Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 147
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 145038 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 725(@200wpm)___ 580(@250wpm)___ 483(@300wpm)
“He can pivot.”
“I can pivot,” Oliver agrees into a bite of his protein chunk.
I let go of my knees. “I’m just saying that outside of me dating Jake, our roles aren’t that great when it comes to the setup of a billion-dollar family takedown.”
“Phoebe is right,” Nova says. “As much as none of us want to pull this with them—the godmothers are already in Claudia’s ear. We won’t be getting that kind of access with our personas as they are, and we can’t change them.”
Rocky lets out a long, angered groan. “Fuck,” he nearly shouts, then scrapes his hands through his hair. “What’s to say they’ll even want to do this with us? They want us out of Victoria.”
“We tell them the truth,” Hailey says, “about everything except the end. The end. We say we’ll leave with them with the payout from Jake. But we won’t. We’ll stay. They’ll go.”
Once we all agree (Rocky more reluctantly), I ask, “What’s with the book, Hails?”
“It’s the history of Victoria.”
“Anything good inside?” I smile a little.
She shakes her head once, and her anguished eyes beg me, Don’t ask, Phoebe, please.
So I don’t pry. None of us do. “Who’s attending this dinner?” I ask. “Trevor is drunk—”
“Speak for yourself.”
“Again, I’m sober,” I point out, “and Addison is going to panic and wonder what’s wrong with Hailey.”
“I-I can’t go down there,” Hailey stammers.
“I’ll stay back with Hails and Trevor,” Oliver offers.
Nova hunches back toward the computers. “Count me out of dinner.” He switches camera angles on the screen. “If I go down there, I won’t be able to control what comes out of my fucking mouth.” He’s furious in his quiet, simmering Nova way.
“That leaves me and you,” I tell Rocky. “Let’s go.” I stand.
He catches my wrist and tugs me back to the bed. “We have something to tell them.”
Yeah.
I know.
But this is a really bad time to give Hailey more anxiety. Unloading the heavy fact that oh, by the way, I’m with your older brother for real sounds like a trigger for a multitude of terrible emotions. Unease. Fear. Anger.
Please don’t hate me, Hailey.
Now I’m scared.
Under my breath, I whisper to Rocky, “Let’s not do the thing.” I try to stand again.
He pulls me down. “We’re doing it,” he whisper-growls back.
“Rocky.”
“There’ll never be a good time.”
“A good time for what?” Nova asks him.
“To tell you Phoebe and I are together.” Rocky flashes a tight smile. “Surprise.”
FOURTEEN
Phoebe
My eyes pop out. There was no lead-in. No gentle segue. No pillow placed for our siblings to land on in case they freak out like I’m freaking out.
Trevor nearly trips over his own feet.
Awkward silence follows, and my face roasts in the unbearable uncertainty of what they might feel.
“What’d you just say?” Nova glowers at him, then looks to me in confusion.
Oliver is smiling at me, like he’s happy my teenage crush has been fulfilled. It makes me almost smile back.
But Hailey has her hands to her mouth, not blinking.
She’s in shock. That’s better than anger, right?
I shift nervously on the bed, and the springs squeak in the second wave of uncomfortable silence.
“I’m with your sister,” Rocky enunciates like an asshole. “It’s real and recent. Jake already knows.”
“Jake knows before us?” Nova spreads his arms. “What the fuck?”
“It just happened,” Rocky states.
“Yeah. I don’t believe that ‘it just happened’ with someone like you.” He flings an angered hand at him like he wants to deck him, but he’s too far away.
I’m on the edge of the bed. “Nova,” I say softly, hurt. He intakes a pained breath but doesn’t look at me.
“Someone like me?” Rocky glares.
“Calculated. You are a trained manipulator—”
“I’ve never, in my fucking life, manipulated your sister,” Rocky sneers, leaning forward with his elbows on his legs. “You’re mad because you think my history with Phoebe is dark, and you got it in your head that she would escape that life with a normal guy with no baggage. That she wouldn’t be Elizabeth, that you could do for your sister what you could never do for your mom. Save her from being tossed around—”
Nova lunges.
I spring forward and place my hands on his chest. “Nova, stop. We need to stick together, not fracture apart. Okay, please?” My brothers and I have shared the same pain of witnessing our mom with horrific, abusive men. The same men she’d ultimately screw over. “Rocky isn’t a mark. You know Rocky. You trust Rocky,” I emphasize, “and I love Rocky.” It tunnels out of me, and I hope it slams into him.
Nova isn’t out for blood anymore. But he releases his bottled anger by picking up the keyboard mouse and chucking it at the wall like a Frisbee.
The plastic casing cracks.
Only Hailey flinches, and from behind the chair, Oliver covers her ears with his palms. She relaxes and focuses on her book.