Total pages in book: 158
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 146477 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 732(@200wpm)___ 586(@250wpm)___ 488(@300wpm)
He’s a good twelve years older than me and was raised by our father to be cold and callous, just as he was. On the other hand, I was an accident that my father had no interest in. I was seen as weak and not worthy of his time. After all, he was too busy turning Elias into his clone. But I preferred it that way. I was raised in the same household, but I only had my mother’s affection. She was sweet and loving, and she only ever thought about what was best for me.
The day my father came home and blindsided Mom with a divorce and his new nineteen-year-old fiancée, was nothing short of a blessing. Mom and I took off and started our own life together while Elias was stuck under his thumb. The only time I ever saw my father after that day was at his funeral, and the only reason I went was to make sure the old bastard was actually dead. And now Elias is a carbon copy of our old man.
He’s forty-eight and on his third marriage, each of which have fallen apart due to him cheating with younger women, and when I say younger, I mean barely legal. Which is also why I don’t care to get to know Mae.
Sooner or later, she’ll be kicked aside and left begging for scraps due to the ironclad prenup Elias shoved down her throat. Though I’m sure Mae thinks she can get herself knocked up and give him an heir to his throne in order to claim a chunk of his billions for herself. It won’t work though. Elias has the best lawyers money can buy. Whatever he says goes, and if he wants Mae to scrounge for pennies the rest of her life, then that’s exactly what she’ll get. It’s in her best interest to play his game, and she better hope that he doesn’t tire of her. Though I have to give credit where it’s due. Considering they’ve already been married five years, she must be doing something right. But sooner or later, something is bound to break.
Elias finishes what’s left of his whiskey, and as he stands from his armchair and strides across the room for a refill, he looks back at me. “You free next weekend?” he asks. “Mae wants to organize a family dinner.”
I scoff. “Right. Because the last one went so well.”
Elias rolls his eyes, probably just as irritated by Mae’s pathetic performance as Harper was, though there’s no denying that he does a much better job at hiding his disdain. “This will be family only. I think it’s Mae’s attempt to smooth things over with her daughter.”
My brow arches. “And she thinks having dinner is the way to do that?”
I shake my head. It’s crystal fucking clear that Mae doesn’t know shit about her daughter. If she wanted to smooth it over, she should apologize and leave her the fuck alone.
Elias refills his whiskey and immediately lifts the glass to his lips, having another long drink. “Apparently,” he says with a scoff, his well-structured facade beginning to slip. “If I had it my way, I’d be down there knocking on Harper’s door and teaching that girl a lesson myself.”
The fuck?
I keep quiet, watching him, waiting for whatever comes out of his mouth next. “Making a scene like that in front of my guests. Some of them were colleagues worth billions, and that girl had the audacity to act like a teenage brat.”
I lift my glass to my lips to hide the scoff that tears from the back of my throat. After all, teenage brats are his favorite. “You don’t think things would have gone differently had Mae not provoked her?”
“Please,” he mutters, shaking his head. “Mae can be a daft bitch at times, but it’s not as though she said anything Harper hadn’t heard before. Besides, what’s a little criticism between family? If her mother can’t give an honest opinion, then who the fuck can?”
Me. That’s who. And in my opinion, Harper should have burned the fucking place down on her way out. “Right,” I say slowly, not agreeing in the least.
“She needs that bad attitude fucked out of her.”
I choke on my whiskey. “Excuse me?”
“Oh come on, Knight,” Elias murmurs, making his way back to his pretentious armchair and dropping down, being careful not to spill his whiskey on his designer suit. “Get off your fucking high horse. You can’t sit here as a red-blooded man and tell me you haven’t noticed how fuckable that girl is. She’s stunning, and there’s no denying how much she wants me. I see it when she looks at me. She can barely hold back.”
I stare at my brother in disgust. I always knew he was a piece of shit, but I never realized just how deep that ran. “You mean your stepdaughter?” I ask, making sure he’s got his head screwed on straight and it’s just the whiskey talking. But fuck, there’s no denying how sick he’s making me feel.