Total pages in book: 95
Estimated words: 91049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91049 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 455(@200wpm)___ 364(@250wpm)___ 303(@300wpm)
He turns to look me in the eyes. “Once King Edmond fell ill he commanded the princesses be found. Ms. Trueman was charged with coming to the States to find them. When she did, she found Cinder alone and grieving.”
“That’s when she came to me. Cinder’s life was so tangled in deceit we knew she needed help sorting it. And dare I say, Your Highness. You were so angry and unhappy. We didn’t think you would come for her if we told you her whereabouts.”
“That’s when we hatched the plan to send your mother the letter from Mr. Ellis. I’m sorry, but I’m not sorry. You two needed each other. I did what was best for my country and my prince,” Williams says, drawing his shoulders back.
“Do you mean to tell us that you and Coraline Trueman have been working together?” My mother says beside me.
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Well, the both of you will be rewarded. I’ve always liked that Coraline.”
“She will open the door for you,” Williams says, a look of relief crossing his face.
For now, I let it go. I need to get inside to Cinder. I have to find out why she ran off.
I step from the car and jog up the front steps. Before I can ring the bell, the door opens. Familiar brown eyes greet me. Yes, I know this woman.
“Ms. Trueman?”
“Yes, Your Highness,” she whispers and bows. “You can call me Coraline. Come, come. I believe she needs you.”
Hearing those words, I enter the brownstone quickly. My heart races as I think of Cinder being in danger. All of London has been talking about her return. I should have protected her better. There are so many dangers that she could face now that people know who she is and what she looks like.
“Enough,” The word is yelled as I approach the room Coraline leads me to. “Give us your best offer for our shares and they’re yours.”
My blood boils. This woman has a lot of fucking nerve. I had planned to handle her since finding out she had papers forged to claim shares of Cinder’s company here in the States.
Mr. Ellis left her and her daughters nothing. Not a cent, not one thing. Cinder has put up with them long enough. This was one of the things I planned to tell her.
“She will do no such thing,” I say, my voice booming into the room.
Cinder stands before me frozen. She doesn’t turn toward me, causing great alarm. I still have no idea why she left.
“You knew.” Her voice is full of hurt.
When she finally turns, tears are in her eyes and her lips are trembling. She looks so cute with the two plaits on each side of her head. Her jeans hug her lush hips and the T-shirt beneath her jacket fits snugly against her breasts.
Yet her teary eyes are my undoing. It feels like an eternity since the last time she was in my arms. However, caution tells me now isn’t the time to draw her into my embrace.
“I only recently found out that she had false documents drawn up to place a claim on your company for her and her daughters,” I reply.
Cinder’s body jerks as if she’s been hit. She wraps one arm around her middle. I take a step forward and she holds out the tablet in her hand as if to stop me with it.
“No, I wasn’t talking about that. God, you people are out to destroy,” she says on a sob.
“Cinder, baby, what—”
“You knew who I was. Who my mother was. You said nothing to me for a month. How could you? I don’t understand… wait, no, I do. You were so angry at my mother you decided to take it out on me.
“Did you plan to hide this until you could humiliate me? ‘The princess that planned her replacement’ ball. The event of the season. The perfect prince truly screwed her over.” She scoffs.
“Made her fall in love with him while he planned to dump her in front of his entire kingdom to validate his manhood. I was right, you’re an entitled prick. Fuck all of you. You deserve each other,” she shouts before tossing the tablet to the floor, where it smashes.
“You can’t talk to him like that,” the stepsister with the blonde hair snarls in my defense.
I don’t think anyone sees it coming when Cinder slaps the shit out of her. I wince, peeking through one eye to see the stunned look on everyone’s face.
“We’re going to press charges and sue you. Let’s see you spend that money from prison. I told your father you had a problem,” Bianca seethes.
“I have a problem, me?” Cinder vibrates with rage. She points at me. “He has revealed that you and these two ragamuffins have been stealing from me since my father died, and you dare to threaten me? Yeah, good luck with that.”