Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 93002 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 465(@200wpm)___ 372(@250wpm)___ 310(@300wpm)
I turned to my right, using what had once been the billiards room as a shortcut. I stopped abruptly, noticing the fire burning in the fireplace. No one used this room. My eyes were slow to see my brother Ford in an armchair by the fire, a book in his hand. He was so quiet that I almost missed him. Was this why Brax had been home more lately? My mind flashed back to when I’d seen him in the library, holding Shadow. Had Brax come out of the billiards room?
Curious, I asked Ford, “What did Brax want?”
Ford shook his head in answer. I wasn’t sure what that meant, but he hadn’t denied that Brax had been in here.
“You’re in here reading?” I asked.
Stupid question. Of course, he was in here reading; he was holding an open book. I tried to think of something else to say.
I’d never been particularly close to my brother Ford. When I’d been young, it had always been Griffen who paid attention to us kids. Ford was the one who rolled his eyes and called us childish and a waste of his time. Then Griffen had been gone, exiled by my father when Ford double-crossed him.
For years, I’d seen Ford as a distant parental figure, not as cruel as my father but not anyone who particularly cared about me. Like I treated most adults back then, I tried to stay out of his way. A few years before my father died, Ford had changed. Of course, he didn’t explain himself to me, his youngest sister, or to anyone at all. The best we’d been able to figure out, Ford and Prentice fell out, and it had been so bad Ford had moved into a suite at the inn.
After that, Ford had tried to look out for the rest of us, but—except with Quinn and maybe Avery—it was too little, too late. The Ford who had gone to prison for my father’s murder had been powerful, connected, seemingly invulnerable.
We’d known he hadn’t killed Prentice, but whoever framed him did a good job of it, and he’d sat in prison for almost a year until a few months ago when new evidence had mysteriously appeared. The judge had taken his time, but eventually, Ford had been set free. He’d come home, but nothing was the same. This was Griffen’s house now, and while Griffen had enough compassion to welcome home the brother who’d had him exiled, the relationship they’d had was gone. Once they’d been closer than brothers, the best of friends. Now everything was just fucking awkward.
Ford was a shadow of himself, thinner, paler, and so quiet I wasn’t sure what to make of him. I didn’t know what to say. He lifted the book in an affirmative gesture, acknowledging my question with a silent nod.
“What did Brax do?” he asked, his voice scratchy as if he hadn’t spoken in a long time.
“Nothing, really,” I admitted. “I just— I didn’t like the way he was holding Shadow. I was afraid he—” I couldn’t think of how to explain my unease. Brax hadn’t done anything. “Was Brax bothering you?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about Brax,” Ford said. “There’s still breakfast if you want some.”
“I’m not hungry.” At my words, Shadow let out another yowl and butted my chin with the top of her head. “But Shadow is.”
“You’d better go feed her, then.”
At that, I knew Ford was done talking. “I’ll see you later,” I said as I left.
It was so weird not to know what to say to someone I’d known my whole life. But he wasn’t the same Ford. I hadn’t been close to the old Ford, but I’d known how to deal with him. The same as with my father—limited contact. Talk back just enough to be annoying but not enough to get into trouble. They’d leave, and I’d be free to go my own way. I wasn’t sure I wanted to drive away this new Ford. But I didn’t know that I wanted to be friends either.
Chapter Seven
STERLING
Brax was nowhere in sight when I got to the lower level. I gave Finn a wave as I passed the kitchen, grabbed enough cat food to restock my supply upstairs, and fed Shadow.
“You’re going to give yourself a stomachache,” I told her as she gulped down her food. As always, she ignored me.
Her stomach satisfied, the two of us headed back up the stairs. My feet hit the hallway, and I heard Griffen call my name from his office. How he’d known it was me, I wasn’t sure. Maybe it was his background in security, but I’d swear he could identify all of us by our footsteps. He was never wrong.
“Coming,” I called down the hall.
Shadow stayed by my side as I changed direction for Griffen’s office. I used to hate that room. When my father had been alive, his office was the scene of too many humiliations. I’d sit in one of the chairs in front of Prentice’s desk, eyes on my feet as he reminded me of all the ways I was a miserable disappointment.