Total pages in book: 192
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 182641 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 913(@200wpm)___ 731(@250wpm)___ 609(@300wpm)
They’re wrong.
My sister might have failed to fill the role my father granted her with her latest bullshit, not that that was a huge shock considering, but I won’t.
When my family needs a leader to hold the Revenaw name high, I’ll step up with pride … and a semi loaded down with ammunition of all kinds. Especially those of the secret kind. Thankfully, the girls and I keep none from one another—reason number one why living here in the manor with them works as well as it does.
“A Greyson princess not dressed and pressed before daylight. I didn’t know such a thing was allowed. Guess a lot can change in three months’ time.”
Ice, hard and heavy, fills my veins, stiffening my spine and pricking against my skin like a thousand tiny needles, the largest and sharpest stabbing straight into my back.
Speak of the devil and she shall appear …
My brain sends a sensation to my body, triggering it to shake, but I’m a fucking genius and that pathetic reflex is stopped before it starts.
She will never be given the satisfaction of catching me off guard. Not after what she did and sure as hell not after what she’s trying to do now.
Slowly and with the grace of a fucking Greyson, I turn, resisting the urge to clench my jaw at the mirrored image before me. I should tear her tongue out for mocking me, even if she did deliver her words in a teasing, unmistakably uneasy tone.
Mine, of course, is as flat as her chest. “How would you? Only Greysons know what Greysons are and are not allowed to do.” Nothing has changed. There isn’t and never has been such a rule about pajamas or how we dress in our own home on our own time. I could walk around the place buck naked if I wanted and no one would bat a lash. The staff would greet me just the same, pretending it was completely normal.
My sister has the audacity to appear regretful, her eyes lowering with her chin, though it has nothing to do with what she said.
She’s always been the submissive type.
Weakness, that’s what submission is.
Giving in is giving up and giving up is not allowed, not for Greysons and surely not for the daughters of Rayo Revenaw.
We have to be strong. Dominant. Supreme.
My sister missed the memo.
My gaze flicks over her head as the culprit who snuck her in with his entrance stalks around the corner.
Instinctively, my posture straightens.
Shoulders wide and level, chin high and solid, eyes sharp and mouth carefully curved. Never let them see your worries, daughter. It didn’t take long for that message to sink in.
Another lesson my sister couldn’t seem to learn.
“This is what I like to see.” He slides up, his mere presence alone intimidating, his expression soft yet deceiving. “Both my girls in one place, as it should be.”
“And how about the circumstance?” I smile. Big and fake. “Is it ideal as well, or are you still pretending she didn’t—”
“Not the time.” My father’s voice is lethally calm, though his eyes flash their warning.
“I look forward to the invite on my calendar.”
I’ve never been great with warnings.
Rayo Revenaw stares, giving nothing away, but I know my father well, so he doesn’t have to.
He wants me to stay quiet. To accept his decision. To offer my sister the protection the manor provides. That we can provide. He wants me to simply say “yes.”
Abso-fucking-lutely not.
He may control many things. His influence may reign over me in most ways, maybe all ways, even if I like to pretend differently, and at the end of the day, if he wants something to happen, chances are it will.
In this instance, though, to make such a command would piss off a lot of people, and in our world, the enemies you make along the way do not talk shit behind your back.
They take a knife to it.
To force my hand would be like taking the Bandoni and DeLeon names and spitting on them. Bronx’s dad and Delta’s grandfather would be knocking down the doors at Revenaw Towers by nightfall. Of course, my girls and I are tight, so I could very easily say yes, and fill them in later. They wouldn’t fight me as I wouldn’t fight them, but we don’t make decisions without each other unless we must.
This is not one of those situations.
My sister won’t die before dinner.
I mean, it’s not likely, anyway …
No, Father will just have to do what he hates.
He’ll have to wait.
I smile sweetly, and he knows he’ll be walking out of here today with my sister in tow.
His chest rises with a full inhale, and while he speaks to my sister, his eyes stay on me. “Boston, wait in the common room.”
“But—” she dares to argue.
Both our heads snap her way, and she smacks her mouth shut, shooting me a sharp look before waltzing away, nose in the air like rotten royalty. She hates to be dismissed, even if her attitude is nothing more than hurt she’s trying and failing to hide. Why she would expect anything less, I don’t know. She did this, not me.