Cold and Broken (The Titans of Founder's Ridge Book 1) Read online

  Cold and Broken

  Nichole Greene

  Copyright © 2020 by Nichole Greene

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the brief quotations in a book review. Resemblance to actual persons, things, locations, or events is coincidental.

  Editorial Services: The Romantic Editorial Services

  Cover Design: Envy Design

  ISBN: 9780578664491

  ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

  First and foremost, I have to thank my husband for taking on bedtime duty, not giving me too hard a time for staying up until 3 am, and letting me disappear on weekends to write. I couldn’t do this without your support and understanding.

  I also have to thank my amazing beta readers who enthusiastically consume every written word I give them. I value your time and opinions so, so much. Sherry and Valerie, you two are my ride or die ladies, when insecurity comes knocking you are both so quick to lift me up. Rachel, your keen eye and great insights helped me hone the book. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

  Finally, I have to thank my mom. I was so nervous to let you read this in its entirety. Your response was wonderful and I so deeply appreciate you proofreading for me. I still might redact the sexy scenes in future books though.

  Table of Contents

  1: Lilith

  2: Connor

  3: Lilith

  4: Lilith

  5: Lilith

  6: Connor

  7: Lilith

  8: Connor

  9: Lilith

  10: Lilith

  11: Connor

  12: Lilith

  13: Lilith

  14: Connor

  15: Lilith

  16: Lilith

  17: Connor

  18: Lilith

  19: Lilith

  20: Lilith

  21: Connor

  22: Lilith

  23: Lilith

  24: Lilith

  25: Connor

  26: Lilith

  27: Lilith

  28: Lilith

  29: Connor

  30: Lilith

  31: Lilith

  32: Connor

  Epilogue: Lilith

  1

  Lilith

  “I can’t believe you’re leaving me, Lil.” My best friend Zion slides down the wall of my empty bedroom to the floor. “It’s our senior year. Are you sure your dad won’t let you move in with me and ma? He has to know you’ll be safe with me.”

  “Yeah,” I sigh as I finish closing the last box. “I’m sure. It sucks.” I hold my hand out to help him up but he yanks me down into his lap. I know I need to get going but we both need these last few moments of comfort with each other.

  I spend time studying the ink that covers his dark arms, including the tattoo on his chest that matches the one on my hip bone. We each got double infinity symbols with each other’s names in them when dad told me about this job six weeks ago. We’ve been inseparable since kindergarten when I was getting pushed around on the playground for being the only white girl, and by white I mean I look like I just walked out of a cave after five years. I have natural platinum blonde hair with bright blue eyes and a smattering of freckles over my nose.

  Zion has the most perfect, dark and smooth skin set off by light moss green eyes. His hair’s texture is naturally curly and he keeps the curls lose on top of his head with a shaved fade down the sides. Honestly, he’s so attractive and athletically gifted it’s almost unfair. He’s been on the varsity basketball team since our freshman year of high school because he’s a literal giant at 6’7. We’ve always drawn puzzled looks at best and straight out antagonistic looks at worst, even though there’s never been a time that we’ve crossed the line beyond friendship.

  I lean my forehead against his and breathe in his scent, coconut oil and his spicy body wash. “I’m gonna miss your ass.” A tear threatens to escape my prickling eyes so I reach out and twist his nipple hard.

  “Ow!” He cries out on an outraged laugh. “What was that for?”

  “I’m about to cry.” I mumble. “I figured that’d distract me.”

  He pulls me close and buries his face in my hair. “I’ll let it go without retaliation this time.” He sniffles and wipes his eye.

  “Are you crying?” I pull back in surprise. I’ve never seen him cry. We’ve lost four friends, including his cousin, in the past three years to gang and gun violence and he’s not shed a tear. At least not in front of me.

  “Ugh,” his lips tilt up in a sad smile, “yeah. Twelve years together and you’re leaving before our victory lap. Birthdays?”

