Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 103356 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 517(@200wpm)___ 413(@250wpm)___ 345(@300wpm)
“If Ryleigh is our sister, then she’s under our care,” Alec snapped back. “And you have no say in this.”
“I have every say since I’m her guardian. And I don’t care if you are her brothers or not. Ryleigh is mine.”
“Holy moly,” Ryleigh whispered.
“Okay, maybe everyone should calm down a bit,” Opal said as she stared down at her nails. “I really need to get a manicure. Where was I? Oh, yeah. You do remember that we’re all in the room, right? All of this male posturing is cute and stuff. But we’ve all got shit to do and Ryleigh has a story to tell. So why don’t you all sit your butts down so she can tell it.”
Linc turned, staring down at them. His jaw was clenched.
“Please,” Ryleigh whispered. She had taken hold of both Lilac and Opal’s hands. “I need to get this all out and I can’t do that if you’re all at each other’s throats.”
Linc nodded and stepped away to sit in an armchair. Tanner squeezed in next to her even though they all had to shuffle over. Then he lifted her up onto his lap.
“Tanner!” she protested.
“Hush. I need this. And you’re going to give it to me.”
Damn it.
She was. Because she wanted to give him whatever he needed. And because he’d stuck by her, even when his brother was telling him not to. Even when he should have been angry at her, he’d decided to trust her.
So yeah. She’d give him whatever he wanted right now.
“When were you born?” Alec asked. He was the only one still standing. His face was stern, but he didn’t appear angry. More thoughtful.
Ryleigh told him her date of birth.
“Right, so you’re about four years younger than Tanner. Fuck, why did he never tell us about you! That fucking bastard.”
“He wasn’t a bastard!” Ryleigh jumped to her feet. “My dad was a good man. I loved him.”
Lilac shot a look at Opal. They both knew the truth about Ryleigh’s dad. And it wasn’t pretty. But they’d agreed not to tell her since she still held him up on a pedestal.
Perhaps that had been a mistake.
“A good man?” Alec asked. “Would a good man leave his sons to the mercy of a dangerous Mafia boss so he could save himself?”
“What? My . . . my dad didn’t do that.”
“If we have the same father, then he did,” Tanner said gently.
“Fuck. I’m not sure I should hear any of this,” Linc said with a sigh.
“You can leave,” Alec told him.
But Linc didn’t move.
“No. Nope. My dad was a good man.” Ryleigh shook her head.
“Was?” Alec asked. “He’s dead, then?”
“Y-yes. He died about nine months ago. He had liver cancer.”
She felt Tanner tense under her. No matter how they all felt about him, that was his dad. Was he upset to hear he was gone?
“Surprised the asshole lasted that long,” Tanner muttered.
Okay. Maybe he wasn’t upset at all.
“That’s a terrible thing to say,” Ryleigh said.
“Fuck.” Tanner sighed. “Look, Ryleigh, from what you’ve just said, it seems you had a different relationship with the old bastard than we had. But I haven’t seen him since I was around nine or ten. I don’t even remember what he looks like. All I know is that he was never around. That he left us with a series of nannies. And that when shit went down and we were all in danger, Alec was the one who stepped up and saved us all. In fact, the old bastard probably did me a favor. Because no doubt that Alec is a hundred times the father he ever was.”
“You . . . you never saw him after that?” she asked. “Really?”
“He never even knew I was alive most of the time,” Tanner told her.
“He abandoned you all?” She looked to Alec. “I can’t believe it.”
“Obviously you had a different upbringing with him,” Alec said.
“Well, sort of. He . . . he had to go away a lot. Sometimes I wouldn’t see him for months. But he always came back. And he’d bring me a gift from wherever he’d been traveling. Or that’s what he’d tell me. I loved it when he returned home. Mom would actually get out of bed. She’d make an effort. She . . . she suffered from depression and when dad was away, she’d just stay in bed a lot.”
“Ryleigh,” Linc said in a broken voice.
“But it was okay. Because Dad always came back.”
“Fuck, maybe you’re not our sister,” Alec said. “Seeing as your father sounds different to ours.”
“He told me about you all, though. When I was twelve and there were some bullies hassling me at school, I told him I wished I had some older brothers to help protect me. He said that I did. They just had other lives away from me. But if I ever needed them, I could go to them, and they’d help me.” Ryleigh let out a sob.