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“I’m sorry,” he said. “I never realized… I’ll go upstairs and speak with him.”
“No, not tonight,” I said. “He’ll know we spoke about him. It’s better if you mean what you say. Take the night to think about it, whether you want to be there for him or not. He’ll be there, waiting for your decision.”
I walked out and left the most powerful mining magnate in the entire Titan empire on the floor.
4
TRAES
My first response to her shoving me off my chair and onto the floor was that she must have lost her mind. Things like that weren’t done in the Titan empire. Especially not to a powerful mining magnate.
The anger rose in me like a wave and threatened to spill over. I was going to destroy her—verbally—the same way I did with my mineworkers when they failed to hit a target they promised they would achieve. The problem was, they never saw the whole picture. They only ever saw the small part they were in charge of. They didn’t see the efforts I had to go to behind the scenes to inform everyone else down the chain that things would be delayed.
I ground my teeth and prepared my verbal assault, but instead, she stared me down. Each time I responded, she came back with a counter-response that cut. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t find a way through her stinging attacks.
She owned me.
And dammit, I was excited by it. She was too. I saw the rising passion in her face when she glared at me. She liked the shift in power every bit as much as I did. I would never willingly hand that power to someone. They had to take it.
And that was what she did.
Then she lowered one bombshell after another, revealing things I hadn’t even considered. Now when I looked back, it seemed so obvious. How could I not know Cleb looked up to me?
That was the reason he wore a sharp suit every day. He wanted to be more like me. A part of me wanted to shake him, to tell him he shouldn’t want to be like me. No one should. I was buried in my work so deep I drowned in it. I could see the lonely life heading my way and I was terrified of it.
So I worked some more.
And the fact we were the last two of our family alive hadn’t consciously occurred to me before either. We should have supported each other. Cleb was more like me at that age than I realized.
I was so used to living alone. My servants carried out their duties so I would never be disturbed. I often moved through my days without ever needing to speak.
I’d gone days without uttering a single word, entire weeks when I was very busy. The food was served and the drinks were poured, and my afternoon pot of tea turned up at the same time and placed in the same spot on the corner of my desk without me needing to utter a single comment.
You’re a ghost in your own home.
I entered the bathroom and got ready for bed.
I couldn’t stop thinking about what Bianca had said to me.
I spat the toothpaste out and rinsed my mouth with water.
A good night’s sleep, I told myself. That’s what I needed.
The bed seemed so large tonight. Had it always been that size? It looked huge. Big enough for a family to sleep in.
Too empty.
I’d passed through my days without noticing or taking in my surroundings.
You’re a ghost.
I had become wealthy dedicating every minute of my days to work, but what was the purpose of it all? I didn’t spend it, except to invest and make even more money. I didn’t take the time to enjoy it.
You’re a ghost.
I climbed into bed and got comfortable. I peered over at that the empty half of the bed and glanced at the door. I got comfortable and peered at the ceiling.
“Aren’t you going to lock the door?”