  We made a pact that we would come see each other on our birthdays. Mine is in October so we won’t have to wait too long. He’s already got his plane ticket. His in June.

  “Yes. Daily FaceTime too.” I point at him, he’s terrible about answering the phone. I cast a melancholic look around my room before standing up. “We better take these last boxes down to the truck.”

  He unfolds himself and grabs three boxes leaving me with the last one. We walk through the little bungalow style house my dad and I have shared for the past decade after mom left. Dad’s double checking the hitch to make sure the connection is good.

  “You two ready for your see ya laters?” He looks up at us with mischief and a bit of sympathy. I know he feels bad pulling me away for my last year of high school but this opportunity is just too good to pass by. I wouldn’t ask that of him anyway. “We have a solid 15 hour drive ahead of us to Founder’s Ridge.”

  “Even the name sounds like white privilege,” Zion quips. “One last attempt to get you to let Lil stay back here with me.” Z holds his hands in the prayer position. “Don’t take my girl.”

  “Sorry, Z. I can’t leave her behind.” He pulls Zion in for a tough guy hug and solid pound on the back. My dad cuffs him on the cheek and then points at him, “You stay out of trouble. Keep your eyes on the goal, D1 basketball scholarship.”

  “Yes, sir.” Z nods.

  “I’ll let you two say goodbye.” Dad jogs over and jumps in the cab of his truck.

  Z holds out his arms and I launch myself at him, wrapping my arms around his neck and my legs around his waist. His arms squeeze around my back. He kisses my cheek and whispers, “I love you, Lil.”

  “I love you, too, Z.” I can’t stop the tears. “Fuck. Put me down before someone sees I have feelings.”

  “Nah.” He gives me one more squeeze before setting me on my feet. Dad honks the truck horn in a not so subtle attempt to get us to hurry up. I walk back toward the truck and pound my fist over my heart twice and then point at him. He does it back. It’s our own way of saying goodbye and I love you without words.

  With one last glance in the rearview mirror I watch Z rub his hand over his face, wiping the tears I know he held back for my benefit. I look over at dad and he’s holding a tissue out for me. “This sucks.”

  “I know, baby girl.” He pats me on the leg. “Your birthday will be here soon enough though and you’ll see him then. Plus, I’m sure you’ll make a lot of new friends. Victor’s son, Connor, is a senior too. I’m sure he’ll help you meet people and get settled in.”

  I respond with a noncommittal hum. I have no clue what I’m walking into. Apparently we’re shacking up in the guest wing of my dad’s employer’s mansion. My schooling is covered as part of our paid expenses. I promised dad I’d keep an open mind but I’m expecting the worst. A bunch of entitled douchebags who live off trust
funds and get away with way too much because they’re rich.

  “You want to control the tunes?” my dad, the 6’ former Marine and biggest nerd on the planet, asks.

  “No one says ‘tunes’ anymore, dad,” I say while I pull up some of my most angsty music on my phone and connect it to Bluetooth. Four hours of Billie Eilish coming up. I’m betting he doesn’t make it past Indianapolis before switching to 90s rock.

  * * *

  We drove straight through the night to get to Founder’s Ridge. The past few hours of the drive have been prettier than I expected. Anything beats driving through the flat expanses of Midwest farmland. The GPS informs us our destination is ahead on the left. Dad and I share a glance as we come upon a tree lined drive.

  “You ready, Lil?”

  “Can we go back if I say I’m not?”

  “No can do, kiddo.”

  “Well, fuck. Let’s do this then.” I point up the drive, the trees obscuring the house at the end.

  “Language. Let’s not advertise our true selves quite yet.” He wiggles his blonde eyebrows, blue eyes identical to mine alight with mischief. “Ease them into it.”

  Right as he finishes that thought the house comes into view. House isn’t the correct term. Manor? Mansion? Estate? I’m not sure which of those describes it. It is a monstrosity, stretching what would be several city blocks on either side of the entrance.

