Chapter 0243

The days pass quickly now that I no longer have entertaining Natalia and Alessi tying me up, and they start to fall into a familiar

pattern. Breakfast with Daniel, then mornings and early afternoons at the stable, burning off my anxiety and my energy. Late

afternoons are spent in my bedroom with Daniel as we pour over Kent's strategy books and talk about our next moves.

And nights?

Well. Nights are where my real education happens.

Other things have changed in the house as well. For one, I finally got a lock on my door.

“Really?” I breathed as Kent came up about two weeks ago with the handyman to have it installed. “I get privacy?”

Kent just glared at me a little. “When have you lacked for privacy, Fay?” he asked. But I just rolled my eyes at him and gestured

to both the door and the wardrobe, neither of which had a lock and both of which were available to him twenty-four hours a day.

But he just smirked and ignored me.

“This isn’t the reward you think it is,” he informed me, coming over to where Daniel and I were sitting on the bed, books and a

chess board spread out between us. “It’s — wait,” he says, blinking and refocusing on our study materials. “What are you two

doing?”

“We're studying, Dad,” Daniel said with a little shrug.

“But the semester is over for summer,” Kent reminded him, crossing his arms over his chest.

“Autodidacticism is a legitimate form of education, Kent,” I said loftily, bouncing down onto my bed and leaning back against the

pillows, grinning at him. He flashed me a little glare of annoyance before leaning forward and looking at our collected books.

Then, he gave a surprised blink as he realized that they were his books.

He paused for a moment, considering, but then he just straightened. “Put these back where you found them, when you’re

finished,” he said. And then he turned to glare at me. “Exactly where you found them.”

I gave him a sarcastic little salute and rolled my eyes; his glare just intensified. But I smiled, knowing that he’d make me pay for it

later. And I very much looked forward to that.

“So,” Daniel said, nodding towards the handyman, who was finishing up. “What's up with the lock?”

“You're going to start sleeping in here,” Kent informed him, nodding towards my bed. Daniel and my mouths dropped open.

“Why?” Daniel asked, a little appalled at the idea.

“Because you're engaged,” Kent growled, glaring at him. “I bought more time with the Bianci’s — set up meetings with Alden so

that he can convince the Italians that he’s a bigger player than he honestly is and that we don’t need to take him out. But in the

meantime, you two need to start convincing everyone that you're in love.”