After enjoying that little private moment, I jump out of bed and take a quick shower. Hoping to see Connor again at dinner, I rummage through my wardrobe for a long time, trying to find something I know will grab his attention.

I settle on a tight skirt, one that hugs the curves of my ass perfectly, and on a red blouse that somehow makes my breasts look even bigger than they are. Satisfied with my choice of clothes, I take one spin in front of the mirror and then put on some vibrant red lipstick, one to match my blouse.

Checking the watch on my phone, I realize I only have five minutes to be down in the dining room. Not wanting to get on my mother’s bad side (more than usually, I mean), I hurry out of my bedroom suite and make my way downstairs, carefully balancing myself on my favourite pair of Jimmy Choos.

By the time I get to the dining room (which takes me almost two minutes, that’s how big my house is), everyone’s already sitting at the table. Everyone but Connor, that is.

As I take my seat right next to Earl, my father nods at the two servants standing close to the door and they push their food trolleys toward the table, ready to start serving us. I never really felt comfortable with having servants and maids, especially when they simply stand around and watch you eat, but what am I going to do? That’s how I was brought up, and I don’t really want to start acting like a rebellious teenager again.

"Where the hell is Connor? Too important to have dinner with us?" Earl asks suddenly, raising his voice and being as subtle as an elephant in a china house.

"Connor is skipping dinner today. He wanted to spend some time in the chapel," my father tells him, his tone of voice firm and commanding. "You should try and respect him, Earl. He’s going to be helping this family and, besides, the man just lost his father. Have some compassion, will you?"

"Compassion," Earl scoffs, lowering his gaze toward his plate. Then, as if deciding he doesn’t really care for the food, he nods at one of the servants, whom immediately reaches for the bottle of red wine sitting in the middle of the table and refills my brother’s glass. "I doubt compassion will help any of us. We’re the Donovans, for God’s sake! Not Buddhists or whatever."

"Can you shut up just for a minute?" I snap at him, offering him a death stare. "He’s just praying, you don’t have to be an asshole about it."

"He’s probably praying for you to leave him alone," he mutters under his breath, but he does it loud enough for everyone at the table to hear it. Yeah, thanks for that, my lovely brother, really kind of you.

"And what the hell is that supposed to mean?" I tell him, raising my voice loud enough to grab his attention. "If there’s something you want to tell me, just do it, Earl."

"Tell you what? I don’t need to tell you anything. But it’s obvious to everyone what you’re trying to do."

"Which is?"

"You’re trying to fall on Connor’s good graces so that he’ll help you into the business. Am I wrong? Huh? That’s all you care about, isn’t it? Running our whole fortune just so you can feel all important?"

"Alright, enough! The two of you!" my father says, slamming his fist down on the table and making all the silverware jump up. He looks from me to Earl with a disapproving stare and a heavy silence falls around us. "This is a family dinner, and you’re family. So behave accordingly. And more than that, I don’t want any conversation about business. Can’t we just be a family for the night?" he asks and, even though he’s being stern, there’s a slight note of sadness in his words. It probably isn’t easy for a father to see his two children at each other’s throats all the time.

My father’s words work, but probably not in the way he expected them to. Both me and Earl fall into a sullen silence and, even though there’s no more fighting or snide remarks around the table, we’re not really "being a family for the night," as my father put it. Unless what he really meant was for us to act like a family slowly falling apart, because that’s the one thing I’d say we’re really succeeding at.

Earl’s right, though. Even though me being attracted to Connor has nothing to do with my family’s business, it’s pretty obvious that Connor can help me get a foothold in the business. I mean, he’s our family adviser, and my father always cared a lot about the way Edward helped guide our family… So it’s pretty much a given that Connor will establish the same kind of relationship with my father, which means that he’ll be able to help me become more than just the Donovan troublemaker.

And if Earl already thinks I’m doing that … why not really do it? I want Connor in my bed, but I can also enlist him as an ally against Earl. Now, you’re probably thinking that this makes me some kind of sociopathic, manipulative bitch. And that’d be a fair assessment if Earl was a good guy, but Earl’s none of that and, from what I know of him, he only cares about himself.

So, more than wanting Connor as my ally to serve my interests, I need Connor to help me because that’s the only way I can protect this family from my deranged brother.

I need Connor, and I need him on multiple levels.

But first, I need to break him. I need to make him succumb to temptation, and I need him to see that sin can also be fun. That’s going to be a challenge, yeah, but trust me on this: I always get what I want.