Page 5 of Fool's Gold

And at this point, I have to go get her. For her sake and mine.

It takes a good hour to navigate traffic and get to the beach house. Relief courses through me and lightens the pressure on my chest at the sight of her car parked in the driveway. The ocean waves crash on the shore beyond, and the now setting sun casts shadows of gold and peach across the sand. Couples are walking by, and children are still playing in the cool waves.

Every window in the bungalow is open.

“Fucking Christ.” Shuddering, I palm the keys and stomp toward the front door.

Does she have any idea how dangerous it is to leave the place open this way? Anyone could walk inside and hold a gun to her head. Even in this neighborhood. It’s not what it used to be back in the day, with security beefing up and McMansions rising where the quaint older beach homes used to reside.

Does it matter if danger is gilded over with gold? No, it fucking doesn’t.

Money just buys better guns and better lawyers.

Another groan burns the back of my throat at the unlocked door. Not even closed, simply closed over. Empire’s voice reverberates through the small square of the living room from the rear of the house. No, not her voice alone.

A second female voice rises in tandem with hers. She must have called River over here.

And they are the perfect targets, blissfully unaware of the rest of the world chugging along without them. Ire churns in my gut, and my hands curl into fists at my sides.

I stalk ahead, finding them sitting on the floor in the kitchen, absolutely oblivious to anyone entering the house. Immediately, anger replaces everything else, even my concern for her.

“Excuse the hell out of me,” I say sweetly. “What’s going on here?”

They jump when they hear me. Empire goes dead white, and River scrambles to her feet. A pretty girl, hers is a face made for social media. She has no use for the filters and fillers and layers of makeup other content creators use these days.

She’s grown up in the business alongside Empire, but the two of them might as well be night and day, two sides of the same coin. Only one of them is willing to bask in the glow of the spotlight.

A long moment passes before anyone speaks.

The girls are twin statues, frozen in various states of surprise and, in Empire’s case, dread. Her face blanches, color rushing south to mottle her chest, and my gaze immediately drifts.

Goddamn it, she’s gorgeous.

Even more so when I’m trying hard not to see her that way.

In contrast, River looks young, too young. Both are eighteen, but something more than just demeanor separates them. Is it the grief? How Empire has struggled to survive the loss of her parents while River has been blessed with more?

“Marcus.” River is the first to speak, and she swallows compulsively. She swipes her hair behind her ear. “I’m sorry, Em called, and she didn’t really want me here in the first place, but I didn’t want her to be alone. I forced her to tell me where she was.”

I bristle, my shoulders squared and my chest rising with every forceful inhalation.

Am I such a monster they have to rush to defend themselves? It’s not that River is here—I’m glad she is, to give Empire company when she desperately needs someone in her corner.

Because apparently, I am a shit person and a worse guardian. Ex-guardian.

Fuck.

“It’s probably a good thing you’re here,” River babbles, balancing on her toes like she’s not sure what to do with herself. “I bet the two of you have a lot to discuss, and really…”

Empire takes her time getting up and finding her composure. She stares at me, shoulders pulled back, features drawn tight, and chin jutted out, waiting for me to say something, anything.

This is her territory.

But she is mine. And right now, I’m furious enough to be the beast in her eyes, to prove I’m exactly the kind of asshole who deserves the looks she’s tossing me.

“Get out.” I jerk my chin toward the door, speaking to River even though my eyes never leave Empire. “Leave, now.”

“You can’t just toss her out!” Empire says. “She came all this way to be with me.”

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