Sinners & Saints (Sinners & Saints #1) (23 page)

HUGO

“Have fun,” Scarlett says to me before
I get out the car.

After our encounter I had her drop me
off here on her way home. It’s my father’s condo with Kelly. I want to test
this potential tension between us.

“Good day, Mr. Mandrake.” The doorman
Franklin smiles at me, holding the door open. “I haven’t seen you here in a
while, sir.”

“I plan on visiting a lot more
Franklin.”

I still have my key. I pull it out once
the elevator doors open. I head to the white door. I stick my key in unlocking
it.

“Jonathan?!” she calls. She sounds
excited at the possibility of my father being home in the daytime. “Is that
you, sweetheart?”

           
I
go to the kitchen and her smile falters. “Hugo…” She clears her throat. “What
are you doing here?”

           
“I
can’t come visit my lovely and beautiful… stepmother?”

           
She
laughs nervously. “Of course. I’m sorry, it’s just you haven’t been here
since…”

           
“Thanksgiving
last year. I’m overdue for a visit.” I sit across from her at the glass table.

“What are you up to?” I ask.

           
“Um…”
She stares at the catalog in front of her. “I’m thinking of redecorating.”

           
“How
exciting,” I say flatly.

           
She
rolls her eyes. “Don’t be rude.”

           
“You
didn’t hear? I’m the rudest of them all.”

           
She
grins and I notice how flush her skin gets. I would bet money the pulse between
her thighs is quickening.

           
“You’re
not so bad, Hugo,” she says.

           
“Well,
you don’t know me well and since we are family, I think you should.”

           
“You’re
right. August too. You should bring him here.”

           
“I
will. I need to start developing healthy relationships with women.”

           
She
narrows her eyes at me in confusion.

           
“Men
hate me but women always tend to look the other way when it comes to me. Why do
you think that is?”

           
She
shrugs and shakes her head.

           
“Some
say it’s because I exceed in other talents that don’t involve communicating and
that’s not healthy.”

           
My
eyes lock on hers and her lips part. “Well maybe you’re right,” she says
nervously, laughing it off.

           
Our
lingering stare ensues until I place my hand on her thigh. Her eyes widen and a
gasp escapes from her throat.

           
“What
are you doing?” she frowns.

           
“I’m
merely bonding with you.”

           
“Hugo…
this is very inappropriate.”

           
“And
yet, you still have not moved my hand away from your thigh. The hand that is
slowly moving up.”

           
She
quickly smacks my hand away and stands up from her seat. She walks over to the
kitchen island. “I want you to leave,” she says facing me, gripping the edge of
it.

           
“You
didn’t want me to leave the party the other night,” I say standing up.

           
“I
don’t know what you’re implying.”

           
“You
mean, you weren’t throwing flirtatious subtitles at me?”

           
“No!
That’s ridiculous.” She pauses, “I was upset and…”

           
“Drunk?”

           
“Yes,
and it was very wrong of me to speak to you like that in that manner.”

           
“I
thought you didn’t remember.” Her eyes lock on mine. Mistake. “It was wrong,”
she stammers, “but…”

 
“So enticing,” I finish for her. I step
closer. “I don’t understand what you see in my dad. He’s like ten years older
than you.”

           
“And
I’m fifteen years older than you.”

           
“Seventeen…
I know you have a habit of lying about your age.”

           
“Get
the hell out of here,” she sneers.

           
“You
lie all the time. Lie about loving my father. Lie about liking yours. Fathers
are redundant, aren’t they?” I’m so close now. Her chest rises and practically
touches mine. Her eyes peer up at me. “My father does whatever he wants while
you try to be the perfect wife. Why can’t you have a little fun?” I press my
hand on her warm, flushed cheek and she closes her eyes. Her breathing increasing
at a rapid speed. “I’m not saying I’m in deep love with you, Kelly. I just
sense a hunger in you that needs to be fed. I want to be that energy for you.”

           
“You
just want to piss off your father.”

           
“He
doesn’t need to know. That would be fun, wouldn’t it?” I whisper.

           
She
licks her lips, her eyes still locked on mine. “I want you to leave.”

           
I
lean in and she’s not stopping me. Her eyes close and her lips open up some
more. I smirk to myself and drop my hands from her, stepping back. She opens
them in shock.

           
“If
you ever change your mind… you know where I am.”

           
I
leave her in shock and want. It’s always good to starve them. It will make them
more desperate.

SCARLETT

I go to the art gallery in Brooklyn
where Janet Eaton works the next day.

           
“Janet,
you have a visitor?” the girl tells Janet who’s chatting with someone. Janet
turns around and sees me, her eyes stunned.

           
“Scarlett
Brayson,” she says walking up to me, “God, the rumors are true.”

           
“Indeed
they are.”

