The Trials of Tiah...Riley

By Evelyn DeVere

Follow Tiah in her romantic adventures as she navigates through the pitfalls of her relationships. From spoiled heiresses, to disgruntled divas Tiah has to deal with how to get closer to the incredibly sexy and very remote Riley Lytton. Crafting a careful relationship with his sister Tiah discovers that perhaps she was better off staying with her original friends. At least that might keep the handsome, but crazy Dante Rossi away from her. Then there is the sexually ambiguous and morally bankrupt billionaire Vaun Dubois. Why was he always around and under foot? Riley’s older brother Connor is hot enough to get her notice and there was the peripheral heartthrob, like Tyler Brighton to keep her on her toes!
Tiah gets jobs, loses jobs, makes friends, loses friends and enjoys a close up view of the rich, powerful and insane of her town. This is the first book in the series and the start of a romantic adventure that leads Tiah from delight to despair while she faces the truths within her life.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Breedles Publishing
• Release date: Jul 27, 2014
• ISBN: 9780992556532

Evelyn DeVere

I live in Sydney Australia and created a Young Adult romance series called the Trials of Tiah.

Book preview

Chapter 2—War Of The Divas

Chapter 3—The Claws Are Out

Chapter 4—The Awful Truth According To Mother

Chapter 5—Designer Therapy

Chapter 6—The Lair Of The Lavaliere

Chapter 7—Beauty And Truth

Chapter 8—Sons And Lovers

Chapter 9—The Ice Queen

Chapter 10—Love Child

Chapter 11—Better The Devil You Know

Chapter 12—The Fat Lady Didn’t Sing Yet

Chapter 13—Hanging On The Telephone

Chapter 14—Thrown To The Wolves

Chapter 15—Ancient Woe

Chapter 16—Come Into My Parlour

Chapter 17—Best Laid Plans

Chapter 18—Luck Was A Lady Tonight

Chapter 19—Bound By Lies

Chapter 20—From Bad To Worse

Chapter 21—The Burdens Of Youth

Chapter 22—Dungeons And Freaks

Chapter 23—A Bird Of A Different Feather

Chapter 24—Purr Of The Lynx

Chapter 25—Chain Of Command

Chapter 26—The Perils Of Affiliation

Chapter 27—The Balancing Act Of The Amazing Tiah

Chapter 28—A Large Noxious Pest

Chapter 29—Never-Never Land

Chapter 30—Tangle Of Deceit

Chapter 31— Conversing: The New Insanity

Chapter 32—Life In The Misery Bucket

Chapter 33—Round And Round We Go

Chapter 34—Riding The Rapids

Chapter 35—Winds Of Change

Chapter 36—Frozen In Hell

Chapter 37—This Lunacy Has No Fringe

Chapter 38—Princes And Pawns

Chapter 39—Phone Wars

Chapter 40—This Opera Is Soap

Chapter 41—Love, Real Or Otherwise

Chapter 42—Stormy Interludes

The Trials of Tiah...Riley

Chapter 1—Something Like That

My world used to be fun. All we did was talk about fashion, parties, and boys because none of us really cared what was out there beyond school. We were part of a life that planned every moment for you, so having an opinion wasn’t really worth anything. The best you could do was be distracted by a lot of meaningless stuff. Everyone decided to take a gap year and made plans to travel through Europe. This was how you were supposed to get polished up for your future. It was going to be the best year of my life, away from this town, where I could explore the world! Then Veronica Marjohn happened. She was slightly older than we were and went off for her own gap year. She turned into a crazy party girl, had some accident and died. So our parents closed ranks and we were stuck in Ravenvale for the summer where we were expected to find work, get married, or prepare for college.

It was supposed to be my year off, not the year I found out the truth about everything. I used to live in a world of fashion, boys, and parties, but now I lived in a world of power struggles, intrigues, and maybe even murder. It all depended on if Vaun Dubois did half the things he threatened he would.

Vaun Dubois was not only the richest person, just about everywhere, he also said and did the creepiest things. When he spoke it was like listening to some ancient horror movie—really—who talked like this:

As a gentleman of leisure it is my task to observe the criminal, economic, and social antics of this town with aloof disdain, unless I have arranged certain tragedies for my personal amusement. I have the delightful and dismal pleasure of owning everyone, everything, within my immediate view and it has always been my duty, never a burden, to dictate the lives of others. My family is wealthy, powerful, superior, with a few touches of, let us say, less than stable mental attributes. They have ruled Ravenvale since there has been a town and we have no intention of allowing anyone or anything to usurp our natural authority.

He said that to some stranger who didn’t know who he was. The thing with Vaun was when he said crap like that you were never exactly sure who it was meant for. Everything had changed since we graduated and it wasn’t for the better. I felt like there was no one I could tell my thoughts to anymore. Everyone was so intense and not about college and stuff, since in my world these weren’t big issues. We were from the Northside of Ravenvale with big houses, luxury cars, and socialites more interested in the latest fashion than the latest world issues.