  “Dad,” I put my hand on his arm. “Who are these people?”

  “The Volkov family. They own an energy and engineering conglomerate.”

  “Cool,” I squeak. I have never felt so out of my element. “Where are we supposed to park?”

  “I have no idea but I bet that guy can tell us.” He points to a middle age man coming down the front steps. The man is wearing black trousers, a white button down shirt under a sweater with a crest on left side of his chest.

  “Michael and Lilith Nelson?” he asks with a posh British accent.

  “That’s us.” My dad extends his hand.

  “I’m Edward, Mr. Volkov’s house manager.” He clasps dad’s hand before turning to me for a handshake. “I’ll have some of the other staff come unload your belongings and put them up in the rooms for you.”

  “Oh, we can unload our own things. It’s not a problem,” Dad says.

  “Nonsense.” A tall man comes walking down the stairs. He has dark brown hair and striking green eyes, bracketed by laugh lines. His face is angular and handsome in a way that screams wealth. He is wearing charcoal gray trousers and a light gray polo shirt. “Good to see you again, Nelson.” He slaps my dad’s shoulder like they’re old buddies. Then he turns his attention to me. “You must be Lilith?”

  “Yes, sir.” I offer my hand and make sure to shake his hand like dad taught me, firm grip and hold eye contact. He holds eye contact with me, probably not used to a teenage girl being so quietly direct. “Pleasure to meet you.” I pull my hand away first.

  “Likewise.” He looks closely at me and then smiles. “My son, Connor, is running around somewhere with a couple of his friends. You will all be seniors at Founders Prep together. I’m sure we’ll run across them while I show you around. This way.”

  I trail along behind my dad and Mr. Volkov taking everything in. The foyer is two stories tall with marble floors. Directly in the center is what I assume must be the family crest. It looks like a shield with a wolf head over it and letters in a language I can’t read. It honestly has a bit of a Game of Thrones vibe.

  Here’s hoping they’re more Stark than Lannister.

  “Lil? Keep up.” Dad says from a large living room area.

  “On it.” I scurry after them. Mr. Volkov explains that this living room is the most used of the three in the house, the kitchen and informal dining room are off to the left. We walk down a long hallway straight off the kitchen that leads to a game room, a television room, a library, a theater, and ends with a family room. Three sets of french doors lead out to a huge kidney shaped pool. There’s a pool house with an outdoor kitchen to the right of the pool. He walks us around the pool deck and points off in the distance to a basketball court where three guys are shooting hoops.

  “There they are. Connor! Come up here and meet Michael and Lilith,” Mr. Volkov yells down the hill. One of them looks up and holds his hand up to his ear indicating he can’t hear. Then he promptly turns around and ignores us.

  Right. This is going about how I thought it would.

  “Pardon his manners. He can be difficult.”

  The tour continues back in the house. The basement has an indoor lap pool, shooting range, and bowling alley. Mr. Volkov, or Victor as he insists I call him, points down what he calls the East Wing and says that’s where the family’s rooms are. Then he shows us down the West Wing and points out a state of the art gym that Dad and I both salivate over. I know where we’ll be spending our mornings. Then we get to the suite of rooms that dad and I will have, two bedrooms with private bathrooms, a laundry room, small kitchen and living room. It’s basically everything we’ll need to be self contained and to my amazement all our things have already been brought up.

  “Nelson, I’ll take you to the security offices now, if you don’t mind. I have a conference call in an hour so now is the only time I’ll have to show you around.” He looks over at me before walking to the door. “Lilith, you should make use of the pool while it’s still warm enough. Or go hunt down Connor and his friends.”

  “Sounds good. Thanks Mr. Volkov.” I nod my head in his direction.

  “Victor.” He corrects.

  “Right, Victor.” I watch them walk away together, heads held close while they start talking business.

