I’m going to make hell a place you wish for to get away from me. I’m no fucking Prince Charming. The dark shit I’ll dream up to torture you will make the devil blush and offer me his seat.”
“Stay. Away. From. What’s. Mine,” I say in a calm that belies the rage within.
The three of them look back at me like kicked puppies. I couldn’t care less. It’s time I go after my princess.
CHAPTER 17
Alone
Cinder
My soul is crushed. Even my sweet neighbor, who I thought was a friend was in on all of this. Right when I was starting to trust and lean on her, she pulled the rug right from under me.
I need my key back from her. I’m selling this apartment as soon as I can. Like, God, how long have they been planning all of this? That woman has lived in that apartment since I moved in, or at least a week after when I first met her.
“Why am I so alone?” I cry into my pillow.
I came back home, not knowing what else to do. I guess I should be happy to know I don’t have to buy those three ass warts out of my business. However, I can’t find the triumph in this.
I feel broken, alone, and hollow. Not even slapping the taste out of Bianca and Glenda’s thieving mouths can make this feeling go away. I have millions in my bank accounts, but that will never replace my father and mother or give me someone I can trust.
“Please leave,” I call out, not lifting my head from my pillow. “Leave the key behind on your way out.”
Heavy footfalls continue through my apartment into my bedroom.
“You haven’t given me a key yet. Coraline let me in and went to pack her things to return home. She has an estate to run. Especially since the princess has been found,” Princeton says from behind me.