           
“I’m
gonna go have a smoke,” she tells the girl at the front desk and leads me
outside where they have chairs and tables set out. “So, if you’re visiting me I
guess it’s because you want something from me,” she says sitting down and
pulling out a cigarette. “And if you want something from me, that means you
have something on me.”

           
“Janet,
didn’t you hear I’ve changed?”

           
She
exhales the smoke, squinting her eyes at me. “Yeah, well I was never much for
hope.”

           
“Well,
I guess there isn’t any point in wasting precious time then.” I smile, “How
close are you to your cousin, Kelly?”

           
She
inhales another puff and exhales, squinting harder as the sun shines on her
face. “Let’s see, her father treats my mother like shit still and has
everything in the world including the perfect daughter who loves to rub her
entitlement in my face.”

           
“So,
I guess you still have a problem being known as the girl who attended our
school because her uncle provided charity. Constantly being compared to her
beautiful cousin who attended years before us.”

           
She
ashes the cigarette in the tray, glowering at me.

           
“So,
I guess sleeping with your cousin’s husband is a great way of revenge, isn’t
it?”

           
She
holds the smoke in, her eyes broadening. I pull out a photo of her and Mandrake
and place it on the table as she finally breathes.

“So, what you want to stick it to my
cousin as much as I do?” she asks, staring at the picture.

           
“No,
my quarrel is with Jonathan Mandrake.”

           
“But
as always, someone has to burn in the fire you set.” She counters.

           
“Yes
and for me to watch the flames cover the Mandrake house, I have to burn poor
little Kelly Harper.”

           
“If
I wanted to out my affair with Jonathan, I would’ve been done it. We’ve been
seeing each other for a year now.”

           
“Don’t
tell me that
  
”

           
“That
we’re in love? Yes, we are.”

           
“Oh,
Janet, seriously? Don’t tell me you have learned nothing from the guys who
branded you a charity case slut in high school.”

           
She
glares at me. “He’ll leave her soon.”

           
“I
guess that’s when the contract is signed on this future investment on a
technology Harper’s company is creating?”

           
“How
do you know about that?”

           
“Let’s
not be redundant with the question of how I know things.”

           
I
could go about this, another way. She knows about the deal. She’s obviously in
love, the idiot. So to hurt Jonathan would be hurting her, but I always learn
that everyone has a price. It doesn’t have to be money
—
it can just be what people love and
hate the most. The question is what outdoes what? Usually what is hated the
most outdoes the love. That’s why there is no love in my world. Love is not
strong. Love is weak. I hate to lose more than I love to win.

           
“So
did he promise you that he would leave her after that deal? Or did he leave out
specifics? I guess it would work
—
I mean,
once you’re under contract, that’s it. No breaking it, but what about the
future? Harper is known for his unfailing inventions. He is named the man of
tomorrow in
Forbes
next to Bill Gates
and the late Steve Jobs. He will soon be worth billions and you honestly
believe that Jonathan would give that all up for you? The family that Edward
Harper left out in the cold because they didn’t know the difference between the
outside fork and the one next to the plate? And then let’s say that he does
leave her… what happens? You think he will bring you into the fold? You will
never be accepted. Kelly will always shine. She will never suffer the real pain
of losing to you unless… she sees how deep in love you are. Jonathan will have
no choice but to really need you when he’s left out in the cold
—
no beautiful wife or billion-dollar
investment to stroke his pride and he has pride. It’s what he values most.”

           
Doubt
is the key. Doubt is what leads to fear and fear is what leads to stupidity and
cowardice. “Kelly is fragile. She will hurt. She will lose her husband to the cousin
she used to use as a butt of a joke during brunch with my mother and I.”

           
Her
brown eyes are dark with rage and vengeance. She jams her cigarette in the
ashtray and her eyes lock with mine. “What do you need me to do?”

           
“Nothing,”
I say. “Just when the time comes… make sure to smile.”

JULIET

“So, basically you’re Alice in
Wonderland love,” Jazib says over the phone.

           
“I
guess that’s a distinguished way to put it.” I’ve updated him on everything
that has happened in the two weeks of being here.
 

           
“They
all sound like a bunch of wankers… except that Poppy. She sounds like she’s
loads of laughs and a good time.”

           
I
laugh. “She is, so is the rest.”

           
“What
about this chap you fancy? He sounds like an arse.”

           
“He
is, but… I can’t seem to shake him.”

           
“Of
course. You and trouble are magnetic.”

           
“Na
uh,” I object.

           
“Ju
Ju, you and I both know you like a challenge. This guy, from what you have told
me, is one, so you want him. You’re attracted to the sinful, broken, brooding
type. It’s not your fault, love. It’s just who you are.”

           
“Either
way, Jaz… he’s all I ever think about. All I ever want. Why is this bloody
happening to me? I didn’t want this. It’s only been two fucking weeks.”