Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
She spends a great deal of time untwisting the knotted chain of her gold heart-shaped locket before reaching for her water. “I left our beach rental in a hurry,” she explains with a barbaric slurp. Water drizzles down her chin. She curses under her breath, dabs the spill with the cloth napkin. “I did mention to him that I’d be meeting you for lunch. I didn’t tell him where we’d be.”
We go abruptly silent as the server returns with a wine bottle, another dozen oysters, and a creamy crab dip. Tension mounts as she slowly pours a taster for Addison. None of us put on a façade that everything is okey fucking dokey. Even my mom’s smile—a tiny gesture to expel my worry—has vanished.
Once the two wineglasses are filled and the server leaves us, I angle back toward Elizabeth. “Why tell that creep anything at all?”
“I’m trying to reason with him, bug, and…and that means being open. He can tell when I evade.”
“Can he be reasoned with?” Hailey asks, a lot less hostilely than I would.
“I don’t know.” My mom perches her sunglasses on the top of her head. I almost feel bad for the heat off my questions when I notice the deep bags under her eyes. “There are things he wants and things he clearly doesn’t.”
We all look unsettled.
Addison starts piling mignonette sauce onto her shellfish with a little spoon, her shoulders more constricted.
“What doesn’t he want?” I ask.
“A payout. I offered him a portion of the Koning job, and in return, he would leave Victoria permanently.”
My brows spring. “You did what?”
“It was necessary—”
“No, you don’t get to include him in a fucking job without including all of us in this decision. We don’t even know him, and that job was ours.” We involved our parents because we needed their help, but they weren’t supposed to ever take the helm.
I am hurt.
Rocky will always believe the godmothers want to control us, and so badly, I want my mom to prove him wrong. But if she continues yanking the strings from us, then how are we anything but her puppets?
Hailey looks ashen. “You told Varrick we’re trying to screw over Jake’s brother?”
“He already suspected since Phoebe was dating a Koning heir.” Her eyes flit worriedly between me and Hails. “I promise I wasn’t trying to undermine any of you kids.”
“We aren’t kids,” I mutter angrily under my breath. “You should’ve told us before posing anything to him.”
“It was my idea,” Addison pipes in quickly, attempting to redirect my anger to her. News flash, I’m pissed at both of them. “I told Bethy we could potentially use Varrick to finish the job you all started. If he promised to leave once Jake’s inheritance is secured, it’d solve two issues at once.”
My jaw unhinges. “So, now he knows we don’t want him in this town?”
“He already knew,” my mom professes deeply. “He’s not an idiot, spider. He’s known we’ve been avoiding him for years because I’ve kept you and your brothers a secret from him.” She’s already confessed how he’s aware I’m his daughter now. It makes his whole Michael Myers knockoff routine a little more unnerving.
I teeter toward concern for her again. “Is he angry?”
“No…he’s…impressed that we managed to deceive him.” She downs her wine in minutes before pouring herself another glass, not even waiting for a refill from the server.
“But he doesn’t want to help us with the job?” Hailey wonders, genuinely curious.
I really wish Rocky were here. My emotions burn too hot. At least he’d share in the overflowing rage. Maybe then I wouldn’t feel like I’m overreacting.
“He’s uninterested in the money,” my mom says dazedly, just staring at the ice beneath the oyster shells.
“That’s not a shock, right?” I chime in. “He has the Wolfe family fortune. What does he need the money for? He’s been hibernating in that mansion for how many years?”
My mom chokes on a sharp noise. “You think he’s spent over two decades as a hermit? In a three-story mansion on an island? With no yard and the only way in or out is by boat?”
My lips pull downward. “That’s what everyone in town believes…” I trail off, realizing how wrong I am almost instantly.
“A town myth he uses to his benefit, bug,” Elizabeth says, almost sadly. “That man has been traveling the country under different aliases. He only just returned to Victoria when Emilia Wolfe became sick and died.”
Hailey stares around the patio before looking between the godmothers. “So he’ll leave again if he leaves often. It’s logical.”
Addison turns to Elizabeth.
Elizabeth frowns at the crab dip, then pours a third glass of wine, and downs the entire thing in one gulp.
“Bethy—”
“We can’t pay him to leave, Addy,” my mom declares. “It’s not what he wants. It’s not why he’s staying in Victoria indefinitely.”