Total pages in book: 72
Estimated words: 68390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 68390 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 342(@200wpm)___ 274(@250wpm)___ 228(@300wpm)
Tony literally starts pacing in the smallest square, then whips back around to us. “What’s his favorite food?”
“That’s always changing, but right now, it’s marshmallow peanut butter squares. I made a mean batch just this morning. There are some leftovers if you’re so inclined. I think your visit calls for a bit of sugar and sweetness. This family gathering is quite…quite a lot.”
I get three creased brows in response. Three darker-than-ever scowls. “Our mom would have enjoyed this,” Joseph snaps. “She liked a good rivalry.”
“She wanted to make those shares a competition,” Tony adds. “It had nothing to do with real romance.”
“She wanted the best man to win,” Lucas says, agreeing with his brothers and also working them up just a little bit more. The three of them seem to feed off each other.
“I’m sure Sterling has offered to buy out those shares at the maximum value,” I say sweetly. “You can all get millions of dollars for them, put aside whatever rivalry and bad feelings this has caused, and just be happy. Maybe try welcoming me to the family now that you’ve finally found me. This is exactly why Sterling never told anyone who I was. We wanted to keep our romance private since it would make things complicated and vicious. They were already complicated and vicious enough for you all before then, I think, although I’m not sure why. I’d really like to see you all be friends. You’re cousins, but you were raised as brothers. Brothers are supposed to love each other. They’re supposed to give up anything, even their own freedom, to save each other if that’s what’s needed. Above all, they’re supposed to be kind.”
One after the other, each of those dark frowns turns into a look of incredulity as if the concept of love and kindness is so foreign, and I’ve just spoken some kind of alien language.
Tony shakes his finger at us. “This isn’t over, and we’re not leaving town until we prove this is all a farce.”
“Great!” I try to appear genuinely thrilled on the outside, while inside, I’d like to give each of these doofuses a good punt in the bum so they smartened up. Mostly, I’m just really sad for Sterling. He must feel so alone if this is what his remaining family is like. Also, Greedy Gretchens is an astoundingly accurate term. “Hopefully, you’ll come over for dinner one night then. Are you sure you don’t want to come in now for tea? I have mint.”
“No, we would not like mint,” Joseph grumbles.
“Wait, I might like—”
Joseph cuts Lucas off with a sharp look. “We don’t like mint, and we don’t like you. We’ll be back. Come on, Lucas. Come on, Toe-Toe.”
They walk off, shaking their heads and mumbling. I distinctly hear Tony tell his brother to stop calling him Toe-Toe because it makes him look like an idiot.
Sterling doesn’t say anything until we’re inside and the door is shut. I almost half wonder if those three bugged the place. I wouldn’t put it past them, so I lean in very close to his ear and whisper in my lowest, softest possible tone. “Are we fucked now, do you think?”
There’s a long pause. It’s longer than I would like, but Sterling doesn’t disappoint. He responds exactly the way I hoped he would because I’m not ready to go down like this. I’m not ready to throw away the past four years, and I’m not ready for him to lose everything he’s spent his whole life working for. Mostly because I think it would kill him, and I can’t let that happen. Sterling might only really have been my husband for the past few days, at least in my mind, or however it goes, but that makes him family, and in my family, we fight for each other and protect each other. And as I said outside, we sacrifice for each other, and we stand together, even when the odds are stacked so high against us that it seems impossible.
“There’s not a chance in hell I’m going down without a fight. If they want a performance, they’ll get one. They’ll get the performance of a lifetime. If you’re in, I’m in.”
It takes me a minute to realize I’m still holding his hand. I don’t let go. “I’m in.”
Chapter fourteen
Weland
After the confrontation on the front doorstep, we stand on the inside of the front door for a long time. I’m not sure how many minutes pass before I get out my phone and do the most logical thing. I call my family and let them know about the three buttholes bearing bad news. The trifecta of buttholes. The arseholios to the power of three. They don’t like it, but at least they’ve been warned, down to a detailed description and the names of all the cousins, including Toe-Toe. You know, just in case he tries to go incognito but decides to use the name he hates the most because, why not?