Page 15 of The Grand Ruin: Lance & Scarlet-Part One

“I fell down the stairs, Lance!”

“You look like you did.”

“God, you’re so uptight these days. So righteous. Here…”

“Fuck you, Nessa Anne.”

I remember my mother telling me she would send me the invoice for a replacement carpet after knocking the joint from Nessa Anne’s hand.

I laughed in her face and left.

My sisters (all three of them) and my mother are lazy. It’s not even the girls’ fault. My parents did a great job of giving them everything they ever wanted when they were growing up. They loved us. So much so, they fucked up the lot of us.

My phone starts to ring from inside my desk drawer, and I sigh before pulling it open.Vanessa.I decline the call and put it on silent.

Not today, Mum.

At ten past eleven, I leave my office and head toward the elevators, and as I step inside the steel container, I can’t help my thoughts from wandering to the day before. Or more specifically, the purple-haired spitfire that came out of nowhere. I knew Mason had a sister, but the way he talked about her made me think that she was much younger than she clearly is. Maybe because the tolerance I have for my own sisters is so thin, it made me write her off as unimportant whenever she was talked about.

Not that she holds any importance now.

While the lift descends, I pull up Molly’s number and call her.

“Hey, brother.”

“Hey, Mol. Everything okay?”

Molly is the youngest of my three sisters at twenty. She’s never been a part of the trouble my mother put on us, but she also never spoke up when she should have. If I had known sooner what my mother and sisters were doing—the mess they were in—I might have been able to help sooner.

“Yeah, fine. I’m on my way to my next lecture.”

As I thought. “Mum messaged; said you’d broken down.”

“Eh? I told her my fuel’s low. I might leave the car on campus and get the bus home.”

“Why haven’t you put fuel in your car?”

“I can’t afford it.”

I scrub my hands over my face and try to control the bite in my tone. “Molly, you have an allowance—”

She tuts. “And I spent it. It’s not like it’s wasted money—”

“Well, I can’t help you. I’m sorry, Mols, but—”

She sniggers, cutting me off and reminding me she’s just like the rest of them. “You have to help me,” she snaps.

“No. Sort yourself out. I can’t deal with you all today. I’m busy.” I hang up and slide my phone back into my slacks just as the elevator doors slide open. My driver is waiting for me when I walk through the doors of the Montwell, the blisteringly hot sun beating down and making my suit feel like a furnace. I unbutton and remove my jacket as I slide into the back of the car.

“Lance,” Joe greets as he quickly pulls out into the constant stream of cars. “Beautiful day, isn’t it?”

“Sure is,” I mutter back, pulling up my schedule to double-check where I’m headed. My eyes pinch together when I spot Mason scheduled in. “Lowell?”

Where’s that fucker got us going now?

I dial his number.

“Yeah?”

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