Total pages in book: 99
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96065 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
A man, tall with hawkish features and resembling Gideon, lights up upon seeing Romy. His face breaks into a huge grin as he nearly tackles her with a fierce hug. She’s tense in his hold but finally hugs him back. Megan, also entering the home, offers a pleasant smile.
Romy pulls away from her brother’s hold and stares Megan down. I’d wondered how this interaction would go down. Everything Romy claimed was true. Megan was her classmate and then she was gone. No one was supposed to notice, though. Romy, who misses nothing, just happened to be her partner.
Fuck.
This is awfully coincidental.
Did Dad set all this up knowing Romy would look into us and knowing I’d want to swoop in and fix it? An unsettling sourness churns my gut. I get the sense I’ve been played. By my own father, no less. While not surprising, it doesn’t make me any less pissed about it.
For years I’ve been searching outward for Calista. Maybe I should have looked inward instead. Spent my time figuring out my father and his inner workings rather than my sister’s ghost.
One thing’s for sure. I need to rethink my game and rethink it quickly.
I stride over to Romy, wrap a possessive arm around her, and offer my free hand to Bastian. “Caius Crowne. Pleased to officially meet you.”
His gaze darts between me and Romy, then over to Megan, and then back to us. The bright smile he had for his sister fades as a flicker of fury replaces it.
Yeah, that’s right, man. The Crownes have your little sister and we provided your girlfriend.
When Bastian doesn’t shake my hand, I smile at Megan as my hand drops. “So odd that a former classmate of Romy’s, on the other side of the country, would find her way into a relationship with the Bastian Langston.”
Romy bristles with irritation and Bastian doesn’t miss her reaction.
“Imagine my surprise,” Romy says hotly, eyes on Megan. “Good seeing you again, friend.”
Bastian’s face reddens. These Langstons can’t keep their emotions off their faces. They’re certainly not Crownes.
“Can we talk?” Bastian asks Romy. “Alone.”
“We have a lot to discuss,” Romy says, visibly trembling. “I’d like to know your part in all of it.”
I kiss the top of her head and then add, “He’s just as guilty as the rest of us.”
If looks could kill, Bastian would be charged with murder right now.
Something about him puts me on edge. It’s the only way to explain my visceral response to him.
He’s as shady as his father.
Or I’m just jealous he knows Romy in a way I don’t.
Romy
The guilt written on my brother’s face wrecks me. My entire life I’ve looked up to him and adored him. He’s been my lifeline when I’d felt the most confused, lost, and pained. Bastian was always the good guy.
But good guys don’t have friends like the Crownes. Bastian has Megan, the new, improved, and thoroughly brainwashed version of her—a product of the famed Crowne Unity Project. I need to know his involvement in all this.
Caius seems to be enjoying my brother’s obvious discomfort. I may be angry with Bastian, but I’m mad at Caius as well, so his smugness irritates me. I extricate myself from his hold and grab Bastian’s wrist.
“My room,” I say to him, tugging him along with me.
Caius stays back with Megan and begins chatting amicably with her. My mind races, wondering what sort of hell she was put through. She’s no longer the shy, mousy girl I went to class with. There’s an air of sophistication about her, from her sleek hair, flawless makeup, and confident way she carries herself now. I’d witnessed it on the video call and it’s even more evident in person.
As much as I want to stay back and pick her brain in an effort to uncover all the whys and hows of what happened to her, speaking with Bastian is of the upmost importance.
Once inside my bedroom, I close the door behind us and sit down on the edge of my bed. I cross my arms over my chest and glower at him. Bastian sighs heavily and rakes his fingers through his gelled hair, mussing it up, before striding over to the computer desk chair. It creaks with his weight as he slowly turns it to face me.
Shame.
It’s not an expression I’m used to seeing on his face. In fact, I hardly recognize him right now. I need to know everything.
“Tell me about Megan,” I state, voice curt. “Be straight with me, Bas.”
His shoulders hunch and his eyes fall to the floor between us. “Just someone I met.”
I bark out a harsh laugh. “Not going to cut it.”
“Romy…”
“I said be straight with me. Cut the crap. Tell me how you got with Megan of all people.”
He fidgets with his Rolex, turning it around and around his wrist a few times before answering. “All the women I date are…” He huffs. “They’re money hungry, vapid, and quite frankly, obnoxious.”