Page 45 of Brutal Prince

“We’ll he’s very fond of you and you still haven’t answered my question.”

“It’s better that you don’t know.”

“Are you cheating on Ollie?”

“No, and you can’t really call it cheating even if I was because Ollie and I are hardly in a relationship. We just hang out sometimes.”

She rested her fingers in her chin doing that ‘pondering’ pose when deep in thought or trying to read my mind. “Please be careful,” she finally said. “Whatever is going on with you at the moment, please be careful. I lost your father and I don’t want to lose you as well.”

“You won’t and you’re exaggerating, Mom.”

She slipped me a scowl and I knew I’d over stepped my mark. “A detective just rang your boyfriend to tell him that she’s been shot and she believes it was a targeted attack. Your father died from a single bullet wound to the heart, don’t you dare try and minimize my feelings.”

“I’m sorry,” I said and meant it, hopping up onto the bed to give her a hug.

“Don’t push Ollie away,” she sobbed onto my shoulder. “He’s a good lad, cares for you a lot.”

“Okay.”

“I just want you to be happy, Gertie. That’s my only wish for you is to be happy.”

“I am Mom,” my third lie for the night. The truth was I won’t be happy until Dom is either behind bars or buried deep into the ground. And where the eff was so-called Dom anyway? Dom the dick. Dom the tryhard. Latest trick of intimidation, leaving a curl of my twelve-year-old hair under the plate cover to frighten me. Didn’t work.

Although I was surprised he kept it for so long.

TWENTY TWO

Ollie

I heard banging in the bedroom next to mine and got up from my desk to find that Darryn had returned from Grand Rapids.

“Sup,” poking my head into his room.

“Sup,” he replied.

“Sort everything out at home?”

He raised his eyebrows. “Close enough.”

“So ah, did you hear about Mathias?”

He frowned. “Nah.”

“Got shot in the shoulder. Reckons it’s a targeted hit.”

“For real?”

“Anyway, it’s a good idea if we watch our backs in case they’re on to us.”

He nodded, dumping his bag on his bed and scratching his auburn hair. Looked like he’d spent some time in the sun as his nose was cotton candy pink and the skin was peeling. His skin is red even when he hasn’t been in the sun.

“So ah, Cody said that someone squealed about the hidden cameras in the chamber. I lied to him and said I hadn’t told anyone, including you, so I’m wondering did you say anything to Vanderbilt.”

He screwed his face up. “No. I haven’t been here.”

“You could still message him from afar-” stating the obvious.

“I said no. It wasn’t me. Fuck, they probably saw the cameras and took them down. How well hidden were they in the first place?” he bit. It was rare to see Darryn in a foul mood like this, but families can bring out the best and the worst in people.

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