Page 146 of The Brothers Hawthorne

Eve almost did, but then Avery said something on screen that stopped her in her tracks.

“Tobias Hawthorne wasn’t a good man, but he had a human side. He loved puzzles and riddles and games. Every Saturday morning, he would present his grandsons with a challenge…”

His grandsons, Eve thought bitterly.But not his granddaughter.She should have grown up at Hawthorne House. The dead billionaire had known about her. She was his only son’s only child.Shewas the one who’d been betrayed—not the other way around.

All she’d ever done was try to take care of herself.

“If there’s one thing that the Hawthornes have taught me,” Avery said on screen, “it’s that I like a challenge. I love toplay.”

“Do you?” Eve murmured, staring bullets at the happy, happy girl who’d stolen the life that should have been hers. “Do you really?”

“Every year,” Avery—perfect, beloved, brilliant Avery—said, “I’ll be hosting a contest with substantial, life-changing prize money. Some years, the game will be open to the general public. Others… well, maybe you’ll find yourself on the receiving end of the world’s most exclusive invitation.”

Avery, in the spotlight.

Avery, calling the shots.

“This game. These puzzles. They’ll be of your making?” the interviewer asked.

Avery, smiling. “I’ll have help.”

Those words—more than any other part of this interview—were blades to Eve’s heart. Because she didn’t have help. Besides Toby, who lovedAveryas a daughter, besides Slate, who half despised her, she had no one.

All the money in the world, and still, she had no one.

On the screen, Avery was being asked when the first game would start. She was holding up a gold card. “The game starts right now.”

Eve turned off the television. She closed her eyes, just for a moment, then turned to Slate. Avery wasn’t the only one who liked a challenge. She wasn’t the only one who liked to play.

Vincent Blake was dead. He wasgone. Eve wasn’t bound by his honor anymore. She wasn’t bound byanything. “I have a job for you,” she told Slate.

“Whatever you’re thinking,” he advised her, “don’t.”

“Do it,” she told him, “and I’ll give you one of my seals, make you one of my heirs.”

Slate’s expression was never easy to read. He wasn’t easy at all. She liked that about him.

“What do you want me to do?” Slate asked.

“I need you to help me get a little one-on-one chat,” she told him, “with Grayson’s little sister.”

“Gigi?” Slate’s eyes narrowed at her. That she’d gotten any emotional reaction out of him at all was… unusual.

“No.” Eve shook her head. “The other one.” The one who reminded her of Grayson. “I think it’s about time that Savannah Grayson and I had a discussion about her father.”

Eve imagined herself back at the chessboard, across from Avery.No one islettingme win this time, she thought. Avery had her game now.

And Eve had hers.