Page 90 of The Oath We Give

Book made for [email protected]

TWENTY

MOM’S MAD

SILAS

Bang.Bang. Bang.

Another loud succession of knocks on my front door.

“For fuck’s sake,” I mutter, running a hand down my face.

I’d been at the office late last night going over reports only to come home and spend two hours placing a tracking device on Easton Sinclair’s phone.

Even though we didn’t find anything at the Sinclair Manor to prove he was helping his father, I wasn’t going to just take his word for it. Not when I know that he’s a fucking snake.

I yank my front door open, finding my younger brother on the other side. He’s still several inches shorter than me but looks much older than I remember from the last time I saw him.

“Levi?” I furrow my brow. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

“Being a fantastic sibling and letting you know hurricane Zoe will be landing at your doorstep in the next hour.” He shoves paper into my bare chest, letting himself into the apartment.

I don’t need to look to know he’s going to the kitchen, most likely to raid my fridge. Since he was a kid, he’s had an appetite that mirrors a bottomless pit.

Pulling the paper down, I feel a headache attack my brain immediately.

Wedding Bells for Tech Billionaire and Petroleum Heiress.

ThePonderosa Springs Tribunedistastefully describes our quiet relationship, not forgetting to mention Coraline’s human trafficking horror story for added context.

As if her trauma is needed to garner more attention to their shitty newspaper. A picture of the two of us leaving the courthouse is placed in the left-hand column.

I swallow the urge to rip it in half, pulling my phone from my gray sweatpants. I call Coraline three times before she answers, sounding out of breath.

“Yes?”

“I need you at my apartment in the next thirty minutes,” I mutter, rubbing my forehead to relieve the tension. “It’s an emergency.”

“What happened?” she rushes out, the echoing of something heavy falling in the background. “Is it Stephen?”

“Worse.” I sigh. “It’s my mother.”

Coraline sucks in a breath; I can practically hear her panic through the phone. I’d told her after the wedding she’d have to meet my parents soon. I’d planned to buy her as much time as she needed, but apparently, three days is all we’re going to get.

“I’ll be there soon,” she mumbles into the speaker, not giving me any more time to fill her in before she hangs up, leaving me with an empty dial tone.

Fucking woman, choosing to panic on her own, then let me talk her down from the ledge over the phone before she gets here. She’ll be the death of me, I’m sure of it.

I shut the front door, slowly padding across the cool floors into the kitchen.

“Congratulations,” Lev mumbles around a store-bought muffin. “Mom’s gonna kill you. Feels nice to watch the golden brother fall.”

My eyes roll. He wonders why I tell him he’s the dramatic one. I walk toward the coffee machine, starting a new pot, before grabbing two pill bottles. One for my growing migraine, the other for depression. Jennifer Tako would be so proud to know I still take them and haven’t switched them out for vitamins.

“Not only did you get married before she met your wife, but she found out through a newspaper. You’re royally fucked.”

“Let me worry about our mother,” I say. “Why are you even home? Did something happen with your internship in Boston?”

---