Prince of Fools by Nancy Gideon

Author:Nancy Gideon [Gideon, Nancy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-10-22T18:30:00+00:00

Chapter 17

He pushed past her to enter the kitchen, glare settling on the two coffee cups, as he growled, “I’ve been out there half the night waiting for him to leave.”

“He stayed on the couch,” she heard herself saying, as if she owed Gus an explanation.

“He can’t stay here. He can’t be here. You know why!”

“Who I decide to see is none of your business.”

He turned on her so swiftly, his fury-mottled features so like their father’s, Amber took a stumbling step back.

Seizing her upper arms, he gave her a shake. “I am the head of this family, and he’s a danger to it. You need to distance yourself and Evie from Terriot. Now!"

As if finally recognizing the pinched look in her face from the shared misery of their childhood, he quickly released her, anger easing to a sharp-edge panic.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, Ammy, but understand what’s at stake here. We’re in danger.”

Auguste's terse tone gripped her chest like a vise. "What do mean? Is this about the man who was killed?"

Immediately, the fearsome visage fell, and he was once again her repentant brother. When he hung his head, she seized him by the shirt front for a savage shaking to scatter her own fear as well as instill some of her own in him, demanding, "What have you done?"

He wouldn't meet her anxious gaze, eyes downcast, his shoulders hunched. "They were going to kill me, Am. I owed them so much money. I told them I didn't know where you or Dad were. I had to give them something. I had to, or they would have done me right then and there. I had no choice. It was supposed to be Savoie, not Terriot."

So much worse than she’d ever imagined, even knowing her brother.

"You lied to me!" She slapped the side of his bowed head, once, twice, again even harder as long suppressed temper escaped her control. "I let you come into my home, and you lied to my face! An innocent man died!"

And just as easily, Rico could have been added to that toll.

The fact that Gus didn't argue earned no sympathy. After listening to his choking sniffles, she shook him like a terrier with a rat. "What else did you promise them? What value did they put on your pathetic life?"

"I'm just eyes and ears. That's all. Can I sit down?"

She kicked out a kitchen chair and stormed about the small space while he sank onto a seat as unyielding as her mood, cowering like a whipped dog. Trying to squirm his way into her forgiveness. She'd waste no pity on him. Sympathy and affection had rendered her vulnerable to his selfish acts all their lives, letting him make her feel responsible for saving him from each increasingly dangerous folly. But he was no longer a child, and she had one of her own to protect. That was the bottom line she drew when able to face him with a modicum of calm. She wouldn't consider the possible consequences until she got the whole truth.

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