Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 96037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96037 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 480(@200wpm)___ 384(@250wpm)___ 320(@300wpm)
But his eyes showed his true nature. Gentle and kind. He had a low voice, and he was quieter than some of us. Namely, my two other brothers. He loved anything to do with the outdoors, plants, and nature. Seeing him in the setting of the office was unusual, and he looked as uncomfortable as I was with him sitting across from me.
He smiled, the similarity between us evident. We looked like my dad, but we all inherited our mother’s smile. When we were little, our dad called us his sunbeams. His nickname for my mom was “Sunshine” and he always said she beamed when she smiled, and we took after her.
“What are you doing here?” I asked.
“I was meeting with Bent. He wants a new garden at the Towers. He never liked the landscaping they did, and he wants me to redesign and change it.” He rubbed a hand over his beard. “I need to figure out how to move some things and save them.”
Liam always saved everything he could. The grounds at the compound were home to many transplants. He constantly worked on the gardens, and every season they were spectacular.
“So, you just dropped by?” I asked, knowing full well why he was here. He and Ava were close, and I had no doubt she shared with him what was going on.
He grinned widely, his eyes crinkling. “Something like that.” He leaned back, crossing his arms behind his head, the muscles stretching the fabric tight over his biceps. The chair creaked under his weight.
“I hear you got yourself in a bit of a pickle there, little bro.”
“Our sister has a big mouth.” I scowled.
He shook his head. “Nope. She’s concerned.”
“There is no reason for her to be.”
He regarded me in silence, stroking his beard. “Let’s see,” he said quietly. “You’ve met a girl you’ve got strong feelings for who has a whole lotta baggage—”
I leaned forward, almost snarling. “Evan is not baggage.”
He lifted one eyebrow, and I sat back, muttering, “He’s a good kid.”
“Again, I’ll say, strong feelings not only for her, but her kid brother. You’re keeping it to yourself because you don’t want to share yet—which, by the way, I understand. But the confusing part to me is that you haven’t been honest with her about us. Your family. I don’t understand how you think this is not going to blow up in your face?” He frowned. “Frankly, you’re going to hurt a lot of people, Ronan. I’m surprised you can’t see that.”
I sighed and scrubbed my face.
“I didn’t mean to hide my family or who I am,” I confessed. “It was just nice to be liked for me for a change. Just me. It felt good to be Ronan.” I sighed.
“So basically, it’s not that you didn’t want her to meet us, but rather us meet her? You wanted to keep her to yourself for a while?”
“Yes,” I said. “In a nutshell.”
“Better ways of handling it, my brother. That skank you were seeing really messed you up, didn’t she?”
I didn’t answer, and he reached behind him and shut the door. “You never told me what she did. I want to know.”
I knew he was serious and wouldn’t leave until I told him.
“I met her at a fund raiser I went to with Dad. She was gorgeous, funny, and sexy.”
“Until you got to know her,” Liam stated.
“I know none of you liked her.” I laughed dryly. “That should have been my first clue. I thought you were all wrong. I thought Paul and Jeremy were jealous.”
“She was an expert manipulator.”
“I figured that out too late. I only saw what she wanted me to see. I thought I had found the one.”
“What happened, Ronan? It seemed one day you were together, then suddenly you broke up, and you retreated and hid away.”
“I found out everything she told me was a lie. She was using me. Using our family name. She wanted my connections and my money, not me. I believe her words were ‘I don’t even like you. You’re too much. Too loud. Too—too everything. Embarrassing.’”
“I’d take that from the dubious source it came from and forget it.”
I nodded in silence.
“Did this have something to do with Dave?”
Dave Meadows had been a friend all through university. He’d hung out with the three of us triplets, but he and I were close. He’d known how I’d felt about Loni.
Finding them in bed together had been the biggest betrayal of the entire fucked-up situation.
I didn’t meet Liam’s eyes. “Turns out, he wasn’t as good a friend as I thought either. He liked and hated the fact that I came from money. Liked it because I was generous and he took advantage of that fact, and hated it because he resented me for it. He and Loni planned and schemed behind my back.” I laughed again, the sound bitter. “Loni planned on my bankrolling her business idea. Dave would ride along on her coattails. They’d suck me dry and disappear.”