Total pages in book: 171
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 167204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 836(@200wpm)___ 669(@250wpm)___ 557(@300wpm)
I push myself up and stare at Addison, my heart in my stomach. “Roger Whitley? Sloane’s father is Roger Whitley?”
“Yes.”
“The billionaire Roger Whitley?”
She nods more apologetically this time.
What?
There’s a whole fucking show about that man’s family. Fictionalized, of course, but…
“Oh my god.”
“Sorry, I thought you knew that.”
I knew they had the same last name, but somehow it never even occurred to me to connect the dots. Because it’s crazy. Roger Whitley is a celebrity, and you don’t imagine people you know being related to famous people.
I also feel weird about the fact that I watched the show, and previously loved it, although it is sinking quickly now that I know…
Well, his daughter is about to marry the love of my life.
I feel bad remembering a season of a show to recall the details of an actual person’s life, but I’m remembering the season four finale—really grossly titled Heir Today, Gone Tomorrow—in which Roger’s only son died at twenty-two, leaving Sloane the sole heir to the Whitley estate when she was a senior in high school.
And then I remember Killian telling me about Blue Blood marriages, using the example that sometimes a really traditional Blue Blood might only have daughters, or he might have a son who dies. In that case, the older Blue Blood may be interested in marrying his daughter off to a younger Blue Blood to ensure his legacy, and… it’s like inheriting a kingdom.
And just like that, reality dashes my hopes again.
Because I may not know all the details, but I can piece together enough to realize…
Sloane’s dad is a Blue Blood, and he’s picked Killian to inherit his throne.
___
There isn’t a lot left to reconcile when you realize your almost-boyfriend’s choices are between you, a penniless nobody, and essentially an American princess.
Inheriting the wealth alone of a man like Roger Whitley is an opportunity no one would ever pass up, no matter what they have to do to get it, but add in the fact that said almost-boyfriend is also a self-professed opportunist…
I stand no chance.
None.
And that is depressing as hell, but it is also confirmed when, despite telling me how much he only wants me and that he loves me, I find pictures of him and Sloane at a fucking wedding cake tasting when I’m stalking her social media over the weekend.
Let the Hunger Games cannon go on our relationship because there’s no future in it. I don’t care how he feels about me, he won’t pick me over the Sloane package. There’s no fucking way.
And I get that he still has feelings for me. I totally believe that he didn’t like the way Sloane went about capturing him before he was ready to move into the gilded cage, and now maybe he wants to punish her a little.
But he’s not going to use me to do it.
In a way, I feel sorry for her, because while she’s getting the guy we both want, he will not be an easy ride for her, especially if she keeps trying to handle him the way she did going in. He’s wrecked me this much in a couple of weeks, and he’ll have a whole lifetime to destroy her, so… she deserves my condolences.
At least, that’s what I tell myself.
I stop listening to sad music and I ask Addison to get in touch with Ryan for me so I can send him to retrieve my clothes from Killian’s apartment—or, I guess, actually Roger Whitley’s apartment that he was letting his future son-in-law use.
I know I can’t stay at the Zeta house because I can’t torture myself with a front-row seat, but I can’t let Killian provide for me, either. His support comes with strings, and as long as he is the one arranging for a roof over my head, he’ll always have a key to the front door.
So when Silvan approaches me—unmasked this time—to tell me Killian told him I needed a place to live and there’s an apartment available in his dad’s building, I tell him no thanks.
I do a little research myself because I know I can’t live alone—he’ll break in—and I can’t live with anyone he can intimidate—he’ll scare them off—which doesn’t leave me with a lot of great options.
But it turns out the Dean of Calhoun University has a daughter named Sally Stern who really likes cats and French roast coffee. She also has an apartment with an extra bedroom that she’s looking to rent out, and since I recall something Killian said to me about Kyle’s copycat society potentially drawing heat from the Dean, I know that means Blue Bloods are not immune to expulsion.
So he can’t break into the Dean’s daughter’s apartment.
Which is now also my apartment.
That will give me the space I need from him.
I haven’t found a new job yet, but with the money Killian gave me, I have enough of a cushion that I can wait until the semester is over to look. I don’t mind spending his money because I deserve compensation for the emotional damage he inflicted on me, and he’s marrying into the Whitley family, so he can afford it.