Page 81 of Feed Your Fiends

“You’re damn straight it is,” she snarls. “If Mari could see the filth her son’s bought home…”

I hate the feeling that wracks me. Inferiority. Guilt. Guilt for not being good enough. Guilt for existing in a world that’s shown me time and again how much it doesn’t want me.

“She may be gone, but thank God I’m here now since Bart’s too busy globe-trotting to look out for his son. Not that he’ll accept your union either.” She shakes her head. “Mari went through hell and misery to secure her son’s future prestige. She would never allow her struggles to be in vain for a council house bitch who has no money unless it’s to stuff her gut.”

I clench my fists so tight, I draw pinpricks of blood as her eyes slither over me from head to toe.

“Look at you. You can’t even stop chewing your damn lip like a heifer chews cud.” She steps closer. “That’s all you are, Elle. A cow for slaughter, be it this month or next. You won’t ever be accepted into this family. Your ginger genes aren’t good enough to carry on the line. I’ve let my sister down, but I promised myself I won’t ever do it again, so let me say this candidly.Go away.Once Silas tells Gant about how disposable you are, he’ll drop you anyway.”

My nose and eyes burn like a thousand suns.

But I won’t cry.

I won’t scream.

I’ll show her how us council house bitches carry ourselves.

“You’re right about me, Delphine,” I say, straightening my shoulders.

She seems taken aback by that.

“You can read me like a book.”

“Your kind isn’t very diverse.”

“So then you’d know I’d need a little more prompting before I can just… disappear.”

She rolls her eyes. “You’re all the same. Little fucking whores willing to spread your cunt for any man with money. And when that’s still not enough, you blackmail the wife.”

“And your husband is willing to penetrate those cunts but not yours. I can see how that’s upsetting.”

Her green eyes flash. “Watch your fucking mouth—”

“Maybe you should watch your husband’s dick instead.” I reach beneath my skirt and swipe at my inner thighs before rubbing my fingers together like they’re sticky. She has the nerve to snort at my crassness as if she isn’t the crassest bitch on the planet given the way she’s talking to me. “He doesn’t like using condoms. Get your purse and throw in a little extra for the morning-after pill.”

“You…rank bitch.”

“Whore,” I correct her. “Quickly. It’s most effective in the first two hours. Send me a transfer, and I’ll take the rest in cash. Then, I’ll be on my way to the chemist.” I rub my lower stomach. “Unless you want Sylo to have a little sibling. I’m thinking of something classy and elegant. A mashup of Silas and Eloisa. Siloisa. Eloilas.”

She flinches at my hideous creation. “He’dneverruin his bloodline again. He promised me.”

Again?!I struggle to keep my features fixed. “But we both know he hates condoms.” We both don’t know. It’s a guess and a good fucking one judging from her expression. “Did you know some antibiotics stop birth control from working? I don’t think he does because he didn’t give a fuck, you know, when he was fucking me.”

“Antibiotics?What the fuck have you got?” she recoils.

“I promise you’ll find out if Silas spares your pussy a crumb of attention this week.”

Now, look who’s chewing their lip. But I can’t focus on anything besides that word,again.He wouldn’t ruin his bloodline again.Does that mean Sylo already has a sibling?

My heart pounds in my throat.

Wait…Gant has a brother…. Silas potentially has another child… Silas was there on the night of Madame’s murder. He killed her,I know it. But Gant doesn’t know the murderer was his uncle all along. But that would mean… Silas and Marisol… Or am I not doing the math right? Am I missing a piece? Or am I completely following the formula wrong?

I look into Delphine’s worried eyes. There’s only one way to find out.

“Oh, and it isn’t Sylo I was after. I don’t have any interest in younger men. I was actually hoping that Sylo’s older brother came for the reunion.”

Shock, icy shock, washes over her features before she sets her jaw and glares at me. “You—”