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I frowned. “Why?”
“Rose is in labour. I’ve told Dax I want to know the second I become a grandfather.”
Vivian’s fingers squeezed around mine.
“Okay,” I said, nodding. “So, we’re taking good news and bad news. Would you say that could be taxing on a frail heart?”
“What’s the bad news?” Aro said, warily.
I turned to face the stairwell – the last mountain I planned to climb. “I’m not sure you’ll agree it’s bad,” I tossed over my shoulder.
Aro spoke from his position behind the door. “I’m not moving ‘til you tell me.”
“The labs have burned to the ground,” I replied, casually. “And Ossian’s dead.”
Aro strode past me so briskly a breeze whipped my ears. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Vivian ran to keep up as Aro and I took the stairs two at a time to Sinclair’s quarters.
I rolled my eyes when Aro knocked. “Why the pleasantries?”
Aro shoved open the door. “I’m still a fucking gentleman,” he said, walking on through.
We followed him through a series of suites that had been decorated far more opulently and far less tastefully than any others I’d seen in Blackcap Hall. Sinclair’s bedroom door was ajar and Aro wasted no time stomping inside and flicking on a glaring bright light.
Sinclair groaned and pushed himself up, shielding his eyes.
“Who the fuck’s that?” he said, seething.
“It’s me,” Aro said, impatiently. “And Rupert.”
“What are you doing here? What time is it?” He flopped an arm over his nightstand, trying to locate his Breitling. He lifted it and squinted. “It’s fucking three-thirty in the morning. We don’t meet for another hour and a half.” He lowered his hand. “And who’s that?”
Vivian recoiled and I didn’t blame her. This man had threatened her more than once and made it crystal clear she had no place being on this island as anything other than a paid worker. But when she discovered our sordid secret, he wanted her either blackmailed into silence, or dead. He certainly wasn’t expecting her to appear by my side in his very bedroom less than a week after I’d married his best friend’s daughter.
“Vivian Gillespie,” she said, making my heart thump with pride. “It’s a pleasure to see you again.”
“What the hell?” Sinclair’s beady eyes shot metaphorical bullets at me and I stifled a smile, remembering the one that Marcia had put in Ossian’s skull. “Get her out of here, Rupert. What the fuck is she doing on Crow?”
“It doesn’t matter what she’s doing here, Father.” I winced as the word came out of my mouth. “We have something to tell you.”
“You are not leaving Elspeth Cartwright for that common little hussy,” Sinclair hissed, saliva spraying from his baggy lips.
“We’re not here because of Vivian,” Aro said, almost hopping from one foot to the other. I’d seen men get excited about inflicting revenge on another before but never with this much outright glee.
Sinclair twisted towards him with some effort. He wore a thin nightshirt that did nothing to conceal his sharp bones and weakened muscles through the bright light. “Spit it out,” he said.
“I thought you might want to know I’m about to become a grandfather,” Aro said, with a smug smile. It was well-known that Sinclair was competitive with Aro to an unhealthy degree. He wanted to do everything and be everything first and better. Ossian was meant to bear the first grandchild, but unknown to everyone but me, Marcia had taken birth control medication to ensure that never happened. Sinclair’s lips twisted into a sharp point.
“Rose is in labour,” Aro added, driving in the venom. “Isn’t that amazing? Our first Thorn grandchild.”
“It’s not ‘wake me up at three-thirty in the morning’ fucking amazing,” Sinclair said, shooting daggers at his younger brother. “If that’s all you wanted to say, you can leave now. And take that slut with you.”
“There’s more,” Vivian said, and I detected a pleasant note of adrenalin in her voice.
“Who gave you permission to speak in my suite?” Sinclair hissed. “Get her out Rupert. She isn’t permitted in this house. When Ossian finds out she’s here, he’ll kill her.”
I dropped Vivian’s hand and walked to Sinclair’s bedside. Aro flanked the other.
