But when they seldom come, they wished-for come,
And nothing pleaseth but rare accidents.
So when this loose behaviour I throw off
And pay the debt I never promised,
By how much better than my word I am,
By so much shall I falsify men’s hopes;
And like bright metal on a sullen ground,
My reformation, glitt’ring o’er my fault,
Shall show more goodly and attract more eyes
Than that which hath no foil to set it off.
I’ll so offend to make offence a skill,
Redeeming time when men think least I will.
I frowned at the lines, my heart thudding with every word. This was Prince Hal’s soliloquy from Henry IV. This was not by any means encouraging or words written by a son ready to give his father a chance. It was ominous to say the least, if it wasn’t all alarming.
But the threat that lied between the lines wasn’t what caused the palpitations of my heart. It was the handwriting.
I wiped my forehead and pulled up the sunglasses to read clearly, hoping it wasn’t my mind tricking me.
I received your letter, and I accept. I’m coming to Texas tomorrow.
Tirone.
A wild gasp burst out of me at the same time I heard a voice coming from outside the door. Tirone Wisely’s voice. Tirone fucking Lazzarini.
All the blood rushing out of my body, my head a big cloud of dizziness, I fell off the bed face down.
The door burst open. Then Laius was standing over. “Jo!” His arms carried me, and then my back was lying against something soft. “What happened?”
I could barely open my eyes, but I saw him. It was really him standing at the door. Tirone. My Tirone was Laius’s son.
“Baby, answer me. Dammit. Someone get me some water!” Laius yelled.
“I…I…” I pointed at the door, seeing double, Tirone’s face—faces—coming toward me. Words I couldn’t bring myself to say shivered on my mouth.
Tirone sat next me on the bed and opened a bottle of water from his messenger bag. He held my head and made me drink, smirking at me. “Here.”
I gulped, staring at him.
“Rex, this is—”
“Miss Meneceo,” Tirone finished Laius’s sentence, and my heart dropped to my feet.
Laius scowled at us. “Do you know each other?”
This was it. This was how we all died in a fit of rage.
Fort barged in out of nowhere. I’d recognize that human tank even if I were dead, not just on the verge of passing out. “Prez, get her outta here. We have another visitor.”
