Page 26 of Until She's Mine
Tobias is the only member of the family who seems immune to this careful choreography. It’s not that he doesn’t try to fit in. He simply neversucceeds. Perhaps that’s why Mother always favors him despite his obvious shortcomings.
My parents have always seen Tobias as the charming one, the son who could win hearts with a smile and a well-timed joke. They’ve excused his failures as growing pains, his recklessness as passion. I’ve never begrudged him their affection—it’s easier to be the reliable one, the one they turn to when charm isn’t enough.
“Where is Tobias?” I ask.
“He had a last-minute business trip,” Mother says, her smile tightening at the edges. “Something about securing a new client.”
Father’s jaw ticks. We all know Tobias’s ‘business trips’ are thinly veiled excuses for extended gambling weekends or rendezvous with whatever socialite has caught his attention. The fact that he’s missed another family obligation won’t go unnoticed.
“Where to this time?”
“Geneva with the Lockwoods, I believe,” Mother says. “But he should be back in a few days. We have wedding plans to finalize.”
A wedding that grows more improbable by the day. Father finally looks up from his phone. “Have you spoken to Evelyn recently?”
The question catches me off guard, though I don’t let it show. “Briefly. She’s been working on the Madonna restoration.”
“She looked unwell at the museum benefit last week,” Mother observes. “Pale. Distracted.”
I pour myself a glass of water, buying time. “The work is demanding. She’s dedicated to her craft.”
“Perhaps too dedicated,” Father says, settling into his chair. “A woman in her position should be focusing on more domestic preparations.”
Mother nods in agreement. “Marriage requires certain adjustments. Priorities must shift.”
They want Evelyn to become another ornament in the Blackwood collection—beautiful, silent, and utterly subservient.
“Evelyn’s career is important to her, and she’s exceptionally talented.”
“Of course,” Mother agrees quickly. “But after the wedding, she’ll have other responsibilities. Children, managing the household, and supporting Tobias’s career. The restoration work is lovely, but it’s hardly sustainable for a Blackwood wife.”
I clench my jaw and look down at my phone as it buzzes with a text from my investigator:
Evelyn is on her way to the Blackwood estate.
My heart lurches, but I set my phone down with deliberate calm. “She’s intelligent enough to balance both.”
Evelyn has avoided me since that night at The Vault. I’ve respected her space, though not without difficulty. Now, she’s coming here, to the estate, unannounced. My mind races with possibilities, but I keep my expression neutral, unwilling to betray my thoughts to my parents.
Seeing her today will be a pleasure and a challenge, given our audience. But maybe that’s exactly what I need: my parents growing accustomed to seeing us together. After all, she’ll soon join this family officially—not as Tobias’s wife, but asmine.
One thing is certain: my parents won’t dictate Evelyn’s future. She’s far too vibrant and brilliant to be reduced to another Blackwood trophy wife. I won’t let them clip her wings the way they’ve tried to clip mine.
Chapter 13
Evelyn
The cake boxes dangerously slide across my passenger seat as I take a sharp turn onto the estate’s winding driveway. Through my car speakers, Sophie’s voice crackles with static.
“—and then I told my boss that if he wanted perfection, he’d have to—Evelyn? Are you even listening?”
I jerk my attention back to the call. “Sorry. Just driving.” Past the iron gates with their creeping wisteria, down the mile-long driveway lined with oaks older than the Constitution, stands the Blackwood estate, its grandeur as imposing as ever. The sunlight glints off the stained-glass windows, casting fractured rainbows across the manicured lawn. “I still cannot believe that they live here.”
I love history, and yet I’ve never been more out of place than I am here, in this gilded cage of a mansion. It’s huge, empty, and cold despite the late spring warmth clinging to the air.
“Are you afraid Tobias will ask you to move into their castle?”
If he asks, I’ll have to agree, and living with Mr. and Mrs. Backwoods seems like a fate worse than death. Currently, Tobias and Lucian have their own apartments in the city, but family events always bring them back to this mausoleum of a house.
