Forever Golden: Dark High School Bully Romance (Kings of Cypress Prep Book 3) by Rachel Jonas (beach books TXT) 📕

the call button for the private elevator. As I ride it up to my parents’ floor alone, there’s a quiet voice in the back of my head telling me what a shit idea this is, but, like I said, high me is unstoppable. And not in the ‘valiant, heroic’ sort of way. More so in the ‘reckless abandon’ meaning of the word.

Yep, that’s me. My comic book name would be ‘Super Stupid’ or some shit.

The broad, metal doors part and I lay eyes on the polished marble tile of my parents’ foyer. The gleaming white reflects light from the chandelier above. They’ve left every light on, but that’s typical for them. Why conserve energy when you’ve got more money in your bank account than this whole city combined, right?

I step out, thinking I’m on some kind of recon mission, but it isn’t until I hear voices that I realize that assumption was dead-ass wrong. My gut tells me to get back on the elevator before they notice I’m here, but the tone and volume of their voices makes this seem more like an argument than a regular conversation. She’s screaming and, from what I can hear she’s also crying, but I can’t make out her words.

So, being your friendly neighborhood Super Stupid, I push forward in the name of justice, or… maybe it’s just blind stupidity.

“You’re saying so much, Vin, but none of it explains what I saw!” Mom yells.

“Pam, for the last time, tell me what the fuck you did with it. You have no fucking right to touch my things!”

I’m close enough now that I get a glimpse of my parents through the partially open door to my father’s study. It’s a mess—papers thrown everywhere, books all over the floor, every drawer and cabinet door open. Even the oil painting over the fireplace is pulled away from the wall. Behind it, the faint green glow of the digits on the safe can be seen. I have no clue what’s gone missing, but I do know Vin’s desperate to find it.

His hair’s wild and damp with sweat. The top button of his shirt and the bowtie around his neck are both undone. Mom’s still wearing a long, black formal gown, but the straps from her shoes are dangling from her fingers.

“Dammit, Pam! Tell me what you fucking did with it!” Vin shouts again, and with how my heart’s pounding in my chest, I nearly rush in there, but something tells me to wait.

So, I don’t dismiss that small voice in my head this time, choosing to stay put and listen.

“All those names and dollar amounts. I don’t… I don’t understand. Is it a prostitution ring?” Mom asks, unable to fight the strain I hear so clearly in her voice. “Is that what you’ve gotten yourself into? Because it’s the only thing that makes sense.”

She pauses then and presses a hand to her mouth when she gets choked up.

“No, none of it makes sense,” she corrects herself. “Because we’ve already got more cash than we could ever spend in a lifetime, so there’s no reason in the world I can think of that explains why you’d be doing what I think you’re doing.”

Vin slams his fist on the desk, and I swear the whole penthouse rattles.

“Always so fucking self-righteous,” he growls. “We weren’t all born with a silver spoon in our mouths!”

“Is that what this is about?” she scoffs. “You resent me because of where I come from? What my family has? Because last I checked, you benefited from their wealth, too.”

He balls his fist again, but this time stops just short of pounding the desk. Instead, he closes his eyes and tries to regain his composure.

“And did you ever stop to think that maybe I don’t want that hanging over my head anymore? That you’ve brought more to the damn table than I have?”

“I’ve never thrown that in your face,” Mom snaps. “You have more than done well for yourself, regardless of how and where you started. Which is why I don’t understand any of this.”

Staring at her, he lifts his hands when a simple answer falls from his mouth. “If there’s more to take, Pam, why not take it?” he reasons. “I’m building a legacy. An empire. Why create a limit when there isn’t one?”

Mom’s quiet, like she’s trying to process Vin’s words. “Shouldn’t there always be a limit, though? A line we’re not willing to cross just to add a few more zeros to our bank account?”

He stares at her with hellfire in his eyes, not saying a word, which says it all.

“Guess that answers my question,” Mom scoffs, staggering back a bit after having the wind knocked out of her.

Vin lowers his head and takes a deep breath. “That’s not what I meant. Of course, there are boundaries.”

Mom throws her hand up, clearly fed up with the course of this conversation.

“I knew the moment you got involved with your fucking family again it’d be our downfall.”

My brow tenses when she says those words, because I don’t understand what it means. I set my confusion aside for now, to listen closely and make sure I don’t miss anything.

“Pam, if you just return my ledger, I’d be glad to have a peaceful, civilized conversation with you about this, but the information you took was important and it’s also confidential. You could get me in deep shit if I don’t have it back in my hands immediately.”

She glares at him and I haven’t seen this side of her before. Maybe it just took her eyes being opened for her to come around.

“You’ll get your ledger when I get the truth.”

With that, she turns to leave, and I forgot to mention that being high also makes me slow. Which is why my reaction time is for shit right now and I’m caught.

She stops dead in her tracks, staring at me with mascara streaking down her face. I’m frozen there, unsure of what to do, unsure of whether I should explain