Page 111 of Merciless Heir
“I need to go.”
Suddenly Faye is on her feet. “Take the money.”
“I can’t. It’s…it’s not right.”
She smiles. But I frown.
“You do know he’ll want to have it evaluated,” I say. “And you don’t want that, do you?”
What if it’s actually fake, or not worth what he thinks it is? That’s something that’ll rip him apart. To be played with. And me… I swallow.
“God,” I say, “you made me your accomplice. He won’t forgive me if it’s not the real deal. He’ll think…”
Her smile doesn’t fade. “You care.”
“No.”
“Yes, you do, Sadie. You know what I see? A woman with so much to give and the man you want to give your heart to. You love my son.”
Horror sinks down into my marrow. “No. No, I don’t.”
And I turn and leave, like the hounds of hell are at my heels.
Kingston is waiting at his door twenty minutes later.
“You texted?”
I glare at him. From my father to his mother to this. I’m stretched tight. About to snap. And I don’t know why.
I don’t want to be here, I do know that. I’m a coward. But the text was a demand. Not an ask. And images of my father bilking him for half his fortune danced through my head. So…
Here I am.
He stares at me, and his expression is odd. I can’t read it. Like he’s tied himself in extra strong steel doors, shutting everything out.
“You lied.”
My skin prickles as I follow him into his mansion in the sky. In his study, he turns to me. Something is up and telling him about the tiara vanishes from my head. “About what?”
“You stole the tiara. I’ve seen the footage.”
I choose my words carefully, because now I get his weirdness. My father visited. “I haven’t heard of it being reported as stolen.”
“Don’t lie to me, Sadie.”
“I thought you established I lied already?”
His hand with his phone clenches. “Thing is, you lost out.”
“What are you saying?” Panic flutters hard and painful. “I don’t have your tiara. Come and see.”
“Maybe I will.”
We stare at each other and the coldness almost kills me and I know I have to take it and run. “You know, I really thought you’d be different. A pushover when it came to me. The chemistry…” I suck air in deep. “I worked hard at that.”
“Did you?”
I nod. “Why go for a tiara when I can go for your fortune? A healthy chunk and I’d be set for life. It would make the trinket look like it came from a gumball machine.”