Page 87 of Merciless Heir
For the lot of them.
Idiots. That’s what they are.
My mother chooses that moment to come up to me. “Don’t be a sourpuss.”
“Go away,” I say.
She laughs. “It’s the look on your face when you observe your brothers. You could have your own happiness.”
“I’m happy. I don’t need some woman there, so keep out of it.”
“Do you see a woman with me wearing some kind of bow?”
I give her a long, hard look. “To be brutally honest, I wouldn’t put it past you.”
“Kingston, dear, I wouldn’t subject some poor creature to you. But just so you know, not all women are the one who hurt you all those years ago when you were not more than a boy.”
Turning, I stare at her. “He told you?”
“Of course your father did. We didn’t have secrets, not after I left him.”
“You left him?”
“Your father was a man who didn’t get his priorities straight. Not for a long time. Don’t let pride get in your way.”
Ahead of me, through some people, Sadie’s in conversation with Ryder. I don’t bother with whatever life lesson my mother’s attempting to impart, I excuse myself and make my way over to Sadie, who’s in the middle of asking my brother all about his security.
Whether she’s doing this to fuck with me, or sell him services or whatever, I don’t care. I want to put an end to it. “If you’ll excuse us, it’s time to leave.”
We make our goodbyes and I call a car and bundle Sadie into her coat. Let them think whatever they’re thinking. I just don’t want to be there anymore. It’s not until the car pulls up at her apartment building that I turn to her and break the silence.
“Don’t pull shit like that, Sadie.”
“Like what?”
I breathe out and keep my hands to myself through sheer effort. “Like you were probing my brother for information. Like you were casing the joint.”
“Come on.” She folds her arms and glares. “I wasn’t doing that. I don’t do that.”
“Anymore?”
She eyes me like she wants to smear my insides on the road with her bare hands. And I probably deserve that look. Still, doesn’t make her innocent. At all.
“I was talking to your brother. He asked, that’s all. Believe me or don’t believe me, I really don’t care. Now, I’m getting out of the car and you’re staying there.”
Fine by me. I let her go. “Sadie?”
She stops as she’s about to close the door. And she waits.
“We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“I can’t wait.”
As I head home, I think about it all. We’re no closer to finding the tiara or who has it. On the surface, I do believe her, after all, Ryder’s a phone call away. But she didn’t spend time talking to my mother and finding her with the necklace sits uneasy for all that her excuses made sense and still do.
Thing is, they’re excuses.
Whether they’re also the truth…time it seems, will be the thing that shows me the path.