Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 87996 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 440(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 293(@300wpm)
Nothing really useable for my plans.
I would, however, be saving them for my personal collection.
The lighting was all wrong. The ambient light from the party cast a beautiful warm glow, but it was too diluted and would be impossible to match without the help of a professional.
I could trust the people on my security team to keep their mouths shut.
Anna needed this job too badly to risk opening her mouth.
But any more people finding out about this little game was risky.
I could pay someone millions, I had practically unlimited resources. But so did Luc.
All it would take was one disloyal person and my game would end too quickly. So the taking of any photos and all editing had to be done by me.
Anyone would be able to tell if I were to photoshop these photos.
For my plan, I needed the evidence to be as damning, and convincing, as possible.
Not an obvious hack job that would be sensationalized for a week and blow over.
Olivia didn’t deserve what was going to happen to her, but neither had I.
I hadn’t deserved to have my reputation, my livelihood, and my future wife taken from me.
Especially not in such a public, humiliating way.
I didn’t deserve the mocking and the laughter that came my way from my peers or the stern lecture from my father. As if I could have anticipated any of this.
What was I supposed to do? Hit Luc in the middle of the church then force the priest to finish the wedding? It would have been null and void. The second someone objected at a wedding, that was it. It was over. The priest could not continue the ceremony. Which I didn’t give a rat’s ass about, but it also meant he wouldn’t sign the license.
So really what was I supposed to have done?
It didn’t matter anymore. What happened, happened. It was finished. What mattered now was how I chose to respond.
Manwarring stole a bride from me, so I stole a sister from him.
He tarnished my good name, and I planned to decimate hers.
We weren’t children in boarding school anymore.
The games were over.
This is war.
The plane touched down and Olivia and I disembarked.
My body tensed, ready to chase after her, but to my surprise, and admittedly a little disappointment, she didn’t run.
Instead, she behaved.
She got into the black SUV without so much as a protest.
It was late and the windows were tinted so she couldn’t see where we were going.
Not that I thought she would have recognized it.
Her family summered in the Hamptons, as did mine, so there was no reason for her to recognize the quaint little city of Newport, Rhode Island.
I actually had always preferred it to the Hamptons. Quieter and less touristy but with the same small-town charm, Newport had cooler temperatures, a choice of sandy or rocky beaches, and just a stillness that you could never find in New York City. Not to mention some of the best docks for my yacht.
It also had some of the most amazing estates I had ever seen. As soon as I saw the grandeur of some of the family homes, I knew that I would buy one when I had a family. I had planned to take Amelia here after our honeymoon and let her assist me in choosing our summer home.
I was sure when all this was over, I would marry, and this time I would have armed guards standing at the end of the aisle in case anyone got any bright ideas.
For now, I’d bought a little two-bedroom cabin as my personal escape. I bought it well after Luc and I stopped hanging out and it was owned under one of my many shell companies. All of my shell companies had real estate holdings.
Most were commercial, but I did own quite a few residential projects and individual homes that generated rental income.
Finding this place would be the equivalent of searching for a needle in a massive pile of needles.
Assuming Luc didn’t call the police.
Let’s be honest. There was no way he was going to call the police and make this public knowledge. Maybe his new brother-in-law Harrison Astrid, the district attorney in Manhattan, would step in and help with resources.
Even with Harrison’s help, I had time.
“I smell the ocean,” Olivia said, pulling me from my thoughts.
“Yes.”
“Will you tell me where we are?” she asked.
“No.”
“Is this some game, a prank on Luc?” The hopefulness in her voice was almost enough to make me feel bad. Almost.
“No, Olivia, this is not a prank. I took you, and I will make you pay for your brother’s sins.”
“Are you going to kill me?”
That took me off guard.
I looked down at her.
Her head was lowered, her face obscured by her tangled hair as she stared at her dirty bare feet. Her arms were wrapped around her chest as she leaned against the passenger door, trying to stay as far from me as possible within the tight confines of the SUV.