Page 318 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol 4
I knew he didn’t want to have to come up to the door. He didn’t want the people who lived in such an ostentatious expanse of a house to judge us. But I was pretty sure they all had more secrets than me. And they were judging me regardless. “Sounds good,” I said. “See you then.” I opened the car door and stepped out.
The cool autumn air made me pull my jacket tighter around myself as I made my way up the gray stone steps. Well, not my jacket. I’d tried to give Felix his coat back today, but he’d insisted that I keep it. And I was grateful. Because it was a hell of a lot warmer than mine.
Before I lifted the knocker, I watched my taxi disappear out the main gate. Part of me wanted to run after my uncle. Beg him to not make me go into this house. He was abandoning me for four hours.Four.I wasn’t sure I could handle Matt playing with my emotions for that long. Or Rob who was probably going to cash in on his bet soon. Or James who was blackmailing me with one of my many secrets.
But if I learned one thing from my mom, it was that we didn’t back down just because something was hard. We fought. We fought until the very end. Even if the end was sooner than either of us hoped. I could make it through four hours. I was about to lift the knocker when the door creaked open.
Oh God, this place is haunted too.
But instead of a scary gust of wind or smoke monster, there was a man standing there in what could only be described as a butler uniform.
“Hello, ma’am,” he said, keeping the door ajar with a white-gloved hand. “Can I help you with something?”
“Um…” I was expecting Rob or Matt to open the door. James if I was unlucky. Not a strange man who didn't know why I was there. “I’m Brooklyn.”
“I’m sorry, Brooklyn. I think you might have the wrong house.”
“This is Rob’s house, right?”
He frowned.
“Robert Hunter?”
“Yes.”
I wasn’t sure why this man wasn’t letting me inside. “He invited me to work on a school project. I might be a few minutes late.” I swallowed hard when the butler just stared at me. The longer he stared, the more certain I was about what was happening. A prank. This was all some stupid joke. Invite the new girl to your house and pretend you didn’t? Were they planning on throwing me out? Filming the whole thing? Wasn’t making me sit in the closet in the dark bad enough?
“No, I don’t think so,” the butler said. “I’m expecting a young man for a school project. Sanders is his name.”
I breathed a sigh of relief. “That’s my last name.”
“Oh.” He laughed. “Well it would have been nice of young Robert to tell me he was expecting a girl. He made it very clear when we spoke that Sanders was a boy.”
I heard familiar laughter behind the butler.
“Just a bit of fun, Eric,” Rob said. “Because she’s one of the guys.” He threw his arm around my shoulders, pulling me into the foyer. “Right, Sanders?”
“No. Not really.”
He laughed. “See? Always jesting. Right this way,” he said, keeping his arm around my shoulders. “Bring up the snacks in a bit, will you Eric?”
“Of course, sir.”
My sneakers looked out of place on the marble floor. And on the ornate twisted staircase Rob was leading me up.
“Aren’t we going to work downstairs?” I asked. “In the kitchen or something?” The last thing I wanted was to hang out in Rob’s room. I’d had this fear all day that I’d wind up in a closet again. It would be best if the only hiding option was a pantry. At least then there would be food.
“Nah, James’ computer is in his room.”
I swallowed hard. I didn’t want to be in James’ room either. Or his house. Or anywhere near any of these people.
“What? Are you afraid I’ll lock you in again?” he asked. “Don’t be. I already won the bet. Now it’s just a matter of what I’ll make you do.”
“You could do the gentlemanly thing and forget about the bet altogether.”
“James is the gentleman. Me?” He let his arm fall away from my shoulders. “I’m the youngest son. And as you can probably tell…the youngest sons of prestigious families aren’t held to the same standards as their older siblings. I’m anything but a gentleman,Sanders. Nice jacket by the way. Are you trying to make this evening unbearable on purpose?”
“What?” I was too focused on the fact that Rob thought his brother was a gentleman. We were talking about the same James, right? The blackmailing druggie with the sad smile?
