Series: Webs We Weave Series by Krista Ritchie
Total pages in book: 167
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 162520 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 813(@200wpm)___ 650(@250wpm)___ 542(@300wpm)
“It’s either derived from Frederick,” Oliver continues, “which means peaceful ruler. Or…”
“Or…” Varrick grins.
“A location.”
“Van Rijk,” Hailey says in a daze. “Which means from the rich or from the powerful.”
Oliver props a hand on the wall. “Power.”
“Clever, you two.” Varrick scans us again. “The main manipulators.” He motions from Rocky to Oliver, then his finger aims at me. “A honeypot, like your mother.”
I take full offense that I’m not being considered as a main manipulator. Even if I shouldn’t want him to see us so fucking clearly.
He shifts direction to Nova. “A lookout.” Then Hailey. “A mini Addison. You puppeteer.” He lingers on Trevor. “You.” He wags a finger in thought. “You’re…”
“Your worst nightmare,” Trevor concludes.
God, I want that to be true.
Varrick laughs. “You’re the youngest. The baby.”
“I’m nineteen, fuck-face.”
My lips curve upward. You tell him, Trevor. Rocky is less enthused at his brother’s responses.
“Nineteen and desperately in need of more training,” Varrick notes.
“Back the fuck off,” Rocky warns him.
He raises his hands, says he meant no offense, then he finishes by nodding to Jake. “The new recruit.”
“Okay, you think you know us,” Rocky says. “We get the idea. What the fuck do you want?”
“To work with you. As you might know, Elizabeth tried to bribe me to leave town. I’d get a cut of the Koning job if I helped you finish it. In return, I’d flee Victoria. We don’t need her. You don’t need to work with the three of them ever again. I can help you take Trent out of the picture.”
Jake chimes in, “You’re not killing my brother.”
“I don’t plan to. We can get him to sign his assets over to you.”
His ploy.
The one with Hailey at the center. I didn’t think it was to help us complete the Koning job. The guys seem more tense than they were. I keep blinking. Probably too much.
“What do you want in exchange?” Hailey asks.
“A partnership. We pull jobs together wherever, whenever. It is my deepest pleasure to take from Elizabeth, Addison, and Everett what they took from me.” He spreads his hands out in a wide semicircle. “All of you.”
Revenge. I understand the desire well.
Rocky even more so.
He barely moves a muscle. I highly doubt he wants to replace the godmothers with Varrick. Not when he’s wished to get out from under their control his entire life.
Rocky arches his brows. “There’s a problem with your little job you already set up here at Stonehaven.”
“And what’s that?”
“It’s not fucking happening,” he finishes.
“You don’t want the details first?” He’s asking all of us.
“I’d like them,” Hailey says so softly. I hope his eardrums are crammed with wax and he can’t hear. I’m already tempted to know more, and I’d rather this be shut down before he dangles a carrot. Working with the devil to take down another devil—it’s not the most ludicrous thing ever.
Varrick focuses on Hailey. “Trent has to want to marry you. Make him think it’s his idea.” He explains the job in greater detail, including how we’ll pull the rope and Trent will end up giving Jake everything.
My head spins a hundred miles per hour. My pulse accelerates to faster speeds. On one hand, I’m enticed enough to admit it’s a well-constructed job. One I could see us taking under different circumstances.
On the other hand, I don’t want it to be her.
I don’t want Hailey in this position.
This is my role.
It always has been.
“The marriage has to be as real as it can be,” Hailey says, doesn’t ask, as she stares off in thought. “If he thinks it’s fake, it all blows up.”
“Everything hinges on the marriage being believable,” Varrick agrees.
“Hailey.” Rocky forces out her name.
I haven’t seen her blink in a solid five minutes. I’m gripping the armrests of my chair. Even Trevor has shifted forward, trying to catch his sister’s eyes, but she’s not here. She’s obsessing over this job in her head.
“We’re not entertaining this,” Jake states, looking at Rocky, then at Oliver.
Oliver hasn’t taken off his sunglasses. His hand, still planted on the wall, tenses more than it should. “This isn’t what Hailey does,” he explains to Varrick. “As you pointed out, she’s not a main manipulator. She’s rarely been a principal.”
“She’s been a shill, hasn’t she? Surely, they taught all of you how to be actors, even if only a little bit?”
That’s true.
Trevor whispers too loudly to Rocky, “If it’s a real marriage, doesn’t she have to consummate it?” She’s pregnant. She’s pregnant. It’s all I can think.
“Hailey,” Rocky sneers.
Jake runs a taut hand through his hair. Oliver just watches Hailey closely.
I cut in hotly. “She’s not having sex with Trent.”
Not only is he a disgusting piece of shit, she’s with my brother and my fake ex-boyfriend. Okay, she is taken. Doubly so.
Hailey thinks aloud, “He won’t want to have sex with me. He thinks I’m weird.”