Page 49 of The Revenge

I drop my hand as a half-laugh, half-snort escapes me. “You know the same applies to you, right?”

Further down the corridor comes the sound of a soft click, but before I can turn to investigate, Syn steps forward. He leans down, his hands snaking behind my neck as he catches my lips with his.

When I let out a startled cry, he slides his tongue into my mouth.

Bringing my hands up between us, I start to push him away, and then I hear the sound of somebody clearing their throat. Instead of breaking the kiss, Syn’s hand gently squeezes the back of my neck, and he continues to push his tongue deeper into my mouth.

Clearly, Syn is a better actor than I gave him credit for, because the way his hot tongue claims dominance in my mouthin a way that actually sends heat pooling between my legs nearly convinces me that he likes me for real.

The person behind us clears their throat again, this time, much louder.

With as much warning as he gave me before he started kissing me, Syn stops. Instead of moving away, he brings his mouth to my ear. “Good girl.” He steps back, smirks at me, and then turns on his heel. “Mother. I didn’t see you there.”

I’ve seen Syn’s mother before. When Cole was arrested, I wasn’t allowed to go to court to support him, but I obsessively watched the news coverage—and given who JP’s parents are, there was a lot of news.

JP resembled his father, but Syn seems to have more of a mix of both parents. From the way her cold, amber eyes are locked on me from behind her wire-rimmed glasses, it’s clear that’s where the biggest resemblance lies.

Syn’s mother is around my height, but with a much slimmer build. Her brown hair, a few shades darker than Syn’s, is pulled back into a low ponytail, without a single hair out of place. Even her thick bangs look like a hairstylist set them this morning.

“For goodness sake, Synclair. I thought you outgrew messing around with the help when you graduated high school.” Syn’s mother folds her arms as she looks me up and down, her eyes lingering on my hair. “How did Mrs. Ortiz let you slip by?”

“Mother, this is Victoria Anderson.” Syn steps back to wrap an arm around my waist, pulling me to him as he does. “My fiancée. Darling, this is my mother, Juliet.”

I force myself to smile as I free myself from Syn’s grip and move over to Juliet, offering out my hand. “It’s lovely to finally meet you, Juliet. Syn has told me so much about you.”

“And yet, I’ve heard nothing about you.” Juliet doesn’t move a muscle.

“That’s because I wanted to make sure it was serious before I brought her home.” Syn once again joins my side, this time, taking my hand in his.

Juliet presses her lips together as her gaze drops to our hands. When her eyes seem unable to bore a hole through the diamond, she walks over to her son, placing her hand on the back of his shoulder. “Excuse us,” she says, although she doesn’t look at me.

Syn let’s go of my hand and allows his mother to lead him a little way down the hall. She stops a distance, I assume is out of earshot, but doesn’t let me out of her sight.

“What game are you playing?” she asks.

Apparently, I was wrong about being out of earshot.

“I’m not playing anything.”

“You know the Greatsons will be joining us for dinner tonight. How do you think this will look?”

Syn cocks his head. “Like I’m in love, and I want to introduce my fiancée to my family.”

“Synclair, you know I will support a relationship,” Juliet says in a way that makes me think it’s the last thing she ever plans on doing. “But trawling the corners of Staten Island for the first hooker you come across is not convincing anyone. You know how important marriage is.”

Looks weren’t the only thing Syn inherited from his mother.

Knowing that if I upset Juliet, that I’ll never be able to go to the party, is the only reason I keep the fake smile on my face and stare absently around the hallway like I can’t hear anything.

“Victoria is not only a student at college with me, but she’s also a member of the Elite,” Syn explains. “She is more courageous and more intelligent than all of the girls at college, and she is more than suitable to be the woman standing beside me for the rest of my life.”

I know that he needs me to stay, but hearing him come to my defense—especially when he sounds sincere and warm for once—makes me feel...

I don’t know how I feel.

Juliet’s gaze snaps to me, then she glares back at her son. “I don’t have time to deal with this. Guests will be arriving shortly. I will have Mrs. Ortiz add an extra chair to the table and hope to god that it doesn’t throw off the balance. But all the spare rooms have been taken, so she will—”

“Be staying with me,” Syn finishes, firmly.

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