Page 35 of Three's A Crown
His eyes darken at my sister’s question. “You think my father did this?” he asks.
“Come on, don’t play dumb it doesn’t suit you,” Magnolia bites back.
Dante stares at her in surprise.
“How do you know Henny didn’t do it? Collect the insurance money to make a new life for herself,” Enzo adds.
“How dare you suggest such a thing, young man,” Henny scoffs at Enzo.
“We know the two of you have been away for a while and have forgotten what it’s like to live here under your father’s thumb, but I assumed you guys were smart, did all that time away make you dumber?” I ask as I look them up and down with disgust.
Both glare at me for insulting their intelligence, but I don’t care that their itty-bitty feelings are hurt one bit.
“I’d thought after my father’s warning earlier you would have learned to control that mouth, Rose,” Dante sneers.
“Fuck you, Dante,” I spit out.
“Rose,” Magnolia warns.
No, screw this. “Tonight, Valerius started a war and I for one am not going to sit back and hope and pray that a bigger, badder man will come and save us from our misery. No one is coming, no one,” I yell at my sisters. I turn on my heels and begin to walk away; I’m over this conversation.
My sisters call after me, but I ignore them, flipping them off as I go. I only get a couple of yards away from them when I see a sleek black car pulling up in our driveway. I tense, thinking it could be Valerius coming to inspect his handiwork. The car stops a distance away from me, and thanks to the tinted windows I can’t make out who it could be. As soon as the two figures step out of the car, dressed in tuxedos, I know exactly who they are—the prince and his guard.
12
AUGUSTINE
Stepping out of the car, the smell of smoke floats in the air. There are lights flashing from the fire trucks, the brigade packing up after having put out the blaze. An entire wing has been destroyed. And knowing what I know about the family, there is no way in the world they are going to be able to afford to fix it either. At least I can do something good for Rosalie’s family from this unconventional situation we find ourselves in.
“Shit,” Greyson curses as he runs his hand through his brown hair, assessing the damage. “This is seriously messed up.”
“We can’t leave her here.” I turn to Grey. “She needs to come home with us.”
His eyes narrow on me. “Do not control her.”
“I’m just trying to help,” I argue back.
“I know you are, and I agree with you that she shouldn’t stay here, it’s not safe. But you also need to ask her if that’s what she wants.” Greyson reminds me to slow down a little.
He’s right.
He’s always right.
Movement catches my attention, and I see Rosalie standing by herself with an angry frown on her face. Is she upset that we came?
“Rosalie,” I call out and relief chases the frown from her face as she rushes over to us. I hold my arms out and she steps into them as she hugs me tightly.
“You came,” she says, nestling her face into my chest, her tense body seemingly relaxing under my touch.
“Of course we came, we were worried about you,” I tell her as she takes a step back.
“I thought …” She looks from me to Greyson, who has joined me.
“You thought we would have picked someone else?” I ask her as I reach out and cup her face.
“Yes,” she confesses.
“We promised you we were all in. There was no one else for us,” I tell her.