  I decide to divvy up our boxes into the correct rooms before I try out the pool. The bedrooms are identical, each have a large dresser, desk, king size beds and walk in closets. I take the room that has a free standing bathtub because I know dad won’t be taking any baths. I notice it has a random door with a lock so I open it and realize it is a private entrance straight to my room from the hall. Could be useful if I’m sneaking in or out.

  After bringing in all my boxes and setting dad’s in his room, I grab my suitcase and pull everything out until I find my bikini. I get changed, grab my phone and ear buds to go nap by the pool. No one’s out around which is just fine by me. I’m not really interested in meeting Connor. I send Z a text that we made it and tell him to FaceTime when he gets home from work.

  2

  Connor

  “Who’s the smoking hot blonde laying out by your pool?” Lev asks staring out my window. “Damn.”

  “It’s probably the new security guy’s daughter.” I walk over to the window and look down. She is wearing a green and white polka dot bikini. I can’t see her face because she’s laying on her stomach but she looks good. More than good. She’s going to be a problem, I can feel it already. I can’t believe Victor is paying her tuition for Founders Prep. Christ. Every asshole in the school is going to try to fuck her. I just want her to leave, go back to Chicago where she belongs.

  “Let’s go introduce ourselves,” Lev says, practically drooling. “Who’s going to fuck her first?”

  “None of us. She’s persona non grata. We need to chase them away. We’re spreading the word at school, too. No one touches the new girl. No one befriends her. Otherwise they risk the wrath of the Titans.” I hate that nickname. It started after an article was printed about our fathers and how they were each the titans of their respective industries and then the kids at school picked it up for us. In situations like this though, it comes in handy.

  The three of us, Lev, Griff, and myself, run that school. We go where we want, sit where we want, leave when we want, and do what we want. The teachers can’t do shit. The headmaster can’t do shit. We run the school like our parents run the town, really even run the state. Actually, it’s just my dad. My mom doesn’t run shit, she runs from shit. All the way to County Cork in Ireland to her family’s ancestral estate and she took my sister, Cl
aire.

  “We should unleash Margaux and the girls on her,” Griff suggests. “That way we can keep our hands clean, should any blow back occur.” I mull that option over. Letting Margaux declare open season on the new girl will definitely send a message. I’ve seen her break people in under a week. Where I’m ruthless, Griff is cunning and Lev, well, he destroys girls with his dick and his love them and leave them mentality.

  “Let’s go meet her.” I head out of my room and grab a glass of ice water on the way out to the patio. She’s still laying out, on her back now and I take a minute to appreciate how gorgeous she is. Platinum blonde hair, ivory skin, some irritatingly adorable freckles over her nose, perfect natural tits, flat stomach with perfectly curved hips and long legs.

  Fuck.

  My dick is at half mast after checking her out and I notice Lev and Griff both take a second to readjust themselves. I walk up beside her and dump the ice water all over her chest. Her eyes fly open in shock and she squeaks in outrage.

  “What the actual fuck!” She jumps up, tits giving a perfect bounce.

  “Oops,” I smirk.

  “Oops? Oops!” She puffs her chest up and gets in my face. “What the fuck was that for?”

  “I don’t recall telling any of the staff or staff adjacent that they could use the pool today. We’re going for a swim now.”

  “Victor said I could. Pretty sure he holds more authority here than his punk offspring,” she seethes.

  Oh, she’s feisty. I knew she’d be a challenge.

  “Cold?” Lev points at her nipples rudely. “Maybe you should go put some clothes on.”

  “If you can’t handle nipples maybe you should be a little more careful with your ice water,” she tosses right back. Her ocean blue eyes narrowing at him.

  “Oh, sweetheart, I can handle nipples.” He reaches his hand out toward her and just as her eyes widen in fear he brushes a stray lock of blonde hair from her shoulder. “If I find the body they’re attached to interesting.” He makes a show of looking bored while he checks her out head to toe.