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)
Next stage?
“You girls have been close all of your lives,” he continues. “Do not allow anything to come between that. Not a man and not me. The decisions I make, I make with the two of you in mind, so if you don’t like what I have to say or what I must do, you may speak your mind when no one else is there to hear it. But no matter the call I must make, you will not turn your back on each other, as when I am gone, the one and only person you will ever be able to count on as deeply as you can count on me to protect you, is the person beside you. Blood over all. Always, no matter what. Family? It comes first. Do I make myself clear?”
Forcing myself not to swallow past the sudden dryness of my throat, I look to my sister, to the girl who was once my best friend, who I could never hate, but can’t help feeling betrayed by.
She made a mistake, and she didn’t own up to it, and then she made it worse. She made a commitment, and she bailed. She took our family name and did the one thing we were raised never to do.
She placed the power of it in someone else’s hands.
The car pulls up to the red carpet set out for tonight’s event, and my dad’s driver makes his way around the hood, pulling the door open.
“Where is Sai tonight?” I ask. Tonight of all nights, my guard should be my shadow.
“Around” is all I get in response. Dad steps out first, and one by one, at his offered hand, my sister and I follow.
He holds his arms out, and we link ours through his and head inside the building. Suddenly, Sai appears, standing just to the left, then falls in line beside me; Boston’s old guard before he was reassigned when she left, at hers, and my father’s guards create a wall at our backs.
Once inside, we’re forced to pause to say hello to the overeager men after my father’s attention and it’s not until after another twenty minutes of mundane conversation that we are released. Boston, of course, prevents my escape, looping her arm through mine, and steers us both toward the bar.
“What the hell were you thinking bringing that up in front of Dad?”
She tugs me closer. “Now, sister, we’re supposed to be getting along, remember?”
“Cut the shit, Boston. What am I missing here? What is going on in Dad’s head and what are you hiding?”
“Oh, you want to know what I’m hiding, yet you’re the one running off to sleep with some tattooed biker bad boy or whatever he is.”
“Not everyone who wears a leather jacket rides a motorcycle, Boston.”
“How am I supposed to know that? I’m nothing but a sheltered brat.” She grins. “I’m just saying, do you even know who he is? He popped up out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, you’re sneaking off to go meet him, leaving campus, lying to Dad? Leaving your tracker!” Her eyes grow wide, a small laugh leaving her. “I mean, girl, that’s so unlike perfect little Rocklin.”
“Please.” Rolling my eyes, I accept the glass of champagne the waiter hands to me, eyeing the two guns strapped across his chest in open view. “I can hear it in your voice. You’re proud and it’s disgusting.”
My sister laughs, and I can’t help but join in with her.
Shaking my head, I look her way, and after a moment, she sighs.
“Maybe I’m mad you didn’t tell me about him,” she admits, lifting a shoulder. “Yet Bronx and Delta seem to know all about the mystery boy from campus. And don’t say it’s Greyson business. It’s not. I’m your sister. Don’t cut me out because I’m foolish. You knew that already, so what’s really changed?” she mocks herself, offering a smile, but it’s fake and full of self-loathing.
“You’re emotional and rash, not foolish.”
She scoffs a laugh, but again, it’s directed at herself. “Are they not the same thing?” she muses, eyes falling to the bubbles in her drink. “For the record, if I knew it was going to end this way, I never would have asked Enzo to meet me.”
Shifting slightly, I give her my full attention. “Why did you really leave, Beeks? Tell me the truth and not the one Dad wants you to.”
The corner of her mouth lifts into a sad smile and she looks toward where he stands. Sadness clouds her features as she returns her gaze to mine, and she tips her head as she reaches out to smooth a loose hair near my temple.
“I knew I wasn’t the queen,” she whispers softly. “But I didn’t know I was the pawn until it was too late.”
I open my mouth to ask her what she means, to demand an explanation, because the ideas running through my mind can’t possibly be anything close to what she means, but then goose bumps rise along the back of my neck, and my eyes are drawn to the entryway.