Total pages in book: 36
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 34680 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 173(@200wpm)___ 139(@250wpm)___ 116(@300wpm)
“I didn’t mean it that way,” Frank rushes to say. “She doesn’t know you, and I thought we should—”
“What is there to really go over?” I ask, cutting in. “I think it’s been made clear I have no choice in any of this.”
“For now.” Frank nods in agreement. We’d already been over everything a few times now. There’s no reason for us to do it again.
No one wasted any time with getting things into place. My bedroom has already been partially packed up. Not that there had been a ton to do. I haven’t had enough time to accumulate a lot of things. I’ve only returned to my parents’ house after recently graduating from boarding school. A graduation that my parents had missed because they wanted to climb a stupid mountain. I grab hold of that anger like it’s a life raft. It’s better than sadness. Or that’s what I’m telling myself, at least.
“For now?” Griffin questions.
“Charles isn’t too happy about it. He thinks Vivian should be with him.”
“That’s too bad,” Griffin snaps again, and I wonder if this is the way he speaks normally or if he’s actually getting mad. You’d think he’d be happy to get rid of me. I tug on my hand, trying to get free, but all it does is drag his attention back to it.
“I need that.” I wiggle my fingers. He lets go, but again annoyance shows on his handsome face. “Is Charles taking over my parents' home?”
“That will be up to Griffin,” Frank answers.
“We’ll see,” is all Griffin says with a dismissive shrug.
I’m worried about Charles. When I was younger, we were closer, but it’s hard to be close to anyone in your family when you’re sent away to school. He looks as though he has the weight of the world on his shoulders. I’m pretty sure he’s drunk today. Actually, I think he has been for the past few days. I know everyone processes grief differently, but I can’t help but think something else is going on.
“Charles should stay at our house. I should stay with him. It makes sense. So why not?” I suddenly feel very lost. Unsure of where I belong now. I have no control over my life. Not that I had much before, but I thought I was about to. That I was going to get a chance to break free of the hold my parents have had on me for so long. I should have known better than to get my hopes up. Griffin stares at me for a long moment. I fold my arms over my chest and wait. I don’t think he’s used to being questioned.
“I only just found out that I’m your guardian and trustee. I would like to read over the paperwork.”
“Then I should wait back at my parents’ home until you’ve done just that.” I raise my chin, trying to seem strong. My hair falls back out of my face. His lips twitch, and I almost think he’s going to smile, but it’s gone as quickly as I thought it was there. He leans down closer to me. My heart starts to pound at his closeness.
“You’ll do as you’re told. Understood?”
My head nods on its own. What the heck?
“Meet us at the house,” he tells Frank before taking me by the elbow.
“You’re taking me now?” He leads me to a black SUV. A man in a suit gives us a curious look but opens the back door for us.
I don’t think I’ve ever stayed in a home with a man that wasn’t related to me. That was far from allowed.
He turns me to face him, his dark gaze eating me up. “You belong to me now, Vivian.”
3
GRIFFIN
She fidgets, her fingers straying to the hem of her dress and smoothing it, then back up to her lap as if she’s making a conscious effort to stop fidgeting. Only a few seconds pass before they’re on the move again.
I reach over and capture both her hands in one of mine, holding them still as she turns her head sharply toward me.
“What are you doing?”
That’s a good question. What the hell am I doing? I don’t know how to look after another person. Hell, I rely on Linn for more things than I care to admit. Not to mention Mrs. Putnam. She’s the only reason my home remains in order.
“I’m going to take care of you.” It’s the only thing I can say for sure. Because when I look at Vivian, I have several ideas that veer far, far away from simply taking care of her. I want her in a way I’ve never wanted anyone.
Even now, I glance at her lips, at the forbidden fruit dangling right in front of me. She’s my business partners’ daughter. She should be off limits, especially now that they’re dead and made the foolish mistake of leaving her in my care. It’s as if they didn’t know me at all. But of course they did. They knew me better than anyone. We’ve been working together for so long that they became something of a … family. Not close, not sharing birthdays or holidays or anything so crass as all that. But we had an understanding of how our business functioned, each of us playing our respective parts.