Chapter 30

[Sydney]

“Agh! She did it again!,” I scream at the phone as I pace back and forth. “I even…well, you know…and he left me to rescue her!”

I am pacing back and forth in my bathrobe, my father on speakerphone. He woke me up with news of Cordelia’s daring escape from her prison. Atlas swooped in and rescued her like a white knight.

“Now Sydney-bear, calm down,” my father cooed through the phone. “We have other ways to get Greyson Mills away from Steele,” he refers to both the company and the woman, Cordelia. “You’ll get the best of her. You’re a Bryant. We Bryants never quit. Especially against a Greyson,” his growls his distaste, the word sour on his tongue.

“I’m just so tired of this game. I really like him, Daddy. I want Atlas.”

As my father gives me assurances, I replay the day in my mind, trying to make sense of what went wrong. The trap was perfect.

[FLASHBACK–YESTERDAY AFTERNOON]

“Are you sure these will work?” I text my father.

“Of course, it will work,” he replies, “Trust me.”