The Rivals
Dylan Allen
Contents
Welcome to Rivers Wilde
Also by Dylan Allen
The Legacy
Introduction
1. Prologue
Part I
HELLO
GOLD DIGGER
DOLCE VITA
THE LEDGE
TURD BLOSSOM
LOVERS
ANDIAMO
SURE THING
WILD RIVER
THE RIVERS RECKONING
FLOOD
NEED
LET THEM EAT CAKE
PRIDE
Part II
THE RETURN
KINGS MEET
TWIST
NAKED
EXPERT
SETTLING
UNEXPECTED
KNEEL
BIASED
SWEET AND LOW
LAID BARE
THUNDER
SURPRISE
DISTRACTED
HELPLESS
WOUNDED
TRUTH
HISTORY
JUDGEMENT
EPILOGUE 1
EPILOGUE 2
Also by Dylan Allen
The Legend
Prologue
1. SMOKE AND MIRRORS
I. The Start
1. LEGENDS AND LIES
2. BAE WATCH
3. TO BE READ
4. THE LEGEND
5. SQUARE
6. GO AHEAD AND TOUCH
7. BITTER HIGH
8. FOOL FOR YOU
9. CASA
10. EVERYTHING
11. FIRSTS
12. PARTY
13. MIDNIGHT
14. GONE
II. The In Between
15. DONE
16. SURPRISE
17. WINDFALL
18. CHANGES
19. THE WEDDING
20. TRY
21. ECLIPSE
III. Again
22. CONCRETE JUNGLE
23. MISSING
24. FOUND
25. I REMEMBER
26. BURNING
27. CATCHING UP
28. COMPLICATIONS
29. TIME
30. GROWN
31. FIND ME
32. YOURS
33. SURPRISE
34. JOHN DOE
35. BROTHERS
36. THREE CONVERSATIONS AND A FUCK UP
37. THE TRUTH
38. CERTAIN
39. ALL LEGENDS ARE LIES
40. NOT ENOUGH
41. DECIDE
42. WHITE KNIGHT
43. CHARMED
44. LOVE ME LIKE THAT
45. EPILOGUE
Also by Dylan Allen
The Jezebel
Present Day
The Jezebel’s Undoing
18 years AGO
1. No Right or Wrong
2. I Want To Fight
3. Alchemy
4. Just My Imagination
5. Do You Love Him?
One Year Later
6. Palestine
Six Years Later
7. Sos
One Week Later
8. Anything
Two Years Later
9. An Echo In Time
8 Years Later
10. Femme Fatale
11. Drunk Man Di Talk Truth
12. Chasing Venus
13. Head Start
14. I Want More
15. Can I Kiss You?
16. Breaking
17. Come With Me
18. Social Butterfly
19. I Remember Everything
20. A Cult
21. Transformed
22. Jealous
23. Venus And Mars
24. Friends
25. Everything
26. Adieu
27. Crash Landing
28. Oh, Brother
29. I Need Her
30. Hot Stone
31. Making an Entrance
32. Goodbye
Three Months Later
33. The Prodigal Returns
34. Opportunity
35. Walls Come Tumbling Down
36. Of Omelettes And Eggs
37. A Surprise Dollop of Cream
38. One Month Later
39. Freedom
40. Present Day
41. One More Day
2 Weeks Later
42. Fuck The High Road
2 Months Later
43. Move
44. No
45. Home
46. Always Be Unfinished Business
47. Out Of My System
48. The Jezebel
49. Venus Rising
50. I Want What Can't Be Mine
51. Flat on my Face
52. Memory Lane
53. Bleeding Love
54. Drunk In Love
17 Years Earlier
55. He called it revenge
56. Trust
57. So Domestic
58. Make it Official
59. Make Them Stop
60. At Last
61. Scarlet
62. Mine
63. Victory
6 months later
64. Home Base
65. Finally
Love Of My Life
Author’s Note
Acknowledgments
Also by Dylan Allen
The Gathering
1. Remi
2. Kal
THREE MONTHS LATER
3. Confidence
4. Remi
5. Stone
6. Kal
7. Regan
8. Tina
9. Hayes
10. Tyson Wilde
11. Kal
12. Remi
Also by Dylan Allen
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Copyright © 2020 by Dylan Allen
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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 use of brief quotations in a book review.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author's imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
For William Turner. The best uncle, friend, and confidante a girl could ask for. I will miss you always, Uncle Bill. XO
* * *
WELCOME TO RIVERS WILDE
Praise for Rivers Wilde
“You can tell Allen poured herself into this story completely because it exudes everything that is her. Brilliance, awe inspiring, riveting, captivating, emotional, inspirational, unexpected and spectacular!” -- @4_the_love_of_books
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“From the cover, to the characters, to the intricate plot and interesting secondary characters, it just worked and I loved everything about it. Highly recommended!” --Book Twins Reviews
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“Epic Love...they had it in spades!!! Remi’s story was a roller coaster of emotions...a ride I never wanted to end!” --Keri Loves Books
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“...I love Dylan Allen's writing so freaking much! Just Get this book as soon as it comes out and do yourself a favour.” --The E-Book Addict
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“The drama, the mystery, the intrigue and the love...all the love. It's like the tv show Dynasty and The Notebook had a love child...and it's beautiful!!” --Bibliophile Chloe
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“It's an angst fueled roller coaster. Buckle up, and enjoy the ride.”--The Romance Rebel
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br /> “The Legend by Dylan Allen gripped my heart from the beginning and stole my breath away completely. This story was simply mind blowing and captivating. This beautifully written epic saga of timeless love is full of angst, drama, heartbreak, passion and every delicious feeling.” --PP’s Bookshelf
Also by Dylan Allen
Rivers Wilde Series of Standalones:
The Legacy
The Legend
The Gathering
The Daredevil - A 1001 Nights Novella
Complete Standalones:
The Sun and Her Star
Thicker Than Water
The Sound of Temptation (Coming January 2021)
Symbols of Love Series of Standalones:
Rise
Remember
Release
I love to hear from readers! email me at [email protected]
Are you on Facebook? Come join my private reader group, Dylan’s Day Dreamer. It’s where I spend most of my time online and it’s a lot of fun! Click here.
