Total pages in book: 135
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 135536 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 678(@200wpm)___ 542(@250wpm)___ 452(@300wpm)
“You signed a form to pull him out of the medically induced coma yesterday.” Oliver breezed in without knocking, as though he owned the place. “You must’ve forgotten, seeing as you’ve been running on coffee, angry outbursts, and the thoroughly stabbed voodoo doll of Madison Licht that Frankie stitched for you.”
I glanced at the couch I’d occupied these past four days and the pincushion of a voodoo doll Frankie crocheted for me. It resembled a rag doll with a yellow receding hairline and Sharpie’d goofy smile.
Romeo laced his fingers with mine. “Oliver.”
He batted his eyelashes. “Yes, dear?”
“Leave.”
“Not before you give me Frankie’s number.”
“I’ll give you a punch in the face first,” I warned.
I couldn’t think of a more ill-suited candidate for my sister.
Once Oliver left, I returned my attention back to my husband. Romeo raised his hand, tucking a lock of hair that escaped my ponytail behind my ear with a devious smile.
“Rom?”
“Yes?”
“When did you rewrite your will? Canceled your prenup?” I wanted to know when he first realized he loved me.
“The day after you threw a party in my mansion and forced me to move back in.”
I frowned. “You hated me back then.”
“Baby.” He cupped my cheek. “I never hated you. I went from indifference, to being petrified of what you might do to my heart, to so disgustingly in love, I half wished you’d dump me just so I could tell myself I told you so.”
“The night after the party.” I squeezed his hand, humming. “Wow. Do I really suck cock that good?”
He laughed, even though I could tell he was in pain, drawing me to a kiss. “It’s difficult to say. Perhaps you’d be as kind as to give me a reminder?”
“For the last time, I promise that Franklin Tabitha Townsend has never been possessed in her life. How many times do I have to say this?”
I stop myself just short of tossing my hands up, not wanting to distract Romeo from the road. With Jared (and Madison) in prison, awaiting trial, he hasn’t found a replacement.
Romeo insists he’s happy he got poisoned, since attempted murder charges mean Madison will rot in maximum security, not some cushy facility with tennis courts, Swedish massages, and Wagyu Sundays.
Romeo flicks the left signal. “Dropped on the head?”
“Not that I know of.”
“Did she ever peel lead paint off the walls and eat it as a baby?”
“Nop—” I stop. I don’t lie to Romeo, and since that sounds like something a baby Frankie would have done… “How would I know? I was a toddler then.”
“She’s not living with us, Shortbread. She can take the penthouse in D.C., but no way will I have that gremlin marching down the halls of the place I expect to sleep safely at night.”
“Fine. Deal.”
I recline in the passenger seat, satisfied that he offered the solution Frankie rooted for in the first place. Romeo did say he wanted to destroy the place.
I can’t think of a better harbinger of destruction than Franklin Townsend.
“It’s only for a few months.” I pull a snack out of the glove compartment. “Until Daddy cools down and her college un-suspends her.” Shep is back to being Daddy. For now.
“How could she flood an entire dorm building?” Romeo turns right, exiting to the freeway from the private airport. “How is that even possible?”
Since I once spilled chlorophyll on our ceiling, I’m in no place to judge. In fact, the green specks are still there. Scattered between the lighting like a Rorschach painting.
As for Daddy, he blew a gasket when the school sent a twenty-three-million-dollar bill for the damages. Took it right out of Frankie’s inheritance to teach her a lesson, which will most definitely go unlearned.
“Does it matter?” I kick my legs up on the dash, munching on Pocky sticks. “I share some blame in this.”
“You’re not the one who flooded an entire college dorm building in the middle of finals week.”
“Sure, but I am the reason Daddy gives Frankie so much freedom.”
Daddy’s version of an apology to me.
Sometime this year, he gifted Frankie all the freedom he never gave me to prove he changed. While I’m happy for her, I’m also dreading the consequences.
Already, there was the Home Depot debacle, the Swiss ski-trip fiasco, and the near international incident in Dubai.
Romeo stops at the light, turning to face me. “Or your father can man up and apologize to you with words. Then we can all move on to the next chapter of our lives. One where Frankie is not kicked out of her home to learn responsibility the hard way.”
I wave his words away. “Speaking of moving on, when are you gonna hire a driver?”
Six months since Jared’s arrest, he still hasn’t finished running thorough background checks on new applicants. To be fair, his old driver did try to kill him.
Can’t blame a poisoned man for being thorough.