Chapter 6: Terms

I wrote my terms on hotel notepaper at six in the morning, because I trust a list more than a mood.

Torin came at eight.

He stood in the doorway of the suite until I told him to come in, and then he stood just inside it.

Arlo was on the carpet in his pajamas, building a tower out of room-service menus.

"Sit," I said.

Torin sat on the edge of the armchair.

"Rule one," I said. "You see Arlo here, in this suite, with the door open, and you leave before his bedtime."

"Agreed."

"Rule two. You pay for nothing. Not his food, not his clothes, not this room. I take nothing from the Maddox house except what Cora stole from me."

"Agreed."

"Rule three. You, Talbot and Rowan don't come near me without a witness."

"Agreed," Torin said, and then, "I'm not going to ask what you think I'll do."

"I'm not going to tell you."

His mouth moved at one corner.

It was almost a smile, and it was gone.

"There's a fourth," I said. "You don't tell him what you are until I say."

For the first time, he hesitated.

"He asked me yesterday in the yard whether I was the one who owned the river," he said. "I said no."

"Good."

"I'd like to tell him."

"I know you would. Not yet."

Arlo had stopped building.

He was looking at Torin with his head on one side.

"Are you going to take Mommy away?" he asked.

"No," Torin said at once.

"Because she's mine."

"She is."

"And you're not a bully?"

Keep reading free with an account. Start My Son Is the Secret That Will Break Them from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.