Total pages in book: 79
Estimated words: 77295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 77295 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 386(@200wpm)___ 309(@250wpm)___ 258(@300wpm)
“Family heirloom.”
She continued to stare at it. “Looks like you didn’t use it.” Her eyes flicked up to meet mine.
I gave a subtle shake of my head.
She didn’t look disappointed. Didn’t look anything at all.
“Something got in the way.”
“Cauldron, it’s okay.”
“What’s okay?” I asked, looking at those high cheekbones and feline-shaped eyes.
“I get it… He’s your brother. It’s complicated.”
“He’s not my brother.”
“You would have killed him a long time ago if he wasn’t something to you.”
The revelation was like a slap to the face. It stung because it was true. “I’ll handle it.”
“You don’t need to do that, Cauldron.”
My eyes shifted back to her.
“You don’t need to honor our agreement.”
“I don’t?” I asked quietly.
“It’s not like I want to go anywhere…”
Her affection was a poor imitation of what it’d been before, but it was still there, still sincere. It was a seedling that could grow into something beautiful—if I just watered it. “He’ll be a problem if I don’t. Maybe not today or tomorrow. But eventually, probably when his cast comes off.”
She looked disappointed, horribly reminded that she was still a prisoner, just without a cage.
Now I really wanted to kill him. “I saw my father.”
The change of subject provoked a change in her eyes.
“He does that sometimes…ambushes me into a conversation.”
“How did that go?”
“It’s the same shit…over and over.”
“He’s trying to reconcile with you?”
“In so many words.”
“You’re unwilling to do that?”
I shook my head.
“Like, ever?”
“Like. Ever.”
She dropped her gaze, growing quiet.
“What?” I could tell she was thinking, her mind was running.
She looked at me again. “How long has he been trying to talk to you?”
I shrugged. “A long time.”
“And he doesn’t give up?”
“He takes breaks.”
“Well…maybe you should hear him out.”
I felt the jolt of anger like a bolt of lightning. “Your father ran off, right?”
She nodded.
“Would you hear him out?”
“That’s not the same thing—”
“Don’t tell me what I should do. Don’t tell me how I should feel.”
Her eyes ached with their wounds.
“He’s a piece of shit, and he’ll die a piece of shit.”
A long stretch of silence passed between us, the coffee table separating us. Neither of us spoke for an extended period of time, exchanging subtle looks back and forth.
“Can I say something?” she asked.
“Not if I don’t want to hear it.”
She took a deep breath before she spoke. “I’m alone in this world…and that feels really shitty. If my father decided he wanted a relationship with me, I’d probably give him a chance because it’s still better than having no one.”
The confession was almost too hard to hear. Made me feel like shit for everything I’d done to her.
“Grave won’t hurt you because his feelings are unconditional. And unconditional only comes from one place…family. You may not get along, but that truth is undeniable. Your father could just forget you exist like my own has, but he doesn’t. You aren’t alone in this world. Even if you hate them both, you still aren’t alone.”
Her words miraculously tugged at my heartstrings. It didn’t make me forgive my family’s betrayals, but it made me pity her existence even more. Even on my worst day, when I was the angriest, the loneliest, my life was still far better than hers. And I used her for my own gain, used her like she meant nothing.
I couldn’t forgive my father for his sins, but she seemed to have forgiven mine.
NINE
CAMILLE
We returned to the South of France on his private plane, but we didn’t stay at the house long. After a couple days working in his office, he decided to take his yacht out on the Mediterranean. Fall was hardly in the air, not when the sun was still so warm on endless clear days. We boarded the enormous white ship with the full staff and left the harbor for open water.
“What made you decide to do this?” I asked, wearing a dress over my bikini.
“Tired of the office.” He sat on one of the cushioned couches, and a spread of appetizers was on the table in front of him. His laptop was on his lap, and he wore white linen shorts with a light blue button-up, aviator sunglasses on the bridge of his nose.
The wind lapped at my hair underneath my sun hat. There was a nice breeze on a warm day, the reflection of the sun on the calm water. Even though the ship had at least a dozen staff, it felt like we were the only two there.
I sat beside him and watched him type on his laptop.
He was always a man of few words, but he’d been positively quiet over the last few days. Unexpectedly seeing his father had turned this hard man even harder. We hadn’t spoken of it since, but I could tell it was on his mind.
My fingers played with the pearl necklace at my neckline, feeling the smooth gems against my fingertips. With the ocean breeze in my hair and this man beside me, I felt a surge of peace I hadn’t felt in a while. All the resentment and anger seemed to be gone. I was never one to hold a grudge and I had to force myself to stay mad at people, but I was still surprised that my walls came down so quickly.