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Karleigh slides the bottle of wine to me and I take a well-needed sip. “What are you going to do?” she questions. “I’m happy to give you my couch for the night, you know that, but I have four children staying here. I can’t take you in. I can’t risk their lives just to save yours. I’m sorry.”
I nod. “I know that, and I wouldn’t expect you to. I just … I was hoping you could help me figure out what the fuck to do, because I am so fucking lost. I don’t know what to think or where to go … who to trust. My head is a mess.”
She leans back into her seat and looks back at me. “This Dynasty thing … what does it mean to you?”
“It’s … it’s my legacy. It’s a part of who I am, even if it took me a really long time to realize that. It’s all I have of my parents and I want to make them proud. I don’t want them to have died for nothing.”
“So, you don’t want to lose it?”
I shake my head and she lets out a heavy sigh, taking the bottle of wine right back. “Then the way I see it, you have two choices.” I sit up straighter, listening intently. “You can run away. I’ll give you some cash and some clothes. Disappear into the night, change your hair, and just keep driving until you’re sure they won’t be able to find you and then live the best life you can possibly live.”
“Or?” I prompt, knowing that running isn’t an option. They will never stop searching for me. After all, there’s only one true leader of Dynasty, and its people will do whatever it takes to get her back.
Karleigh’s tongue rolls over her bottom lip as she focuses intently on my gaze. “Look,” she says. “I don’t know the kind of woman you’ve grown into, but the little girl that I once knew was a fighter. She used to stand out in my yard belting the crap out of a punching bag. That little girl didn’t take crap from anyone. She stood up to her bullies, and she made a name for herself. She was strong and fearless, and I know that while you may be scared right now, that fearless little girl is still inside of you begging to come out. So, Miss Elodie Ravenwood, you can either run away, or you can go back there, straighten your goddamn crown, and take the reins.”
“You really think I can do it?”
Karleigh nods. “Dynasty is your legacy, your rightful home, and you’re going to go back there and show those fuckers what you’re made of. I know you can do it because I didn’t raise a quitter. And as for those four guys—make them hurt.”
CHAPTER 4
My eyes peel open into the early morning sunshine that streams through Karleigh’s living room window to find four little faces staring back at me.
My body straightens.
“Ummmm … hey,” I say, my groggy morning voice cracking as I speak, a reminder of how I don’t do mornings well.
They just keep staring and I push up on the couch, my body aching from head to toe while my neck screams for a decent massage. It’s not the first time that I’ve slept on this old couch, but I hope that it’s the last. I could feel the springs digging into my back from every angle.
Karleigh and I sat and talked all night and she made me realize that she was right. My parents gave up everything for Dynasty, and while they maybe didn’t know that at the time, I’ve come to realize it for them. So, I’m not going back there for myself, I’m going back to fight for my parents because they deserve it.
They didn’t die in vain and I’m going to make sure of that, and just as Karleigh said, I’m going to straighten my crown and take the goddamn reins, the boys be damned. Though, first things first, the second I get home and to my laptop, I’m ordering Karleigh a brand-new couch and having it delivered stat. She couldn’t possibly want to hold onto this thing. It’s on its last leg. Actually, it’s well past that stage.
I rub my hands over my face, dreading what I have to do today, but I’m not going to give up. I’ve had a home cooked meal, fresh clothes, and a hot shower. That’s all I need to find myself and get back on track. It’ll be a long drive home, but a girl has to do what a girl has to do.
“You snore,” a voice comes from the living room floor before me. I glance up to find a little girl who somehow reminds me of myself. It must be the chip on her shoulder.
