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“How do you know I have a plan?”
“I’ve been watching,” I confessed. “I’m observant while you work, and I know you’re doing more than just returning emails. Tell me… I can help. You can trust me in that.”
He took a deep breath and nodded. “Good, because I need you. We’re in this together, and I know we can make it out the same way.”
17
Montgomery
“You keep sighing over there,” Grace said, looking up from her book that she had been reading most of the day.
“Sorry,” I mumbled, directing my attention back to my laptop. “Work shit.”
“I’m sure it’s hard to try to do the job from this bedroom.”
“You have no idea. It doesn’t help that my father’s a fucking idiot. I don’t know if it’s that I’ve been blind before, or if he’s just getting careless in his old age, but his risk level is beyond.”
“Knowing what I know of your father, it seems like he’d always be shady in how he runs everything in his life,” Grace said. “But you’ll outsmart him and rise above.”
Not being able to focus any longer, and not just because of our conversation, but because I knew Mrs. H would be coming anytime with our attire for our evening, I closed my laptop.
“The family business is not squeaky clean. Never has been. But things of late seem to cross to a whole new level.”
I stood up and began pacing back and forth in front of the window. I felt like a caged tiger.
There was so much I wanted to do. So much I wanted to take over. My plans were detailed, and I needed to feel free to execute them, but I was also far from free. I felt helpless. I could only do so much from my prison, but at the same time, I had to keep plowing through the muck or risk losing any hold I had.
“You must have a lot of your mother in you,” Grace said, closing her book and then walking over to me. “You aren’t like your father at all.”
I don’t know if it was the soft and soothing tone of Grace’s voice, or the fact that she brought up my mother, but my dark bubble I was drowning in seemed to burst. I couldn’t help but smile.
“My mother is an amazing woman. You would really like her, and I know she would like you. She’s so kind, giving, and did her best to raise me to be a good man.”
“You are a good man,” Grace said, reaching out to take my hand to cease my pacing.
I took a deep breath in to further calm my tension. “I try to be. Not exactly easy all the time, but I try. I’ve always wanted to be the best. I guess you could call me an overachiever. Best in school, best in sports, best in business, best in life. But, it seems like no matter what I do, I have this damn Kingston chain yanking me down. The blue blood lineage becomes too much sometimes.”
I motioned around the room. “This all becomes too much. I would never treat a woman like I’ve treated you if I weren’t here in The Oleander. Even though I have been all but bred to do so, I would never. My mother would have my balls if I did,” I said with a small smirk which quickly disappeared. “I feel like I’m losing a part of me while I’m here.”
Grace didn’t say anything, but lightly squeezed my hand and nodded.
“And I’m sure you think I sound like some silverspoon-fed asshole who has had everything handed to him, and yet I stand here and bitch about it.”
“No,” she said softly. “I think you’ve had to battle demons that I had no idea existed or endured myself. Your story is different than mine, but that doesn’t mean you haven’t had your hardships as well. I’ve never thought money means happiness.” She chuckled. “But regardless, I still would like some of that money.”
Mrs. H knocked on the door before letting herself in right afterwards. She still looked tired, but I wasn’t going to say anything about it. She also seemed like she was in a hurry.
“Busy night tonight?” I asked her.
“We’re getting invites ready for the next recruit. Sully’s up next, and we are vetting the women to be selected.” She glanced at Grace and then back at me. “I take this extremely seriously. I want the best belles selected for my boys.”
She smiled at Grace and surprised me with her next statement. “The other belles need to live up to this one.” She then quickly left the room, not giving Grace nor me a chance to respond.
When the door clicked shut, we both made our way to the bed to see what we would be wearing. When I opened my box expecting to see another tuxedo like I had worn at every other event, I was surprised to see a silver cloak belonging to the members of the Order. I ran my fingertips over the fabric, both excited and terrified.
