Total pages in book: 92
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 88114 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 441(@200wpm)___ 352(@250wpm)___ 294(@300wpm)
“Oh, good, that makes it better,” I say as my cottage comes into sight. “Use me up but at least leave some cash on the bedside table. I can either be a chump or a whore.”
“At least a whore gets paid. But you’re no prostitute, princess. This is a business deal. We can have a mutually beneficial arrangement. We can both be happy.”
I turn on him ten feet from my door and jab a finger into his finely sculpted chest. “You don’t know anything about me, okay? It’s been years since we last spoke and we were never close, so stop talking like you know what I want and what’s best for me.”
“You want the garden. I’ll give it to you. What else is there to know?”
“God, you’re so infuriating. You want to get married and yet you act like that’s no big thing. But guess what, Kellen? It’s a huge fucking deal. It’s the biggest deal imaginable.”
I turn away and grab my door, ripping it open. He’s saying something, but I don’t hear him over my suddenly racing heart as I stare into my home.
It’s a wreck.
Not like it normally is—the drawers are torn out and plates and bowls are smashed on the floor. The refrigerator door hangs open and all my food is in a heap on the table. There’s glass on the floor, my TV is shattered, my clothes are torn to pieces.
It looks like a pack of wild dogs went crazy.
“Hugh,” Kellen says quietly. He grabs my wrist. “You’re not safe in here.”
“I’d rather sleep on the wreckage of my life than go anywhere with you.” I wrench myself away, step inside, and slam the door in his face.
Chapter 9
Kellen
I wake up early the next morning. Tara’s in the garden already but I don’t go out to bother her. I shouldn’t have let her stay in that place alone last night—the idea that Hugh went into her place and violated her home just to fuck with her boils and bubbles in my guts—but I know a losing fight when I see one.
I stayed up under the moon and starlight watching her cottage from afar, just to make sure things were safe, and paid Rory overtime to finish out the night. Just because she’s pissed at me doesn’t mean I’ll let her stay in danger.
Instead of heading down to the gardens and making things worse, I go for a run before the heat gets unbearable, a long meandering trek around the edges of the property. When I’m done, I shower off, change, and walk to my father’s office.
Hugh’s sitting behind the massive desk. Most of my father’s things are down off the walls and packed into boxes. The room feels like it’s in transition, stuck in the liminal space between my father’s tenure and Hugh’s. It’s strange how it’s only been weeks since my old man died and already he’s being replaced so quickly, rewritten and erased, and I don’t mind it one bit. If anything, this should’ve happened sooner. Orin Hayle was weak toward the end and his iron control of the family was beginning to fracture even then.
“What can I do for you, Kellen?” Hugh frowns, not looking up from whatever he’s typing on his laptop. “I’m busy right now.”
I step inside and shut the door behind me. “I like what you’ve done with the place.”
“I’m sure you do.” He purses his lips. “Really, I am busy. There’s a lot going on at the company and I don’t have time to do this with you right now.”
“You can spare a few minutes for your beloved cousin.” I walk over and loom in front of the desk, not bothering to sit down. I keep seeing Tara’s face from last night when she found her cottage trashed. She was terrified and angry and betrayed, and she swung that look on me like I was the source of all her pain. And in some ways, I am, though I’m not the one making Hugh take it out on her.
I hated that look. I hated the way her hands shook when she slammed the door and her voice quavered like she was on the edge of crying. I hated that she felt unsafe, but still couldn’t bring herself to come stay with me.
Which is why I punished myself by losing half a night’s sleep to make sure nobody bothered her.
But most of all I hate that Hugh did it without bothering to hide, and he did it to fuck with me.
“What do you want, Kellen?” He finally looks up from his screen and leans back in his chair. There’s the ghost of a smug smile on his lips, the arrogant shit. He knows exactly why I’m here and there’s a part of him that’s excited to have it out.
“You crossed a line last night.”