One Last Rainy Day: The Legacy of a Prince(71)

Four hours and countless glasses later, Tobias turns just after exiting and slams me into closing the door of the town car he called after our vision blurred and doubled.

Releasing me, Tobias stumbles further back into the yard, drawing from his hip in declaration. “En garde!”

Gripping his nonexistent sword, foot stretched in front of him in a lunge pose, he arches his opposite arm over his head, fingers dangling above his crown. When I just stare at him, his shoulders drop as his expression goes limp. “It means draw your sword.”

“I know what it means, but drawing my sword will only embarrass you in front of the handmaidens,” I snort.

“All I’m hearing is that you’re too impotent to draw your steel,” he taunts.

“Don’t project, brother, I hear it happens to all men with age, and I’m more of a hand-to-hand man,” I declare, charging toward him. Feigning a successful dodge of the thrust of his invisible sword, I tackle him into the grass.

“Oof,” he goes down, roaring with laughter until I gain the advantage and deliver an over-playful bitch slap.

His eyes flare in warning as he knocks me off. “Poor form, Dom. This is a gentlemen’s fight.”

We both stumble back to our feet, and I raise my sword and mimic his posture. “Never going to be a gentleman, but touché, or whatever the fuck,” I slur. We drunkenly shuffle back and forth across the yard and up the porch stairs, clashing invisible swords while knocking over two of Delphine’s clay-potted plants. As Tobias reaches for the screen door, I lurch forward, delivering the death blow, burying my sword until my knuckles hit his chest.

He grips his wound, eyes widening in mock surprise. “So ruthless, brother. A street fighter to your core, right through the fucking heart,” he sniggers with pride.

“Gutter-rattith-forith-thou-killith,” I smirk.

Opening the screen door, Tobias shakes his head, smile disappearing, eyes narrowing when he sees the state of me. “You ruined my two-hundred-dollar shirt.”

“I consider it an improvement and deserved punishment for spending that much on a fucking shirt.”

“You’re a teenage millionaire, Dom. Spring for a new pack of V-necks and BVDs.” Eyes glazed by drink, he pats himself down. “Do you have your key? I left mine with the valet.”

“Nope.”

“Fuck,” he drops his head before rapping on the door. Not a second later, the porch light comes on, and it opens, Delphine’s narrowing eyes darting between us.

“Look, Dom, it’s the milk truck!” Tobias roars before we both throw our heads back, laughing hysterically.

Sighing out “imbéciles,” Delphine widens the door to let us in. Scrutinizing us briefly, she adjusts her robe before turning to retreat to her bedroom.

“Non, Tatie, join us,” Tobias calls after her, shrugging off his jacket. “I’m making breakfast for both of you.”

“Non,” Delphine protests.

“It’s time,” Tobias says, unbuttoning one of his sleeves and rolling it up as he and Delphine share a tense but silent exchange.

She nods toward me, “he is drunk.”

“Then that makes three of us,” Tobias snarks, “put on some coffee so we can talk before the rest of his peanut gallery arrives to collect him.”

“Time for what?” I ask, taking the rattle stool beneath the counter as they start to silently work together. Anticipation builds as Tobias glances over at Delphine, and they exchange another loaded look before he palms the counter, his words for me. “It’s time you know your history. How and where it all truly began—and where it’s going.”

It was one of the handful of times I’ve ever been drunk, but I haven’t forgotten a second. In the hours that followed, I sobered considerably with every passing minute, sipping coffee while Delphine revealed my parent’s history—details of whom they were involved with and in before I was born. She added specifics about her own path and what eventually led her to Triple Falls. Minute by minute, my mind became more blown by how much they both had been keeping from me. The details of Delphine’s sordid past helped me understand so much about her and why she is the way she is.

Tobias laid out his plans, his own revelations taking me aback. Especially the secret that the congressman who taught him how to fasten a necktie is an original raven Tobias attended prep with. An original on the fast track to becoming president—and still is.

That morning, Tobias trusted me with his most heavily guarded secrets and his vision for our long game. The way he is trusting me now with the fate of the club.

He’ll never forgive you.

Guilt swallows me whole at the act of betrayal I just took part in because, as of right now, one of our originals is on a plane headed for France.

The reason? I’m having my own brother shadowed, his whereabouts reported, so I can continue to fuck our enemy’s daughter.

If Tobias spots him, he’ll immediately be tipped off that something is amok—along with knowing exactly who ordered his tail—which will only hasten his return. On the off chance he doesn’t catch it, at least I’ll know if what he’s telling me is true. If the real reason for his long absence is to find his birth father.

If I’m caught, Tobias will suffer the worst kind of betrayal and heartbreak at my hands. Something he doesn’t fucking deserve.