Series: Cobalt Empire Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 234
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 226965 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 1135(@200wpm)___ 908(@250wpm)___ 757(@300wpm)
I glower. “Yeah, because I didn’t think my own brother would lie to me.”
Beckett slices a powerful, warning look to Charlie like shut up. Whatever Charlie was going to say next remains a mystery because he thankfully goes quiet.
Placing a hand on Harriet’s shoulder, I introduce her. “This is Harriet Fisher. She’s my friend at MVU.”
“We know who she is,” Tom says, the spite in his voice clear. Beckett lets out an exasperated sigh, and I wonder if he had a pep talk with the rest of our brothers to be nice.
I warn Tom, “Don’t be a dick to her.”
“It’s fine, Ben.” Harriet stares Tom down like she’s the headlights and he’s the deer caught in her way. “I know who you are too.”
Tom flips open a silver Zippo lighter. “Let’s hear it, Harry. Who am I?”
“Okay, Tommy. Lead singer of The Carraways. Horrible taste in music.” She’ll have to strike harder to land a blow in my unyielding family. I don’t love that Tom is egging her on, but at least she’s not backing down.
“I have horrible taste in music?” Tom makes a face. “Says a girl who’s trying to be an Avril Lavigne knockoff. Where’d you get those pants? Hot Topic.”
She glares. “At least my vocals didn’t sound like shit in my most recent live performance.”
Tom stews. “At least I have live performances.”
“Probably not for long.”
That strikes a nerve. Tom chokes on a coarse noise. “You begged me to be in my band.”
“And I might’ve improved it, but you’ll never know.”
Tom spreads his arms. “A mystery I don’t care to solve.”
“Glad we’re here to solve one you’re interested in,” she slings back.
Eliot has moved closer to Tom, as if to aid him in battle. Charlie and Beckett are exchanging indecipherable looks from across the parlor.
I never leave Harriet’s side.
Frustrated, Tom spins to Eliot for backup. “Dude?”
“‘Though she be but little she is fierce’,” Eliot quotes. I almost laugh, which slices through the tension.
Tom groans. “You did not just whip out the Shakespeare for her.”
Charlie rolls his eyes. “You act like he reserves it for special people. He’s a walking lexicon of sixteenth century plays.”
Eliot takes a dramatic bow, then steals the Zippo from Tom. The lighter actually belongs to Eliot, and he clicks it shut with one swooping motion. “Shall we begin, brothers and Harriet?”
“Please,” Beckett says smoothly, blowing more smoke away from us.
Eliot wags his brows playfully at Harriet while he approaches me. Her scowl deepens, and he laughs while he hands me a sheet of paper with game instructions. He’s a natural flirt, but I’m not even marginally threatened by my brother.
For one, I’m confident if we were competing for a girls’ attention, I’d win in the end if I wanted the W. But mostly, Eliot would never hit on a girl I brought over. The depth of that betrayal would eviscerate him inside-out. So in a lot of ways, I will always and forever trust my brothers, even when they deceive me. The intent is always pure.
Mine is too.
I take the instructions, having trouble concentrating on the typed font when some tension still swarms the parlor.
From what I can tell, Eliot seems to like Harriet. Charlie has zero opinion of her so far, and Beckett watches my reaction more than hers. I didn’t expect to be most worried about my favorite brother, but if he continues being this overly observant of me, I might have problems.
Fuck.
Yeah…I’m hiding a lot from them. Like being broke. Like why I have money issues in the first place.
I don’t need Beckett digging too hard tonight. Before I figure out how to shrug off the attention, a man—wearing what I can only guess is a Sherlock Holmes costume—pops into the room.
“Welcome to The Labyrinth Library. The exit door is about to be locked, and it will remain locked until you find the key. No phones are allowed once the game begins.” He holds out a basket for us to deposit our phones.
I’m about to chuck mine in there.
“Wait,” Beckett says while putting his phone to his ear. He’s calling his bodyguard to come collect our cellphones for us, not trusting this game master guy to hold on to them.
No phones. Stuck in a room with my brothers. Only one way out.
Sounds like the start to a very big disaster.
I’m going to kill him. Murder seems a reasonable solution after I learn that Eliot chose an escape room without a time limit. Meaning, it doesn’t end in an hour if we don’t get the key. We’re fucking stuck here.
Ten minutes in—and I’ve never been more goal-oriented in my life.
After a quick sweep of the parlor, we discover three different padlocks in the room. The first on a drawer of an antique desk, the second attached to a tin box, and the third locking a cupboard of an apothecary cabinet. It’s clear we need to find three keys to open the padlocks. Hopefully that’ll lead us to the final clue for a way to exit the escape room.