CHAPTER TEN – FINN #3
“She wants out,” he confirms. “But she’s stuck.
From the bits and pieces my girl has heard from other staff, she can’t leave until Jasmine has married you.
After some time, they’ll announce her return and, if Rosalyn has her way, have her married off to someone who can benefit the family business.
That she won’t see a penny of, of course. ”
“Unfortunately for Rosalyn, that dream will never come true,” I say flatly. “Perhaps she should be focusing on finding a suitable husband for Jasmine instead.”
Alec smirks. “Ah, you really are going to marry her.”
“I promised her I’d do anything within my power to give her what she wants. She wants to marry me.” I shrug a shoulder. “From my side, this isn’t a bad thing. It makes my mother happy, and I’m attracted to Harriet.”
“What about her reasons for marrying you? She wants to burn her entire family legacy to the ground. What are you going to do?”
I smile. “Hand her the matches.”
“Oh, boy. You’re a fucking lost cause already.”
A chuckle escapes me. “There’s something about her.
Even if those are her goals, they don’t affect me in any way at all.
My mother hates William, so instead of stopping her, I’d wager she’d also hand her a box of matches.
Shit, she’d light the bloody things first. She’s been apoplectic since Harriet was here in the palace.
She even cancelled a meeting—which she never does—because she knew she was in no fit mental state to chair it. ”
“Impressive. Harriet even has a chokehold on the queen. Perhaps I need to meet this woman.”
“You will. In time.” I tilt my head back and stare at the ceiling for a moment before looking back over at him. “Is that it? She just quietly exists in the Sinclair household?”
“Mostly. She tries to avoid them wherever possible. They’re certainly not going out of their way to project a happy family unit to the household staff. From their perspective, the staff seem to really like Harriet. When they interact with her, at least.”
“They do?”
“Yes. Compared to Jasmine who, and I quote, ‘demands, demands, demands,’ she rarely asks for things. When she does, they’re always things she hasn’t been able to do by herself, and she’s always extremely grateful.
She remembers their birthdays, always greets them, and thanks them whenever she can.
She’ll even call Jasmine out for her treatment of staff, even if she winds up having to apologise for upsetting her. ”
“She has to apologise for upsetting her for correcting bad behaviour?”
“Yes. It’s hardly the worst thing she’s been forced to do.
Nine months ago, Jasmine crashed into Hugo DeLaurentis’ car, injured his girlfriend, and drove off.
Harriet doesn’t have a car, so they simply forced her to be the scapegoat.
She took the blame, agreed a settlement that her father oh so graciously covered, and Rosalyn forced her to hand over her licence. ”
“I remember that crash. Stella was injured relatively badly, and the hit and run was quite the talk of the town. They said at the time that it was a distant relative of the Sinclairs who was responsible.”
“Yes, that’s how they refer to Harriet outside the house. A distant cousin staying with the family to build her business. Neither her name or face was ever publicly revealed, and they tried to say that distant cousin left St Peters shortly after, so it had no effect on her business.”
“Hm. What else has Jasmine done that she’s made her cover for?”
“That’s the question. Jasmine is spoilt. She gets whatever she wants and never takes responsibility, and her parents indulge her. Last week, Harriet called Jasmine on her attitude, and after William walked in and caught the tail end of their conversation, he forced her to apologise to her.”
“Did she?”
“Yes. If I remember correctly, it was something along the lines of her being ‘sorry if what I said upset you.’”
I snort. “That’s not an apology.”
“No, but William didn’t argue. It seems he tries to keep the peace more than anything.
Harriet toes the line of doing what she’s told without actually doing it, if she can help it.
Honestly,” he says, rubbing the back of her neck.
“It’s clear to see why she hates them. Her father because he replaced her and her mother; Rosalyn because she simply despises her entire existence; and Jasmine because, well.
” He holds out a hand. “Self-explanatory, that one.”
“Is all of that really enough hatred to want to rip apart everything they have? Their business… I don’t know.” I scratch my chin with another sigh. “There’s something else. There has to be.”
“That’s all I know,” Alec says. “My girl is going to keep on reporting to me, so if there’s anything else you need to know, you will.
Like I said, though, Harriet mostly avoids them all if she can and keeps to herself.
If she has any other reasons, there’s only one person who knows them, and that’s her. ”
“All right. Thank you, Alec.” I pull the USB drive out of my pocket and twist it around. The plastic is smooth against my fingers, and the act of fidgeting calms the tightening in my chest somewhat.
I thought he’d give me answers. I thought he’d be able to find out something that could help me understand her a bit more.
Instead, I feel like I know less than I did before.