Total pages in book: 151
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 142976 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 715(@200wpm)___ 572(@250wpm)___ 477(@300wpm)
Only after Cade had insisted—a dozen times—that he was happy to screw Abernathy over like this (his exact words), had James Hawthorne got on board with the plan. He’d arranged for them to leave immediately—in the middle of the night—citing a business emergency, promising Granger that they’d wrap up the deal within the week.
They had to sneak Fern out by less conventional means—picking her up round back at the staff entrance to the kitchen, where she’d stood waiting with a single suitcase. She was huddled between Francois, the hulking French chef, and Stanford, the butler who’d been more of a father to her than Granger ever was.
Standing silently behind them was the entire household staff, some openly weeping, while others wiped surreptitiously at their faces. They would all cover for her over the next few days. If Granger or the sisters even bothered to look for her.
By the time her stepfamily realized Fern was missing, it would be too late. She’d be free of them. Even if it felt like she was only exchanging one prison for another. At least in her brand-new gilded cage, she could fool herself into believing that she had more control over her destiny.
She hugged Francois and Stanford goodbye and whispered quiet farewells to everyone else. They wished her luck and then she was silently whisked into the dark interior of a luxurious Maybach provided by the Hawthornes’ security company.
Nobody spoke on the drive to the airport.
Only after they were on board the private jet, winging their way to an unknown destination, did she allow herself to relax. Her hand dropped to her abdomen and she silently promised her baby that she would never allow him to be placed in harm’s way again.
“She’s an odd wee thing,” Cade’s father murmured, his gaze glued on the small sleeping figure curled up on the two-seater across from them. Cade, who’d been going over the legal paperwork she’d provided regarding her trust fund and inherited assets, looked up his dad over the rims of his reading glasses.
“Hmm,” he agreed, too exhausted to speak. She was right, Abernathy had screwed her over and vastly overreached his duties as the executor of her mother’s estate. He suspected the fucker was on the verge of applying for a conservatorship on her behalf. He didn’t know from where she’d swiped these documents—probably her stepfather’s safe—but she was clearly sneakier and more resourceful than Abernathy had given her credit for. It infuriated Cade when he discovered that the bastard had already begun laying a trail of breadcrumbs pointing to her incompetency due to diminished mental capacity.
It was all bollocks of course. While Fern was afraid and desperate, she was not mentally or emotionally incapable. And yeah, maybe Cade had only known her for a hot minute, maybe Abernathy wasn’t a sneaky motherfucker trying to steal his stepdaughter’s inheritance out from under her, but somehow Cade doubted he was wrong about her.
“He was going to have her committed,” he finally told his father, and the old man’s gaze sharpened in concern as they flew back to the sleeping woman.
“You don’t think she—”
“No, Dad… I don’t. You met Abernathy, he’s a worm. He wanted her money, control over her assets. And in just three years he was going to lose that control. He was trying to fix it so that he never would.”
“This doesn’t have to fall to you, Niall. You don’t have to save her like some knight in shining armor.”
“It’s a business deal like any other, Dad. Better even. We get a two hundred-million-pound company for nothing, and get to play the heroes while doing so. She needs our protection, we get her company. After that we all go our separate ways. No fuss, no mess. I’m okay with that.”
“What if you meet someone, fall in love in the next three years?”
Cade’s eyebrows flew to his hairline at the unexpected question, which—as far as he could tell—came from a place of genuine concern.
“If it’s the real thing…” he said slowly, his voice thoughtful. “It’ll keep.”
“I never wanted you or your brothers and sister to sacrifice your happiness for the sake of this company,” his father said fiercely. “If Gideon had listened to my demands all those years ago, he would never have met Elizabeth Finch, and he’d be miserable right now. I want the rest of you to have what Gideon has.”
The vehemence and emotion in his father’s voice shook Cade and he sent the older man a searching look.
“Dad? Are you okay?”
“Oh, fuck off, Niall,” his father blustered, his cheeks going ruddy with embarrassment. “I’m not dying or anything. I just want you all to be happy, aye? And I don’t think marrying this wee mad lass is going to make you happy.”
“It won’t be permanent. And getting Lambecrete will make me happy for now.” Because obtaining Lambecrete had always been Cade’s vision more than his father’s