Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 169305 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 847(@200wpm)___ 677(@250wpm)___ 564(@300wpm)
I needed to wrap this up.
“I am,” I confirmed, completely at ease with her observation. “You’ll be better off if you remember this simple fact. Not only am I more evil than you, I’m also more capable. Consider this your first and final warning, Vera. Leave Farrow alone.”
She burst into a fresh bout of tears, nodding.
“Now turn around and walk back to the restaurant. Look behind you, and the last thing you’ll see before you die is the flash of my blade.”
I had no intention of wasting a perfectly good knife on her, but she didn’t know that.
She nodded, faster than a bobblehead. “Okay, okay.”
I pushed her toward the street with the hilt of my knife. She stumbled over her own feet, weeping and choking.
“Mom. Ugh, where were you?” One of Vera’s spawns clung to her arm as soon as she neared. “We had to wait in the cold.”
“Not to worry, sweetie,” Vera purred, her voice business as usual. “Just went on a little cigarette break.”
“You should really give them up, you know. It’s eating at our inheritance, and it’s not like there’s much left.”
Romeo Costa:
@ZachSun, what’s with the never-ending traffic of lawyers and private investigators spilling into your house?
Romeo Costa:
Are you planning a coup?
Ollie vB:
If you are, can I be in charge of the Economic Development Administration? I love not having a job.
Ollie vB:
Scratch that.
Ollie vB:
Is the Social Security Administration available?
Ollie vB:
Two birds. One stone. I’m nothing if not efficient.
Zach Sun:
Hilarious. I’m helping Farrow out with her legal case.
Ollie vB:
All day, every day?
Ollie vB:
You seem to be solely focused on this.
Zach Sun:
May I suggest a hobby?
Zach Sun:
And a fucking life, while you’re at it?
Romeo Costa:
Do you even work on your own shit?
Ollie vB:
Or, you know, plan your own wedding for that matter?
Ollie vB:
(Your hobby suggestion is too ridiculous to entertain. Your shit show of a life is much more amusing.)
Zach Sun:
My life is a well-oiled machine.
Ollie vB:
Lube is a godsend. I love it, too.
Romeo Costa:
Is everything about sex to you, @OllievB?
Ollie vB:
Of course, not.
Ollie vB:
Some things are about watching you two succumb to the monogamous grind.
Ollie vB:
This brings me a lot of joy, believe it or not.
Romeo Costa:
I believe it.
Ollie vB:
I’m officially the last one standing.
Romeo Costa:
Unless one of your STIs spreads to your limbs.
Zach Sun:
I’m not married just yet.
Ollie vB:
I’m not talking about Dr. Ulick. She doesn’t count.
Ollie vB:
I’m talking about your little sword-yielding housekeeper.
Zach Sun:
Her name is Farrow, and she and I are strictly casual.
Ollie vB:
Respectfully, you are strictly delusional.
Romeo Costa:
I second Oliver.
Zach Sun:
Nonsense.
Zach Sun:
She’s a calculated risk.
Romeo Costa:
If so, you seriously suck at math.
Zach Sun:
You are both useless.
Ollie vB:
False.
Ollie vB:
Wait until your heart breaks.
My shoulder will be your best place to cry on.
Romeo Costa:
Aw. Where’d you learn that, Ol? Outer Banks?
Ollie vB:
It’s called culture, gentlemen.
Ollie vB:
You should try it sometime.
Ollie vB:
#JusticeForSarahCameron.
Natalie must’ve whacked Zach over the head with the amnesia stick, because he spent the next couple days pretending the moment we shared in my room—where we clutched onto each other for dear life—never happened.
She caught on to my mood, too, winking at me every time our paths crossed.
As for Zach, I couldn’t be mad. Not like he gave me the asshole treatment he served to everyone else—with second and third helpings.
Unlike with Natalie and his staff, he still paused to talk to me every time we met in the halls.
He showed up when Dan, Bryan, Deanne, and Tom arrived with legal briefs—skimming the documents, guiding me, asking the tough questions I didn’t necessarily know how to ask.
And he quietly hired cleaners to pick up the work I stopped doing as I focused my energy on the case, digging through all the paperwork.
In lieu of winning a gold medal, I decided to laser-focus on winning my case.
The more I thought about it, the more I realized I never wanted to return to the competitive stage.
I loved the sport, yes.
But I’d known from the moment I committed the crime that I deserved to be punished and only managed to skirt it through Andras’ deep-rooted connections to the fencing world.
I needed to face the music.
Vera didn’t rob me of my last chance at the Olympics. I’d done that to myself.
But that didn’t mean I’d let her take everything Dad had left behind.
After annotating a legal brief, I roamed Zach’s house, looking for something to do.
The place shined thanks to my joint efforts with the new cleaning service and Dallas had an OB/GYN appointment, so I couldn’t pass time binge-shopping for the baby online and watching in horror as she DoorDash’d from seven different restaurants to satisfy her cravings.
I sauntered down the hall, passing by open doors, when I heard my name being called from the sunroom. “Miss Ballantine?”
Constance Sun.
I stopped dead in my tracks, my shoulders squaring into a stiff knot.
Don’t let her push you around. You have every right to be here. Life makes you strong so you can protect yourself.