Page 206 of My Dark Prince
Dallas Costa:You failed five phishing tests for a TECH company.
Frankie Townsend:the last one was impossible. they were offering free tickets to see taylor. not even a nun could resist clicking that link.
Dallas Costa:And instead of proceeding with cybersecurity training, you refused, so they fired you.
Frankie Townsend:my influencer career will take off. just you wait.
Chapter Ninety-Five
Oliver
Trial Day Twenty-Eight.
When it came to my inevitable reconciliation with Sebastian, I always wrote it off as a certainty. A matter ofwhen,notif.
I approached our stilted brotherhood with a brand of optimism Sebastian absolutely loathed, knowing that if I stayed by his side, if I showed him he had me in his life no matter what he looked like and how he behaved, we would find a way to bury the hatchet.
And so, Sebastian spent the past fifteen years proving me wrong. Almostintentionally.
Which was why I didn’t register where we were – or what it meant that he was down here – when he materialized beside me in the living room in broad daylight with staff milling about.
I had my body propped up against the wall, peeking at the lake through the open patio doors. I’d ditched the last four days of work, not bothering to show up, since Eli stopped hounding me with calls. Maybe he’d come to the realization that he, too, could function without me.
Sebastian kicked an empty bottle of Jack, watching it roll into the kitchen. “Are you singlehandedly reviving the alcohol industry?”
“The alcohol industry needs no reviving.” I clutched the bottle in my fist tighter, not putting it past him to pry it from my fingers. “It thrives on misery, and there’s plenty of that to go around.”
Realistically, I knew Briar would return to the U.S. eventually, but since our trial began, it occurred to me that between our work schedules and my twice weekly commitment to Sebastian, we wouldn’t see each other for more than thirty to forty days a year.
Sebastian’s toe nudged my limp leg. “This is pathetic.”
“Fuck off.”
“You missedDays of Our Lives.”
“No, I didn’t.” I let my back fall to the hardwood, fighting a gust of wind from the open patio. In the distance, the lake roared with unusually strong waves.
Seb hovered above me, his eyes nervously flicking left and right. “It’s Thursday.”
“Can’t be. I have a business meeting Wednesday, and I haven’t gone.”
“You missed it. Dad took over.”
That snapped me out of it.
“He did?” I poked my head out the patio door, lolling it half onto the pavement because I couldn’t bring myself to move my whole torso.
“What are you doing?”
I stared up at the clouds. “Waiting for the flying pigs to pass by.”
Maybe I hadn’t hallucinated that conversation with Dad. But that didn’t make sense either. That would require doing something other than mourning his still-alive children.
Sebastian sneered down his nose at me. “Congratulations. You’re officially the most embarrassing von Bismarck.”
I straightened, finally getting a good look at him. He wore a pair of Gentle Monster sunglasses and faded jeans coupled with a Harvard hoodie. It was almost normal, save for the hood pulled over his head, scrunched as tight as the strings would allow and triple-knotted to form the tiniest hole possible for him to peer through.
“Wait.” I blinked, wondering if this, too, was a mirage. “You left your cave.”
