Nectar: DD Prince
Page 39
“Since you’ll be head of the family, I think that means you get to pick, doesn’t it?”
I threw my head back and let out an evil laugh, “Oh yeah. And just you wait!”
“I’ll go get her,” He told me, grinning. He knew I’d have his back. Truth be told, he couldn’t wait for Pop to head out to pasture. Dare and I had plans for taking the family business to the next level together. We were half-brothers and five years apart but we’d grown up together and were alike in many ways. He was the only other person I’d 100% trust to have my back. I didn’t even trust my father 100%.
I didn’t think he’d set out to do harm to me intentionally but I knew that we were all pawns, to a degree, and that his idea of having my back and Dare’s idea of the same would diverge.
“Put her in my bedroom and lock the door.” I said and wiggled my eyebrows. Then I walked into my office to tie up a few loose ends before the big reveal. I didn’t know much about her yet but from what I did know so far, I guessed that she wouldn’t have taken the news of today lightly. I was anticipating, even hoping for some resistance and looking fucking forward to it.
Tia
The guy with my phone gave it to Dario when he came back to the SUV.
“Let’s go,” Dario said to me with a chin lift.
Michael Clarke Duncan lookalike guy let me out and I had to walk around the back of the truck to meet up with Dario. I couldn’t run. The gate was shut. Would I run, though, if it wasn’t? Thomas Ferrano threatened me, pretty much saying Dad was a goner if I didn’t cooperate, and maybe me, too. But what was going to happen to me here?
I followed Dario into the big house, feeling a little shaky and a lot queasy. I couldn’t help but notice the architectural details of the place because it was the sort of house I’d always dreamt of living in. It looked like a pretty hacienda, had an orange terra cotta roof, white parging with archways. There were loads of flowers everywhere. Climbing vines, overflowing baskets, covering the ground, everywhere.
Inside the front door was a foyer that opened to a staircase directly to my left and a long hallway under an arch to my right. This was the kind of house Mom and I used to talk about having, a hacienda and beautiful gardens. It was her dream to live in a house like this and it’d become my dream, too. I shivered at the thought of my Mom, unable to fathom all this.
“Follow me,” Dario led the way up the stairs, down a long hall with several closed doors to a set of double doors, and then opened them both and walked in. I followed inside.
“Bag?” He motioned.
I hesitated.
“I’ll give your bag and phone to Tommy. He’ll decide when you can have them back.”
I was trembling. I couldn’t help it. I was in a big master suite with a king-sized bed, about to be left for someone who thought they had a claim on me. I was supposed to be at a party celebrating the end of my childhood and the beginning of life as an adult. An adult with choices, a future, independence.
This was not that. This was something else. This something else was bad. Very bad. He nodded politely, reached over to the bedside table and picked up a cordless phone, and then he left with it. I let out a big breath, as if I’d been holding it in for hours. I had to keep my cool somehow. If I had a freak out, there was no telling what would happen to me. If I kept my coo, I could suss everything out and then make a calculated decision about what to do.
I surveyed the room. It was nice, luxurious, even. Soft dove gray walls, big dark wood furniture, lots of leather, exposed beam ceilings with ceiling fans. The room was decorated in gray and black. It didn’t really match the hacienda theme outside and I wouldn’t say it was my taste, really, but it was nice. There was a big difference from this room to the kind of room I was used to. The small room I’d shared with Bethany with our two twin loft beds with desks underneath and drawers for stairs was small but we’d made it our own. Here was a room I was expected to share with a man. I cringed, looking at the bed, fearing what I’d be expected to do. I knew nothing about this Tommy. All I knew was that I was in a pickle of a situation and I didn’t know how I’d get myself out.
Rose, Cal, and everyone must’ve been worried about me right now. Or had my Dad made up an excuse? They’d probably report me missing if they didn’t hear from me in a few hours. They knew how stoked I was about this party. Rose had made me my favorite artichoke and spinach dip as well as mozzarella sticks plus a plethora of appetizers that the other girls had requested. There was a huge cake for us, two thirds vanilla and a third chocolate because me and Mia preferred vanilla and Beth preferred chocolate. Cal had suggested three separate cakes or cupcakes with icing slathered all over to hold them all together but we were all so close we wanted the same cake. Rose had said she had our photos put on in icing. I never saw my cake. A tear slid down my cheek. Then I heard the doorknob turn and I dashed it away and held the others back. I put my lips together and stood still, back straight, took a deep breath, and waited.
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DD Prince