Page 2 of Rogue Royalty
I can’t face any of it yet.
“Aren’t you going to open it?” Harriet’s tone vibrates with impatience.
“No.”
“Dammit, girl. You can’t ignore the entire world forever.”
I nod like I’m agreeing with her, but in reality, I plan to ignore the world for as long as humanly possible.Forever, if I can.
It’s kept spinning, even though my universe has crashed to a halt. It will keep spinning while I drown myself in grief.
“If you won’t, then I will.” She snatches the envelope off the wrought-iron table and rips it open. “Not like it’s my first federal offense of the week,” she says as she pulls papers out of it.
Harriet mumbles to herself for a few minutes, and I purposely block out what she’s saying. I don’t care what it says. I don’t care about anything. It’s easier that way.
Then she says something I can’t ignore.
“... the building and all of its contents are now solely owned by Temperance Ransom.”
I tear my gaze off the lantern and stare at the paper in Harriet’s hand. “What?”
She holds it out to me, and I gape at it. At first, the words on the page blur together, and I swipe at my eyes to clear my vision. My fingers come away wet.
I’m not crying.
I’ve perfected the art of lying to myself. I suppose that seems fitting, considering I’ve been drowning in lies for months, even though I didn’t know it.
I blink and focus on the words on the page.
A voice inside me screamsNo!but I shut it down. This letter confirms one more fact. The one I refused to believe was true. Because I’m stupid.
Kane is never coming back.
Whatever was left inside me, holding together my last shreds of hope that I was wrong about everything, snaps. I crumple the paper as I rock in the chair with tears pouring down my face.
2
Temperance
For hours, I stare at the letter—smoothed-out but still battered—where it lies on the coffee table. My vision goes blurry until I blink every so often.
Kane left me the warehouse.
How dare he?
For the first time since I opened my eyes to face the reality that my brother, Rafe, was gone, I feel something other than a vast and yawningnothing.
Anger.
It’s there. Simmering in my soul, warming up to a roaring boil.
How dare he?
I bolt off the sofa and pace the tiny living room and kitchen space of my apartment. Pacing isn’t normally my thing—it’s Keira’s. But right now, I feel pent-up anger hit my bloodstream like an addict mainlining her latest score. I can’t hold still.
Kane gave me the motherfucking building and all the cars. Like that somehow, some way, on any planet, makes up for the fact that hekilled my goddamned brother.
An animalistic howl rips free from my lungs as tears once again spill forth.
