Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 134133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 671(@200wpm)___ 537(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 134133 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 671(@200wpm)___ 537(@250wpm)___ 447(@300wpm)
“I’ll let her text her mom and roommates so I can control what she says.”
“You didn’t leave her with a phone up there, did you?” Dad asks.
“Yes, but she can’t use it.” I hold up the axe. “She’s trapped in the escape room.”
Dad nods. When we had the escape room built, I knew it wasn’t feasible to collect everyone’s phones, so we had a signal blocker built in to turn the escape room into a quiet zone. It fit the theme, anyway. Vikings didn’t have fucking cell phones.
“Rather convenient that we built you a prison before you knew you’d have a captive,” Dad remarks, watching me closely. “You’re sure you didn’t plan this?”
I shake my head. “Happy coincidence.”
He scrutinizes me for a moment longer, but since I’ve been so honest about everything else, I guess, he decides he believes me.
“Well, I suppose we don’t need the ballroom back until the Christmas party. I can contact the builders and delay having the room taken down to give you a little more time. You can’t have long, though. If you’re wrong about the girl and this isn’t going to work out, I need to know sooner rather than later so I can handle it.”
My spine stiffens but I nod tersely. “I’m not wrong. Sophie’s it for me. Everything will work out. No one else needs to get involved.”
“You have the weekend,” he states. “If she still wants to leave come Monday, we have to reevaluate. I’m trusting you on this, Silvan, but I won’t let some random girl endanger the family, and I trust you won’t, either. If she won’t play ball, she has to go. You’ll meet plenty of women who will.”
That’s not much time, but I guess I’m not really in a bargaining position here.
I’ll have to make it work. I’m confident I can.
After all, I fell for her in the space of an evening. Surely, I can make her love me in a weekend.
“She will,” I assure him. “Sophie isn’t replaceable,” I add, just so he knows where I stand and that I’m serious about her.
He nods, his gaze watchful. “Then I hope you’re right and she falls in line—quickly.”
I didn’t need the added stress of Dad watching over me this weekend, but I know he won’t bend on this, so I don’t try to negotiate for more time. Doing so would only make him think I’m not as confident as I say I am about being able to convince her.
Locking my jaw, I give him a terse nod of understanding, then I turn to leave.
“Silvan,” Dad says, causing me to turn back around.
“Yeah?”
He holds out the newspaper Mom tried to read. “Can you toss this for me before you head back upstairs? It’s old news. I don’t need it anymore.”
I walk over and grab the paper. “Sure.”
Mom’s gaze flickers to it, but Dad grabs her waist and tugs her legs across his lap, murmuring, “We’re going to stay in here for a while longer.”
Mom smiles playfully. “Oh, are we?”
I shake my head at them and hasten to leave the room before I hear something I don’t want to hear.
I pull the study door shut behind me and consider stuffing the newspaper into a waste can in the nearest bathroom, but then I consider Sophie’s enthusiasm about recycling the Christmas trees. I’d never hear the end of it if she caught me not recycling a fucking newspaper.
I head to the kitchen instead so I can put it in the recycling bin. I should probably grab a couple of bottles of water out of the fridge to take upstairs for us, anyway.
I toss the paper in the empty bin for the housekeeper to take outside tomorrow, but when the newspaper lands, I catch sight of something that snags my interest.
I retrieve the folded-up paper and unfold it. Frowning faintly, I flip it over to the article Dad had it open to.
The headline reads: Investment Banker Found Dead of Apparent Suicide
Accompanying the article is the man’s picture.
My frown deepens because I recognize this guy.
Mom would have, too, which I’m guessing is why Dad didn’t want her to see it.
I don’t always know who Mom’s fucking aside from Dad, but I do know she was involved with this guy a few months ago—the affair is why they’re so loved up now. Dad was pissed at her because she was more careless than usual. A friend spotted them out together and asked him about it.
Fucking someone else is one thing, apparently, but embarrassing him is unacceptable.
I didn’t know the guy well and didn’t like him since my loyalty lies with my father, but he’s the last person I would expect to off himself. He was new-money and acted like it. Cocky and self-important, always telling stories about his travels and boasting about his accomplishments every chance he got.