Page 107 of Tempting Little Thief

“So, no need to text you my room number, or will you simply follow me after we feast for a bit of dessert?”

“Go away.”

This comes from Dom, and Oliver frowns instantly. My smile spreads wide, and I cock my head. Everyone knowsto be dismissed by Dom is to be scraped across the floor in training.

Oliver doesn’t test our best fighter’s patience, the two of us watching his retreat until he’s back in the building and heading toward the tunnel that will return him to the dorms.

“What was that about?” Damiano asks as we head for our waiting cars.

“Oliver being Oliver.”

“I don’t like him. Remind me why we invited him into the fold?” He glares in the direction the heir disappears in.

“Because he’s a fucking genius with connections, passed all our tests, aces his courses, and has shown nothing but loyalty since day one, even if he is a slimy bastard.”

Dom’s expression doesn’t change, and he’s yet to look away.

“Don’t worry too much about him. It’s nothing but harmless bullshit,” I tell him, and it’s the truth.

Oliver is using risky words to guarantee he’s not the only one who must suffer through a dinner with our fathers, but he would never speak of anything he saw inside The Enterprise.

He would owe his tongue if he did. Literally, and being his family has made their fortune in anonymity, I would say he values his speech. That, and he knows what I know, as he’s in the same boat as me.

What Daddy says goes.

All his little comments, truly made for teasing purposes only, did was keep me from calling my dad for a quick fight that would end with me in a red dress, just as planned.

Which is why when seven o’clock rolls around, I’m stepping out the double doors to meet Sai.

His features are pulled tight, drawing a frown from me in return.

He gives a slow shake of his head, so I slip inside, waiting for him to take his seat behind the wheel.

He doesn’t speak until we’re rolling down the path toward the front gate, his eyes meeting mine in the mirror. “I don’t like that he’s insisting on a public dinner the day your sisterwas thrust back into society. It’s risky, and I’m to drop you off and leave.”

“Why would you leave?”

Sai shakes his head, taking a left onto the long, winding road. “I didn’t question him.”

Right. Of course not, Father’s orders, but why would he make such a demand?

“I want you to be careful, Rocklin. Watch everyone around you from the corner of your eye. You have been on the yacht, had meals with the Henshaws. If you spot men you don’t recognize, tell me. He won’t leave the peninsula, but you will be moving. Stay away from the edge and don’t—”

“I know what to do, Sai, and my father will be there. No one will dare make a move, but thank you.”

His hands tighten on the wheel as he faces forward.

After a few silent minutes, his eyes pop up several times, and finally the fourth or fifth try, I lift mine to meet his through the mirror. He doesn’t waste the moment. “Can I ask you something?”

“Since when do you request permission to ask me things?” I gauge him.

“This is personal.”

Curious, I sit back, nodding slightly.

“If you had a choice, and it came down to leading your family name or taking the head chancellor seat at Greyson Manor, what would you choose?”

My mouth waters instantly, a tingling sensation sweeping across my arms, goose bumps rising. I look away from his prying eyes, unable to speak the words, but my hesitation, my delay in response, is answer enough. So, when I give one, we both know that while the words leave me, it’s my father’s voice that’s heard.

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