Four Of A Kind

Chapter 283: [4.101] The Girl Who Saw It All Begin

I sat down across from her and took the cup she’d pushed toward me. Black coffee, still hot, exactly how I liked it. Of course she knew.

"You’ve been here a while."

"Twenty minutes. I wanted to watch you walk in."

The coffee shop was mostly empty at this hour on a Sunday morning, just a few early risers hunched over laptops and a barista who looked like she’d rather be anywhere else. The same barista who’d been working the day I spilled coffee on Cassidy’s shirt and started this whole mess.

"This is where it happened," Sabrina said, watching my face. "September third. You were running late for your shift at the Velvet Room. Cassidy was sitting at that table by the window, pretending to study while actually watching videos on her phone. You came through the door too fast, someone opened it from the outside at the same time, and your coffee went everywhere."

"You remember the exact date."

"I remember everything about that day. I was sitting three tables away, reading a book I’d already finished twice. I saw you before Cassidy did."

She said it like a confession, like she was admitting to something she’d kept hidden for months. Her purple eyes held mine without blinking, and I realized this was why she’d chosen this location. Not just for symmetry or sentiment, but because she wanted me to understand something important about how this had started.

"You were watching me."

"I watch everyone. But I kept watching you."

The admission hung between us while I processed what she was telling me. Sabrina hadn’t stumbled into this arrangement with her sisters. She’d seen me first, noticed me first, and then watched as Cassidy crashed into my life with all the subtlety of a natural disaster.

"Why didn’t you say something?"

"Because saying something would have changed the outcome. I wanted to see what you’d do when my sisters noticed you. I wanted to know if you were worth the attention." ƒreewebɳovel.com

"And?"

Her lips curved into something that wasn’t quite a smile. "You’re still here."

I took a long drink of my coffee and tried to organize my thoughts. The girl sitting across from me had been collecting information about me for months, watching from a distance while her sisters made their various moves, and only now was she showing her hand.

"This feels like a job interview where I already got hired."

"It’s not an interview. I already know everything I need to know about your qualifications. This is the orientation." ƒreeωebnovel.ƈom

She stood up and grabbed her bag, a small leather thing that probably cost more than my monthly rent. "Bring your coffee. We’re going somewhere."

I followed her out of the shop and onto the sidewalk, where Sunday morning Manhattan was slowly coming to life. A few joggers passed us, and somewhere nearby a church bell was ringing.

"Where are we going?"

"The Met opens at ten. We have two hours to kill before then, and I want to show you something first."

She led me through streets I’d walked hundreds of times, but her route took us down alleys and through shortcuts I’d never noticed. Central Park was quiet at this hour, the paths mostly empty except for dog walkers and the occasional cyclist.

"You know this area well."

"I’ve been coming here since I was eight. Richard used to bring us on Sundays when he wanted to escape the manor. He said the park was the only place in New York where money didn’t matter, because the trees didn’t care how much you had in your bank account."

It was the first time she’d mentioned her father without prompting. I filed that away for later.

We walked until we reached a bench overlooking a small pond, where ducks were paddling around in aimless circles. Sabrina sat down and patted the space beside her.

"Sit."

I sat. Our shoulders were almost touching, close enough that I could smell whatever she’d put in her hair that morning. Something floral but not sweet.

"I’m going to tell you something, and you’re not going to interrupt me until I’m finished."

"Okay."

"When Richard died, I was fifteen. Cassidy was in detention, Vivienne was at a photoshoot, and Harlow was with me at the hospital. I was holding his hand when it happened. The last thing he said to me was a list of instructions about protecting my sisters and a warning about my mother."

She wasn’t looking at me. Her eyes were fixed on the pond, tracking the movement of the ducks like they were the most interesting thing in the world.

"He told me there were files in his study. Documents about the company, about the inheritance, about things he’d hidden to protect us. He made me promise to find them and to use them when the time was right."

"Did you find them?"

"I found enough to know that my mother married him for access to the Valentine brand and that she’s been positioning herself to control everything since before we were born. I found enough to know that only one of us can inherit majority control of the company, and that she’s been manipulating us against each other since we were children."

The ducks kept swimming their pointless circles. A jogger passed behind us, headphones in, oblivious to the fact that a seventeen-year-old girl was describing family dysfunction that would make a daytime soap opera seem tame.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"Because in two weeks, you’re going to be alone with Cassidy for twenty-four hours. And after that, Harlow will have her turn. And then Vivienne. And each of them is going to tell you things about this family that they think are secrets, things they’ve never told anyone else."

She finally turned to look at me, and the intensity in her purple eyes was enough to make my chest tighten.

"I’m telling you first because I want you to understand the context. My sisters are going to fall in love with you, Isaiah. Some of them already have. And when they do, they’re going to trust you with the parts of themselves they’ve been hiding from everyone else. Including me."

"That’s a lot of pressure for a guy who was just trying to pass his classes and keep his sister fed."

"I know. That’s why I chose you."