Total pages in book: 131
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 125121 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 626(@200wpm)___ 500(@250wpm)___ 417(@300wpm)
Hesitating, he looked to my mother. “I won’t go against Eloise’s wishes.”
“That’s what I thought. Well, since Martha is so determined to have this wedding that she’s willing to lose another son, I figured tuition for two is a smaller price to pay.” I held my mom’s gaze steadily. “Martha is going to pay for me to attend the university. Since that payment stops if I don’t marry her son next year, the wedding is going ahead. There’s nothing to do now, Mom.”
She rocked back like I slapped her.
“There’s no one to call. There’s no argument to have with Martha or Jack. The deal he had with her is now mine. I choose this, and nothing you say will change my mind.”
Mom took a step. Then another. “You’re doing all of this to stay at that school and see those that hurt Winter brought to justice.”
“Yes.”
“No,” she replied. “You’re doing it because you don’t trust me to.”
By the time I thought of something to say, I’d been sitting alone for a long while.
Chapter Two
The cabbie dropped me off at the gates.
Neither Mom nor Jack came down for breakfast the next morning. They didn’t answer the door to their room when I knocked either.
I got the hint.
“You sure this is the place?”
“This is the place,” I said, eyeing Wilson Manor. “But I’m not sure of anything.” I left him with that and twenty-two bucks.
The gate guard waved me in. I made the long trek up the winding drive, trying not to think of what I’d just done to my mother. Trying and failing. “Betrayal,” “deal with the devil,” and “a thousand jellybeans” ran through my head on repeat. I’d broken our mother’s heart over revenge Winter asked me not to take. That thought would mess me up for a long time.
The Wilsons’ butler let me in. The dignified man didn’t break form. He led me upstairs with a greeting, offered to get me something to drink or eat, then bowed and left me alone in front of the door.
I knocked twice.
“Come in.”
Stepping inside, I met her cool smile with one of my own. “Good morning, Martha.”
“Good morning.” She swept out from behind the desk—a vision in a cream sheath dress and heels. She gestured to the leather couch between two rafter-high bookshelves. A passing thought made me wonder if Adonis got his love of literature from her. “Sit, dear. We have a lot to discuss.”
The lock clicked shut behind me, ringing like the final gong.
MY STOMACH GROWLED loud and embarrassingly by the time we stood and shook hands.
“A floor up and three doors on the left,” Martha said. “I’ll have Reuben bring you something to nibble on.”
“Thank you.”
“No, thank you, Luna.” She placed two barely there kisses on my cheeks. “I’m pleased we understand each other. I knew I made the right choice in a daughter-in-law.”
“Of course you did.” I looked her straight in the eyes. “I’m just as ruthless as you.”
Her smile didn’t slip. “Ruthless is simply another word for uncompromising. You’re a woman, Luna. One that’s about to take your place among one of the most important families in Regalia—nay, the country. You only need to back down from your position once—to compromise—for the world to see you’re too weak to fight for what you want. You have the opportunity to become many things when you say I do.” She tipped my chin. “Weak is not one of them.”
Stepping back, I tipped my head to her and murmured goodbye. I don’t know why it felt like I took my first breath when I left her office.
My feet followed her directions, carrying me up to the third floor and its third door on the left. It cracked open, filtering a thumping rap song that everyone who didn’t spend four years in a French Catholic school likely knew.
I knocked once but didn’t wait for him to let me in.
A low whistle escaped my lips. I knew Victor’s room would be nice, but who the hell lived so large that they had an indoor hot tub next to the infamous minibar. I rounded the tub, peeking my head past the wall. A massive four-poster bed sat on a raised platform. Lying on the red silk sheets was my ex-but-not-fiancé in nothing but black silk boxers.
The only reason his parents didn’t name him Adonis too is because it would’ve been too confusing to call his name and have them both turn around. But Victor Wilson was no less gorgeous than his painfully handsome brother.
The man was sculpted perfection stretched out on the sheets—the fabric sliding over his muscled calves and against his rock-hard chest like the opportunistic slut it was. He moved to the next page in his textbook, head turning to read, and his hair fell over his eyes—thick, wavy, and destined to stick around late into his nineties. I could tell just by looking at him. Victor would be handsome long after the other silver foxes slinked back into the forest.