moment, the decision between a bath or a shower was in my control, and control it I would.
Of course, if Adam had been here, I’d have showered. The notion of being mahrime in front of him was abhorrent to me, but he wasn’t here.
Hadn’t been since I woke up.
I didn’t want to think about what that might mean. Especially in the face of what had happened at Rosemore, and now with this? His father’s shady offer?
To say I was confused understated exactly how perplexed I was.
“No, but if I do, you’d be on my insurance.”
That made no sense. “But you’re rich.”
“That’s how I stay rich.”
I wasn’t sure why, but that made me laugh. “You stay rich by being shrewd?”
“Exactly.”
I was shrewd myself. Even if he adopted me, I highly doubted any insurance in the land would cover my costs. Far as I knew, there was always a waiver period, wasn’t there?
So, what was his game?
I could be wrong but that didn’t mean I had to trust him.
Staring at him, I muttered, “You don’t have to do this.” And I meant it. How could the parents be blamed when Adam was a decent human being and Cain just wasn’t? Every family had a black sheep in it, didn’t they?
He gave me a strange smile. “I do. Cain pulled the wool over his family’s eyes. There are a lot of sins to pile on his shoulders. If I can’t make amends for them, then it will weigh on me. This is a small thing I can do—”
“You want to bring me into your family. You want me to, I mean, I guess, you want me to live with you? How do you know you can trust me? I could be a thief or something. I might have kleptomania.”
His lips twitched. “You might. I can cover those costs, just don’t steal the family silver. That’s priceless.”
My eyes rounded. “You have family silver?”
“No.” He snorted. “My father made the family fortune, but he was first generation.”
A little uneasy, I asked, “Is this because of your wife? Her being a politician?”
His sigh told me I’d hit some of the nail on the head. “Anna is finding this very hard. Cain was her golden boy and could do no wrong in her eyes. In the aftermath of this, all of his misdeeds that have been uncovered, yes, it’s hitting us hard. Her particularly.
“Her reputation is built on founder family values—”
Maybe it was mean of me, but I couldn’t stop myself from sneering at him. “So Cain’s besmirched your honor. How very Victorian.”
“Yeah, it is.” He shrugged. “That’s why she agreed to it, but for me? I watched you at the NCSA Nationals, Thea. You’re an incredible athlete, and you have a bright future ahead of you. My son almost destroyed that with his pettiness.”
“I don’t think he meant to kill me,” I mumbled, ducking my head.
“We don’t know he didn’t. Putting his foot between your shoulders didn’t exactly make it look like he was having fun. If the teacher hadn’t come along at that moment, he’d be dealing with a manslaughter or even a murder charge,” he finished hoarsely, and deep in his eyes, there was a horror so entrenched that I—
God help me.
I believed him.
It made no sense because I didn’t know him, and what I did know from Adam wasn’t great, but this wasn’t about PR for him. This wasn’t about salvaging the family name.
This was atonement. Pure and simple.
Here he was, in a charity hospital, wearing a watch that cost more than surgery, looking drained and tired, but so wealthy as he paid for his sins. Not just his son’s.
Because there was nothing I could say, I didn’t say a word, but I tensed when he scrubbed a hand over his face, and muttered, “Then, there’s this matter with Maria.”
“What matter?” I tilted my head to the side. “Has she been expelled too?”
His eyes were soft as he looked at me. “Adam and you, you’re friends, right?”
Friends? Was that what we were?
Ever since he’d gotten me on the Almanac Water Sports Team, it was what we’d let people think we were.
But was that all we were?
I didn’t think so. And from the stars in his eyes when he looked at me, I knew nothing had changed between us, even though, by necessity, we’d had to slow things down.
So I lied to him. Adam wanted to keep our connection a secret, so keep it a secret I would. “Yeah, we’re friends.”