Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100086 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 500(@200wpm)___ 400(@250wpm)___ 334(@300wpm)
I groan. “And what’s the moral of this story?”
She spreads her arms. “The moral is you can’t have love without trust, Corvus! If you don’t want the wedding, if you don’t love him, by all means, let’s call it off, but if you’re standing in the way of your own happiness, you must fight it.” Mother walks over to an open cardboard box in the corner and rips up some paper to pull out a few postcards. “Look at these,” she pushes what I realize are wedding menus into my hand. “Does a man secretly scheming to kill you fight me about the menu design so that it references your favorite black and white movies? You wouldn’t believe how stubborn he was being!”
White ink stands out on black paper. Inside frames reminiscent of the dialogue displays from old movies I’ve shown him is a list of dishes and beverages.
My heart is so damn heavy as I look at it, recognizing one of the starters as the same dish we had the first time we ate out together. It’s cute… like something from one of those cheesy rom-coms I refused to watch until Dalton beat me at a game of cards. And while the idiot part of me that would rather stay cold and alone forever than risk having my heart broken reminds me that this is exactly what someone might do to manipulate me, Mother is right—there are far easier methods of achieving such goals.
Dalton’s was to… simply make me happy and show me how he feels. And I shoved the knife I used to kill one of the men who attacked us against his throat.
With a deep exhale, I hide my face in my hands, drowning in the ever-growing flood of memories. He’s so kind and thoughtful in each one, and I… I’ve kept him at a distance, so he doesn’t touch the part of me I hide deep inside.
“I drove him away,” I choke out, so ashamed I can’t stand it. So maybe he was quick to confess his love, but why am I judging him for it and looking for tricks? He’s not some love-bombing psycho, Dalton’s just excited about me and wears his heart on his sleeve.
Mother slaps the menus out of my hand, because she always has to be dramatic. “Then get him back!”
Unbelievable.
“Easy for you to say. You didn’t see his eyes when he was leaving. The best I can do for him now is to stay away,” I say, my voice getting ever raspier as I remember my father’s final words, spoken to me while he was choking on his own blood. “Maybe it’s for the best. Father wouldn’t have approved of this.”
She crosses her arms on her chest and looks out of the window. “Your father didn’t approve of mixing shrimp and chicken.”
“Be serious, Mom. You know he would have hated it. It’s not what he wanted for me.”
She turns around with a scowl unusual for her sunshine features. “No, Corvus, you be serious. I loved your father so much it sometimes hurts to remember, but he didn’t hold the answers to all the questions of the universe. We don’t have children to rule over them. Children become adults and make their own choices. In fact, your dad had rebelled against his own family. He was brought up to be… an enforcer.” Mother knows the business but chooses euphemisms to avoid its reality. “But he had an interest in chemistry and medicine, talent in the subject, and the stubbornness of an ox. He did what your grandfather didn’t approve of. So yes, I believe he would have eventually come around to accepting your relationship. He’s not with us anymore, so we can’t test that theory. You have to live for yourself, Corvus. Not for your father, or even for me.”
With that, she sits down across from me and crosses her arms, nose pointing at the ceiling ever so slightly. I try to poke holes in her logic, and remember all the times when she was the one being unreasonable, but this time her argument is flawless. Especially as nobody knew Father the way she had. At the end of the day, my life is mine, regardless of the promise I made to a dying man.
It was cruel of him to demand things of me in that final moment, but as Mother pointed out, I am just like him. And I also fucked up.
“I… need to see him,” I mumble.
She smirks and points out her expensive watch. “Tick-tock. Wedding’s next week.”
Chapter 29
Dalton
I kick the radiator, frustrated that it’s not getting warmer any faster. For the last half an hour, I held my hands against it to make sure I’m not imagining the hint of warmth. I would have left it on when I went out to grab some ramen, but I don’t trust the wiring in this apartment, so I’m not risking a fire. Finding a place to stay in New York is hard enough. This place might be not much bigger than Corvus’s bedroom, but it’s cheap, so that’s what counts.