Total pages in book: 133
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 128290 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 641(@200wpm)___ 513(@250wpm)___ 428(@300wpm)
I am the woman of this house. Enzo is mine.
She’s a temporary shadow, an obligation at best, but she has one of her own to fulfill, and she has no idea what that entails.
“So this is all about getting me out of your hair?”
“No.” I lift a shoulder. “You’ll be back for holidays, breaks, and any other time the campus is cleared. Or at least until it’s time to tell them who you are, and you take your wing in the mansion with the other girls of Greyson.”
“Why not just send me off, leave me to find my way on my own?”
“Because your name on your dorm door will read Katana Fikile, sister to Enzo Fikile.”
“They’ll leave me alone when they realize this.”
“They’ll know before you set foot in the door, and they’ll come at you harder because of it. You’re the first Fikile to be accepted into the academy, the only first generation of your year. You’ll have more to prove than anyone. The Greyson Gala will be here before we know it, and as the highlighted student of first years, which make no mistake you are as Enzo’s little sister, they will escort you across the stage and introduce you to every single board member, including the men who witnessed your birth, the birth of the fourth Greyson, and you don’t even know who’s who.”
Katana looks like she’s going to be sick, and when she steps forward, it’s almost in a desperate plea. “What do I do?”
I straighten, staring her in the eye. “Everything I say.”
With that, I spin around and start jogging once more.
Katana follows.
She doesn’t make a sound until I stop at the three-mile mark, and she collapses into the sand.
“That was…so…” She never finishes her sentence.
She passes out, not waking until the guard I had lift her tosses her into the lake.
She shoots to the surface in confusion before her eyes settle on me.
I lower into the lounge chair, lifting a fresh cup of ice water to my lips. “Ready to get started?”
“Started?” she shrieks, dropping onto her ass in the lake. “I thought we were done?”
I laugh loudly, shaking my head. “Of course you did. That was just the warm-up. Time for the real fun.”
Her shoulders fall. “Do I even want to know?”
“You can ask, but I’m afraid she won’t be able to answer.”
Both our heads yank toward Enzo’s voice, and I inhale deeply at the sight of him.
He looks delicious, dipped in darkness with an all-black suit that makes his hair look an impossible shade of raven. His eyes are locked on me even though his words were for her, and when he approaches, he reaches out, fingers clasping over my neck so he can gently tug me to meet his lips, too impatient to close the distance on his own.
“Little Bride,” he rasps against my lips.
“Mr. Fikile,” I tease, smirking to myself when he groans and pulls away, tugging me to my feet.
He turns toward Katana. “Follow the guards inside. Go about your usual routine, Boston will come find you when she’s ready for you.”
Her embarrassment from last night boils to the surface again; her face flaming with his attention on her, and she ducks her head with a nod, rushing from the water toward the house.
Once she’s out of earshot, I look up at Enzo, who regards me with a strange expression.
“What?”
“You don’t have to help her.”
“Yes, I do.”
“I can hire someone to come in and—”
“No, you can’t,” I cut him off. “She’s a diamond in the sand. No one would pass the opportunity to pick her up and disappear if they knew who she really was.”
“That doesn’t make her your responsibility.”
“Do you know anyone better equipped for the job? My sister is a Greyson girl. I lived in both the dorms and the Greyson Manor. I grew up as the daughter of a Don, a man of the union she belongs to. I understand the life she’s about to be tossed into eighteen years too late.”
Enzo’s eyes narrow the smallest bit, and he turns his body to face me fully, taking my left hand in his and drawing my ring between us. He spins it around and around, gaze never leaving mine. “Okay, but tell me what brought you to this decision.”
“Easy.” I tip my head to the side. “I will not have her disgracing your name.”
Enzo groans, dipping to bite my knuckle. “Your name.”
“Our name.”
He slams his lips to mine, his tongue sweeping in and choking me, before tearing free. “You are all that I imagined you to be, Mrs. Fikile.”
“So you’ve said before.”
He smirks, but then he blinks, and a serious expression takes over. “I wasn’t just trying to get rid of her. We do have…unexpected business to attend to.”
“What kind of business?”
He frowns deeply, looking up at the top of the terrace. I follow his gaze, mine clashing with the dark-haired girl from the other day.