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I tugged her over to my bike. “Get on. Helmet on, and hold on to me.”
FOUR
Even when I was a small child, I knew that what my parents expected of me was to finish school with respectable grades, then marry into a good family. Joseph thought the same, to an extent. Although he’d hated and disagreed with the way that our dad had treated us and he’d remained protective of me, he looked up to our father. Maybe it was something to do with being the oldest sibling and being groomed to go into the family business once he had his MBA. Who knew. But whatever the reason, he seemed to take it for granted that I’d finish school and then start looking for a husband.
There were two problems I had with that. One, I had no plans to marry anytime soon. I wanted to do other things first—move out of my parents’ home, go to university if I could find some way to pay for it since my dad wouldn’t pay, have a career, and enjoy freedom for the first time in my life. And two? The only boy that I would ever want to marry, the boy I loved with all my heart…he was the son of my family’s rivals.
It was stupid, really. Way before I was born, before my parents were even born, there was a dispute over land in Alstone. Three families banded together—the Cavendishes, the Drummonds, and the Lowrys—and formed Alstone Holdings. The company bought up huge parcels of land, and as for my family? They weren’t happy with these developments, to put it lightly. They began acquiring their own land in retaliation, and soon, the rivalry was in full swing. From the information I’d been able to glean over the years, there was undercutting, shady deals, and backstabbing…and all the while, Alstone Holdings grew more influential, and my family grew more resentful of their growing power.
Nowadays, the board members were cordial on the surface, extending invitations to each other to social events and playing nice in front of other rich, powerful figures. But it was all a front.
Thanks to the long-standing rivalry, the children of any of the families that ran Alstone Holdings were off limits. To make matters worse, Caiden, Weston, Cassius, and Zayde—aka the Four—were actively involved in conflict with my brothers and their friends. Zayde held back as much as he could, especially with Tim because he knew what he meant to me, but my boyfriend had a bit of a thirst for vengeance, and he and Joseph hated each other. It was mostly childish pranks—nothing that would properly hurt anyone, and I knew that all our parents turned a blind eye to it. Our families were rivals, and I doubted that would ever change.
Zayde and Tim were the only two people that believed in me—that encouraged me, told me I could do whatever I could put my mind to, that I didn’t have to follow the path my parents had set out for me. I loved them both so much, and it tore me apart that they were both on opposite sides of this rivalry.
One day, I knew I’d have to choose between my family and the boy I loved.
It was inevitable.
And had been, ever since the day Zayde told me that he was moving here, to Alstone, and the daydreams I’d had about one day running away with him all crumbled into dust.
I stared down at my phone, rubbing my eyes, but the words didn’t change. The sick feeling that had been there ever since I’d opened Zayde’s message was getting worse.
At first, when he’d told me he was moving, I’d been scared and sad—I didn’t want to lose the boy who was pretty much my best friend. I’d asked him to find out where he was moving to, hoping with all my heart that he wasn’t going to be far away. I was going away to boarding school in a couple of weeks, so I’d kind of prepared myself for not seeing him for a while, but I’d been consoling myself with the thought that I’d still be able to see him in the school holidays.
Now that hope had been shattered with two words that were on my phone screen.
Michael Lowry.
Zayde’s dad was Michael Lowry, a member of one of the three founding families of Alstone Holdings and a bitter rival of my family. If anyone in my family found out…
I didn’t want to lose my best friend, but it looked like I wouldn’t have any choice in the matter. I would never be allowed to see him. It was one thing for the cleaner to bring her son to our house—my parents treated staff like they didn’t exist, and my mum had barely paid any attention whenever he’d been there with his mum. I wasn’t sure if she’d ever realised that he was there. But it was a completely different situation for me to not only invite a boy to my house, which I was sure wouldn’t be allowed, but for that boy to be the son of Mr. Lowry? There was no chance we’d ever get to see each other.
Tears fell, thick and fast. I couldn’t tell Zayde, not yet. I could picture his face so clearly, the way he would lie on his stomach, whispering his secrets to me. How he’d tell me how his mum had beaten him again, how he’d been in a fight with another boy on his housing estate, how he’d spent yet another night alone in front of a locked door, waiting to be allowed back into his flat after his mum had finished doing whatever she did. How he sometimes hurt himself. He’d speak like it wasn’t a big deal, but he’d started to let me see the pain in his eyes, and in return, I’d shared how my dad would punish Tim and Joseph if I misbehaved and how I was scared to go away to boarding school but glad that it would mean my brothers were protected from punishments.
We’d grown so close, and that was why I knew that if I told him about my family right now, it would make everything a hundred times worse. Despite everything bad that he’d told me about his life, he was mostly content. He had his friends. There was an older boy called Creed who looked out for him and gave him jobs, and he never really seemed like he wanted anything more. I’d never heard him complain or say that he wished he was rich like I was. He just…got on with life. Accepted that things were the way they were and did his best with what he had. So I knew that this move would hurt him because it would take him away from everything he’d ever known, and he was going to be moving in with someone he’d never even known existed until today. I was scared and worried for myself, going to boarding school and leaving my brothers behind, but at least everyone else I’d meet would be in the same situation—all new to the school. Zayde didn’t know anything about his dad or the rivalry…
Wiping my eyes, I sniffed, reading back through Zayde’s message before typing a reply.
Z:Spoke to my mum again. My dad’s name is Michael Lowry and guess what, he lives in ALSTONE. We can still see each other :D
Me:That’s great :):):)
I ignored the lump in my throat and the guilt that was filling me. How could I tell him?
There was a knock at my door, and I quickly flipped my phone shut and placed it on my bedside table. The next minute, Tim’s head poked round the door, a big smile on his face. It fell as soon as he saw me.
“Fal? What’s the matter?” He crossed the room and sat next to me on the bed, putting his arm around me. We were so close, but I’d never told him about Zayde because I knew that neither of my brothers would approve of me being so friendly with a boy. They were so overprotective of me.
I couldn’t tell him about Zayde, but I could tell him how I was feeling about boarding school. “I’m going to miss you so much when I go away.”
He stared down at me, his big blue eyes shiny and his mouth turned down. When he spoke, his lip trembled. “I-I’m going to miss you, too. It won’t be the same here without you.”
Everything was changing. For all of us.
Slipping my arm around my brother’s waist, I leaned my head against his shoulder and let myself cry.
Shaking off my melancholy thoughts, I wrapped my arms more tightly around Zayde’s waist, pressing against his back as his bike flew along the coast road. The heavy motorbike helmet cradled my head, and the soft leather of the jacket I was wearing protected the parts of my body that weren’t pressed up against Zayde from being buffeted by the wind.
