Page 72 of Glorious Rivals
“I gave Avery my permission to host the game here,” Toby said, locking his own eyes on to the island’s scars.“I don’t get to be a victim of my own sins, andthis—the Grandest Game, making puzzles, giving people the experience of a lifetime—it means something to Avery.Hannah’s girl.Ourgirl.And Kaylie, Hannah’s sister who died in the fire—she would have approved.”
There was enough raw emotion in Toby’s voice that Grayson couldn’t help feeling an echo of it himself, and he had to ask: “Do you regret staying away from them for all those years?Avery.Hannah.”
“I had my reasons.And now my Hannah the Same Backward as Forward is gone anyway, and I regret it every day.”Toby went in for the landing.“Maybe if I’d learned to love differently, I could have loved her better.”He looked at Grayson again as the chopper touched down.“I certainly couldn’t have loved her more.I protected Hannah and Avery the only way I knew how.”
“From the old man,” Grayson said, and now his voice was the one that was thick.“From his enemies.From everything it means to be a Hawthorne.”
Toby dropped his hands from the controls, but he didn’t kill the engine “Nash didn’t come right out and say that there was a threat, but he made it clear enough that Eve is not the only reason I’m here.”
Grayson said nothing.Silence was its own kind of answer.
“You won’t tell me the details.That’s fine.”Toby hit a button and powered down the chopper.“All you have to tell me, nephew, is whether or not the threat in question starts with the letterA.”
Chapter 52
ROHAN
There was a game that Rohan liked to play, one that had proven of use to him on more than one occasion, calledWho Will Betray You First?Since becoming Factotum, he’d often been the one throwing that question out to the person in his sights, letting them wonder if they had already been betrayed—and by whom.
But long before he’d won his place as the second-in-command at the Mercy, Rohan had been a master at playingWho Will Betray You First?all by himself.This time, there was only one candidate, only one player in this game whocouldbetray him.
And Rohan had known from the start that she would.
The only questions werewhenandhow.Savannah hadn’t said a word to Brady on the chopper ride, nor had she given Rohan any indication that her allegiances had changed.But then, with a woman like Savannah Grayson, there would be no indications, no forewarning.Regardless, Rohan had no intentions of being taken off guard.
On the yacht, he’d told her what he’d found on his mask—not so much a test as a push.
All Savannah would have to do is take what he’d given her and run, and Rohan would know: Their alliance had reached its end—sooner than anticipated, granted, but Rohan still fully intended to relish her attempts to destroy him.
Take me out of the game, love.If you can.
The doors on the helicopter unlocked.Savannah threw herself out of her seat, making it to the door first.She glanced back at Brady.“If you want me to consider your proposition,” Savannah said, jerking her head toward Lyra Kane, “block her.”
A second later, Savannah was out the door.“Hurry up, British.”
Savannah had asked Brady to blockLyra, not Rohan.Keeping up the illusion that we’re a team, Savvy?Rohan jumped out of the chopper and immediately started gaining on his quarry, his legs and stride longer even than Savannah’s.
“Your brother will not allow anyone to block Lyra Kane for long,” Rohan said, neck and neck with her now.
“We don’t need long,” Savannah retorted.“Even if they’ve managed to solve the music box, we just need long enough to get to the second floor and plug in the combination.”
Rohan pushed past her.“Keep up, love.”
Savannah kicked it up a notch and surged past him.It was almost too easy, bringing out the beast.Rohan would have upped his own pace again, but the dress was slowing her down just enough that he would have been able to leave her in the dust.
And that did not suit his purposes at all.
Within minutes, they hit the front porch of the mansion, then the foyer, then the stairs.Rohan’s sixth sense for his surroundings warned him that Grayson and Lyra weren’t all that far behind, buthe and Savannah beat them to the marble door—just like they’d beaten Grayson Hawthorne and Lyra Kane every step along the way so far.
It was supposed to be us.A voice snaked its way through Rohan’s mind, twisting and turning through the corridors of the labyrinth.At the end of this game, after we’d decimated the competition, it was supposed to be us.
The right kind of betrayal would have been exquisite.
The wrong kind of betrayal?Well, at least he would see it coming.At least he’d been reminded why affection was just another form of weakness.
“Thirty-four,” Rohan said, setting the first dial.The waltz.
Savannah edged in on him, taking control of the second row of the dial.“Forty-four.”The tango.
