Page 98 of Bittersweet Revenge

“Ant?” Taylor shook her head. “Not right now.”

I threw him a look which I hoped conveyed all my annoyance. When he looked away, I knew I’d succeeded.

“We have the pre-wedding party next week. Let's go through with it. Everybody will be in the same house.” I pointed at Archibald. “It will allow you to sneak back to your place and look around in peace. Because our house will be full of people, all of the alarms will have to be disconnected, including the one linked to my mother’s quarters.”

“So I can sneak in there and try to find clues,” Esmeralda offered.

“Yes, you or someone else,” I offered. I hated the idea of putting her in danger, but she was still annoyed about my altercation with Archibald. “We’ll all be there, making it easier to monitor and keep an eye on things without looking suspicious.”

Archibald cocked his head to the side, pondering my plan. I could see he hated that it made sense, that he hadn’t thought of it before me. “It could work,” he admitted reluctantly.

“It will work,” I pressed confidently.

Archibald sneered. “It'd better work because if it doesn’t, my sister will become an Astor a week later whether she wants to or not.”

“Archie, I’m sure we–”

“Are we done here?” he asked, cutting her off.

She winced at the rebuff and looked down in frustration. Lord, did I want to end his life.

“I think so, yes,” I replied instead.

He gave us a sharp nod and turned around briskly, leaving the room with his back straight with tension.

I nudged Esmeralda. “Go after him.”

She looked up at me with confusion.

I gave her a small smile, gently brushing my knuckles on her cheek. “Trust me on this. He might not know it, but he wants you to follow him, to be there in his distress even if he mistakenly thinks you’ve got a part to play in it. He wants you to fight for him.”

I knew that because that had been me once. I’d wanted someone to care enough to keep on coming, no matter how much I’d pushed them away.

“Thank you.”

I kissed the top of her head. “Anytime. He is probably behind the pool.”

She smiled at me once more. I watched her as she left the room and took my human part with her.

Antoine scoffed, “I never thought I'd see the day Caleb Astor would be pussy-whipped.”

“Nope,” Taylor said, taking a step away from him as I turned around slowly.

“And why don’t you two go get fucked?” I growled. “You’ve put her in a very bad situation with Archibald.”

“I didn’t–”Taylor started.

I raised my hand to stop her. “Yes, you did! You never should have put her in the middle of all this. You’re her best friend; he’s her brother. There was no winning for her. You knew it couldn’t end well.”

“Okay, you shouldn’t be all self-righteous either. You’ve been the worst of all of us.”

I nodded. “True. I am not denying that, but I need you to fix it with Archibald. I don't care what you do or how you do it. Things need to be fixed by the party next weekend. Are we clear?”

“Crystal.”

“Perfect.” I walked to the door. “Oh, and St. Vincent?”

“Yeah?”

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