yn

hands against the passenger-side window, her face a mask of desperation. Her

cene on the pristine driveway I had pai

teering wheel. The elegant, composed matriarch was gone, replac

a sudden, theatrical flood. "How could you be so cruel?" she sobbed. "You're

-betraying loyalty-was a minor offense, a little pothole that could be smoothed over with money and a little tole

eaction, she played her final card.

her voice thick with fake sorrow. "She entrusted you to Brandon!

ips made my grip tighten on the leather-wrapp

boyfriend so perfectly. Annelise had believed he would make a suitable husband. She had entrusted my future to him, expecting an equal partnership. The idea t

p as a shard of glass, and stared dir

, "was for me to have a stable life. Not to be the e

scared her. She tried to pull her hand

ked her hand out just in time, a

ght your son a career," I said coolly through the closin

V8 engine. "Go check your precious family accounts. See for y

clutching her useless platinum ban

hout the Prince family's protection!" s

were just paper tigers in tailored suits. I was the Prez of the most

d stomped on the gas. The rear tires spun violently on the gravel,

the rearview mirror, I saw Judith choking and coughing in t

terstate. My chest was tight, the mention of my mother having s

tinged air and pulled out my encrypted pho

en. The lawyer's letter is locked and loaded for to

ooked at the long, straight stretch of asphalt ahead of me. The d

sped past in the opposite lane

sister, Ethelyn Keller, driving the toy I had unknow

. But it was just a gathering of fools for a final, pointless wa

again, dismissing he

before their desperation turned