Total pages in book: 69
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 69303 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 347(@200wpm)___ 277(@250wpm)___ 231(@300wpm)
The rest of the night went great, and by the time we were stuffing ourselves with dessert—cookies that Calliope and Jasper had stopped for on the way—I was well on my way to euphoria.
For the first time in my life, I was well and truly happy.
It was a surreal feeling, and not something that I’d ever had before.
The only thing that could make this better was my brother being here.
Which happened to be the next topic of conversation.
“You’re going to break seven men out of prison,” Calliope said. “Why?”
“Because I don’t think they deserve to be there. Why should the president be the only one who gets the right to choose who does and doesn’t have to stay in prison?” he asked.
“Winning the presidency seems like it would suck. The one and only thing that I feel like wouldn’t suck was being able to pardon who I want,” Calliope admitted.
“Who are you breaking out?” Jasper asked, his gaze flicking toward Calliope as if he didn’t trust her to hear this conversation. “And how?”
I missed what he said next because my phone rang.
I groaned and excused myself to go and answer it.
As much as I wanted to ignore my mom and dad, I couldn’t.
They were my parents.
I loved them.
Even though they clearly had a favorite, and it wasn’t their actual children.
“Hey, Dad,” I said. “What’s up?”
“Your mom said that you kicked her and your sister out of your work yesterday,” he started.
I pinched the bridge of my nose. “I did.”
“Why?” he asked, sounding angry.
I leaned my hips against the counter in Finnian’s—now also my own—kitchen and said, “Well, for starters, I was working. Second, maybe if they’d accepted my ‘I’m working’ comment, security wouldn’t have had to be called.”
“That was embarrassing for your mother,” Dad grumbled.
“No, what’s embarrassing is being a nurse, and working at your job where you’re in charge of a lot of other nurses, and having your mother come up with your deadbeat sister and have them give you shit because you’re not answering their phone calls,” I said. “You would be so upset if Mom came and berated you at your job. Why are you not upset with her doing that at mine?”
He paused. “Daniella told me she was bringing you lunch and you called security.”
I snorted. “She most certainly did not bring me lunch. She brought me shit. That’s all. And I didn’t call security.”
That wasn’t a lie.
My new man did.
“Shit.” He sighed. “That girl will be the death of me.”
Yeah, she would.
“Dad,” I said carefully. “I’m going no contact with her. I already blocked her everywhere. I want you to know that y’all aren’t blocked yet, but if you don’t respect my boundaries, y’all will be next. I can’t deal with her crap anymore.” I hesitated. “And she’s a fuckin’ psycho, just like Aunt Jennifer. You should really be careful how you help her, because she might be bringing you into her lies.”
He sighed. “I’m sorry to hear that. But I understand. I’ll talk to your mother.”
He hung up after that, but what I did notice was that he wasn’t paying attention to what I was saying.
Like always, he didn’t see Daniella for what she was.
But I’m sure he would.
Twenty-Three
Cried, but did it anyway.
—Text from Dru to Apollo
APOLLO
Once again, I was being woken up in the middle of the night by banging on my door.
This time, I wasn’t alone in my bed.
And again like last time, Dru didn’t move a single inch.
Blissfully unaware of her surroundings, I walked out of my room and once again stopped at the bottom of the stairs where the alarm panel and my security cameras were displayed.
“Who is it?”
The pounding and doorbell ringing continued.
I looked over my shoulder to see Jasper standing there, a gun in his hand, and in the same state of undress as me.
“Looks like Dru’s sister and aunt.” I groaned. “This is getting absolutely ridiculous.”
“What’s getting ridiculous is the fact that I was having the best damn dream of my life, where I was cuddled up to my man in my new place, and my sister has to ruin it!”
I watched with a quirk to my lips as a sleep-tousled Dru marched toward the door and reached for the handle.
I caught her by the hips and guided her back to the stairs where Jasper stood and said, “Stay. Let me handle this.”
She grumbled a few expletives that I’d tease her for later, but ultimately stayed where she was as I disarmed the alarm.
I just got the door open when a woman started to push through.
I caught her by the belly and pushed her back outside.
Which was about the time I saw Eugene standing there, looking pissed as hell.
“Control this.” I pushed Daniella back.
Eugene let her fall on her ass.
I left her there, too, uncaring if she was on the ground.