Total pages in book: 52
Estimated words: 49388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 49388 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 247(@200wpm)___ 198(@250wpm)___ 165(@300wpm)
“What are you doing here?” Thane asks.
“I’ve come at the request of a few of our mutual business contacts. They’d like to see you back in New York, along with your… associate.” Philipe glances over at Yasmine, who’s looking sheepish.
“You can’t become a Tynewood Crown unless you live there.” Ares steps forward as he addresses Thane. “However, we could offer you an associate position in the society. Under one condition.” Ares looks over at Etienne and then Tarian, who are both nodding their heads in agreement.
Thane smiles before he asks, “What’s the condition?”
Philipe steps up beside Ares and says, “You will return with me to New York and complete a job that’s come to the attention of my men. If you succeed, then maybe we will consider your request to join the society.” Philipe’s tone is tight with frustration, and I don’t blame him.
“What does this job entail?” Thane asks.
“I can fill you in on the details when we’re on the plane,” Philipe replies as he looks at Ares, then Etienne, and then Tarian. “No one else here needs to know about our business dealings.”
I’m not sure what that means, and frankly, I don’t care. Thane is a grown man, so he can look after himself. All I want is for him to leave and never come back.
“And you’ll take her with you,” Tarian adds as he gestures with his head toward Yasmine, who’s staring at her son with an expression that looks a lot like fondness.
“I will,” Philipe confirms.
“Tarian—” Mrs. Calvert begins to speak.
“I don’t want to hear it, Mother,” he spits the word with such venom that even I flinch.
“Please let me talk to you. Once I have, I’ll leave. Please, Tarian.”
Her plea tugs at my heart. I want him to listen to her. After all, that’s why I came here today, to ask her to make things right.
“You have ten minutes,” Tarian says before he turns to me. “Are you okay?” The tender look he gives me, filled with remorse, has my heart thudding against my ribs. I wish he would see just what he means to me.
“Yes.” I nod.
“I’ll be back soon,” Tarian tells me before he follows his mother out of the room.
I’m left standing in a group with Ares, Etienne, and my father, while Thane has settled himself on the sofa. He doesn’t look like someone who’s been given an ultimatum. Instead, he looks like he’s just won a war.
“Once I have my title, I won’t return to Tynewood. I can promise you that,” Thane confirms.
“My brother and the rest of the Crowns will make sure you never step foot in there again. That is, if you survive the job I have planned for you,” Philipe warns him.
“Oh, I’ll survive, and I’ll put Tynewood in my past.” The tone of Thane’s voice is resigned, but there’s pride in his words.
I know he’s not going away forever, because men like him don’t keep their promises.
CHAPTER 22
TARIAN
“What do you want to say to me?” I ask as I turn to confront my mother in the empty dining room that she’s taken me to.
I hate the thought of looking at her, but there’s no hiding from this. I finally lift my gaze, and staring directly at her, I take my mother in properly for the first time since she died.
In front of me stands the woman who allowed me to believe an unforgivable lie.
“I didn’t do right by you,” she begins, “When I returned, I wanted to push you away, so I tried to act as if you didn’t mean anything to me. It was a lie, Tarian,” she says as she moves into the room and makes her way to the window. “I should have been a mother to you before anything else, but I’d read your father’s will and knew what was in it. I knew every line of that document off by heart. It was your father’s dying wish that you remained in Tynewood and took your place as a Crown, so what your father wanted, I granted. Instead of fighting his will and staying with you, I left with Thane.”
“No,” I tell her. “You didn’t grant his dying wish. My father wanted me and you to live in Tynewood together. Yes, he wanted me to be a Crown, but he also wanted you to guide me and raise me. But you killed him. Thane showed me everything, including your letters that were nothing more than bullshit.”
She is silent for a moment, and then she nods.
“You’re right. Your father wanted you to become a Crown, but I hated the Sovereign and the town. I saw what the society did to him.” My mother takes a deep breath before she continues. “I stayed in a loveless marriage to protect you, Tarian, but there came a point I couldn’t live that life anymore. I asked your father for a divorce, but he refused, so one night, I took the gun he hid in his desk and I shot him. Having killed him, I panicked and called Thane who came and helped me stage the car accident and my own death. I will never regret killing your father, Tarian, but I do regret what happened after that.”