The Legacy
Introduction
The Legacy is Book 1 in the Rivers Wilde series of stand alone love stories.
Located in the dynamic city of Houston, TX, The fictional world of Rivers Wilde is an enclave carved into a parcel of the most valuable and coveted land in all of South East Texas.
It’s home to the two families that it’s named after.
The Rivers are old, Texas money. Sugar, oil, and natural gas is how they made their fortune. And with that bounty, they helped found the city of Houston.
The Wildes are the new money; the bourgeoisie. They built their wealth in food service, retail, and real estate. They have made a fortune that casts the old money into the shade.
In the 1980s, the oil markets were crashing and the Rivers found themselves hard up for cash. With no other viable options, they sold part of their precious land to the usurpers they’d previously refused to even acknowledge.
Seeds of resentment burrowed deep into the fertile soil of their dislike and grew tenacious roots. Thirty years later, the rivalry continues. Even though, now, no one remembers what started it and just why the blood between the families is so bad.
Today in Rivers Wilde, a new generation is coming to the helm of power in both families.
Will they put the past behind them and usher in a new era of cooperation between the two ruling families in Houston? Or will the sins of their fathers continue to cast a shadow over them?
I hope you enjoy finding out!
Welcome to Rivers Wilde.
Chapter 1
Prologue
THE LEGACY
* * *
HAYES
* * *
I hear the crunch of footsteps behind me, but I don’t turn around. I know I’m not supposed to be here. It should worry me that I’ve been discovered. I’ve been warned repeatedly that this part of our property is off limits.
But I’m not worried.
Not today.
Maybe not ever again.
What could possibly happen to me that’s worse than my father dying? The worst day of my life has already come and gone. The boulder of pain that has lodged itself into my chest is heavy and no other emotion has been able to find a foothold in it for weeks. With each day that’s passed since my father died, I’ve become more convinced that what I’m feeling is something bigger, less definable than simple pain.
Pain is a basic, localized thing.
What I feel is sophisticated, all-encompassing.
Pain has a remedy.
There’s no cure for what has taken root inside of me.
“Yo! What are you doing here?” a man’s voice calls out from the clearing behind me. I’d been expecting Swish to come looking for me. I did bail on my father’s funeral, after all. But that deep, loose, and jaunty voice is definitely not Swish.
When I turn around, a tall, young, dark-haired man I’ve never seen before is watching me with a wary look on his face. Like I’m the intruder. Yes, I’m breaking a rule by being here, but this is still my family’s property.
I stand up slowly and face him. “Who the fuck are you?” I ask with as much aggression as I can manage.
“Remington Wilde.” He says his name like it’s a title. Like he expects it to mean something to me. And, it does. Even though I’ve never laid eyes on him before. His last name was among some of the very first words I ever learned.
Remington Wilde is the oldest son of my family’s biggest rival.
His family’s heir in training.
Just like me.
I’ve been raised to think of him as my nemesis.
I don’t know what I expected him to look like. Certainly not so… normal. He could be any other teenager at my high school. Like me, he’s taller and broader than average. He’s got a basketball tucked under one of his arms and is dressed like he’s been playing.
“Who the fuck are you?” he says just as combatively.
“Hayes Rivers,” I answer and straighten my spine. The same surprise I felt flickers in his eyes for just a fraction of a second before he schools his expression—but I don’t miss it.
Then, he starts dribbling the ball. His hand meets it every time it springs off the ground, but his eyes never stray from me. I’d heard he was a major basketball talent. But he attended the public high school, Lamar, and I attend the private Strake Jesuit. Our teams have never played each other. But if his playing is anything like his skillful but absentminded dribble, he was clearly born to hold a basketball.
“You’re not supposed to be here,” he says and draws my eyes back to his.
“Neither are you,” I shoot back.
We stare each other down. The longer I look at him, the more I’m sure I’ve seen him before.
He narrows his eyes at me, crosses his arms over his chest and curls his lip. “I came to get a ball that came over the wall. But you look like you’ve been making yourself comfortable back here.” He nods at the sleeping bag that’s stretched across the huge boulder in the center of the clearing. I’ve been coming here since the day my father died. It’s been my escape from an endless stream of people who have been at our house to pay their respects.
“So?” I respond with a defensive shrug. I nod at his arm. “Looks like you got your ball. Why are you still here?” I ask.
His eyes narrow briefly, but his expression stays neutral.
“I thought your old man’s funeral was today,” he says casually, quietly. And yet, the reproach in his tone hits me like he yelled them inches away from my face. A flush of shame washes over me.
Of course, he knows. Everyone does. His mother, the widely-respected Tina Wilde, sent flowers. Eliza hurled the vase against the wall when she read the card, and they were not invited to the funeral. But I know their family must be watching ours closely to see how things change now that my father is gone. I wonder, too. He looks nothing like the mythical foe I’d imagined he would. But, our families have shared nothing more than the wall that divides our properties for the last—nearly—fifteen years.
He glances at his watch, frowns at it and then looks back at me. “It can’t be over already? At nine o’clock in the morning?”
I imagine St. John’s United Methodist Church packed to the rafters with people, pretending to care that my father is dead, mingling with the handful that really do. I’ve been handed so many business cards this week by people hoping that the Riverses will continue to be customers.
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