It seemed lately I noticed stuff about our town and not just the craziness of old money. Everyone had done business with each other for generations and it was almost incestuous how they wouldn’t let new people into the area, except for Ruby Renwick. She managed to outsmart the entire social set and that made Mother laugh into her gin for a whole day! It was more the affairs, the scandals, the lies, and of course there were the homicidal whispers that everyone just sort of accepted.

We were not really, really rich, but our family was one of the founders of Ravenvale, so I was included in everything and I guess I was one of them. At least I was, except somehow things changed, and this included how I saw the people in my life. Even Chloe (my best friend) Lytton noticed this the other day and she wasn’t very observant, or even a person who cared about anything except herself and getting her own way. Mother said the three of us made a charming group and maybe we did with our different looks. Chloe was dark blonde with aqua eyes, Delia had dark hair with dark eyes, and I was dark auburn and green-eyed with gold flecks.

The summer started when Chloe called us up to help her return her new car. It was a present from her father for her woes, although he called it a graduation present. It was a gorgeous convertible but she didn’t like the seats. She said the leather smelled funny but I thought she was being a bit strange since the leather smelled like...well, LEATHER!

I’m taking it back! Everything with Chloe was an announcement.

Delia was a bit more careful. Won’t that hurt your father’s feelings?

Chloe pulled a face. He won’t even notice that it’s different.

My father died when I was little, so I felt a bit bad that Chloe was so harsh about her present. Then I knew what it was for and understood her anger.

Maybe we could spray something to make it smell better, I tried, but Chloe was only interested in what Chloe wanted.

I don’t want some second-rate car that stinks. I want a new one!

With this she dragged me and our other friend Delia (her name was really Adelia but when she was twelve someone called her Addy and her mum sprackled out and made a point of calling her Delia ever since) back to the dealership to exchange her car for another one. We drove, and as usual, Chloe parked wherever she wanted. The sales guy (super hottie) came up; probably expected to make money, only what he got was a spoiled heiress who complained—lots!

I don’t like the smell of this.

He laughed. You can’t exchange a car like it’s a dress. You’ve driven it and now it isn’t worth the same as when it left.

No one said no to Chloe, especially a salesperson. She took out her phone, pressed a button, and started ranting.

But Daddy, it smells terrible! I think they know there’s something wrong with the car because they won’t even look at it.

She listened for a second and then gave her phone to the salesman. We didn’t have to hear a word because the look on his face told us everything. Lyttons liked to get their own way—in everything. The salesman went back into his office and when he came out it was with the manager. He was one of those guys with a big fake smile. Chloe didn’t seem to notice and pouted as he walked over.

Miss Lytton, I am terribly sorry about the situation. Why don’t you keep this car as complimentary until your new one is delivered?

Chloe gave a sweet smile as if nothing was wrong. I want to choose the colour of this one.

He waved us into the office, but Delia and I knew better than to watch Chloe choose anything. She would take twice as long if she had an audience, so we waited outside while the salesman tried to sell us stuff. Delia asked a few dumb questions and I ignored him, not because of what he was doing, but because I already drove Mother’s old Mercedes. Half an hour later we drove back to town. I knew her dad pulled strings and got the car exchanged because that was how life was in this town; well, if you were from the Northside.

Everything is so weird lately, Chloe complained.

Usually we ignored her complaining because she complained about everything, except this time she was right.

She continued. Everything is different and the town is full of strangers.

She was talking about Ruby Renwick, but I felt it too: like a storm waiting to happen. Even awful Vaun Dubois was always around us. He used to be someone we knew in passing, but suddenly he was close and staring. I once heard him tell his best friend Tyler Brighton (who was gorgeous) that the biggest decision of his day was whether to wear a blue suit or the gray. Now he was always at our cafe pavilion—the local hangout—when we were. I knew he checked us out, and not in a nice way. He was like thirty, and if you asked me, a dirty old man. His family owned everything and everyone and if you had any brains, you kept far, far away from the Dubois family, every single one of them! The other day he was at a dinner party hosted by Chloe’s mum. She liked to think she was the main socialite of our town and always told everyone else what to do. When she asked Vaun what his plans were for the summer, he told her he was going to frighten the local lovelies with his presence.

She pretended not to believe him until he said, I’m not hampered by gender discrimination: your sons or daughters, I will ruin either with ease. Mothers don’t warn about me because I am too terrifying to contemplate.

Everyone went silent at the table until he laughed. Chloe said everyone else did, but it sounded like they had teeth pulled. He talked like a villain from some old movie, which made him even more disturbing. The trouble with Vaun was he believed the terrible things he said—he wasn’t someone you wanted to know. His sister Lily was the only one who vaguely controlled him. She was known as the Ice Queen. She never married and you hardly saw her out with any men. The entire Dubois family was one creepy, creepy puzzle that I wasn’t going near. Chloe, though, got this weird idea that Vaun was misunderstood and needed to meet the right person, but I wasn’t that stupid. Some things were best left under rocks.

She brought him up, like she did when she wanted something she couldn’t have and pouted until she got it.

Vaun can’t be that bad. Why else would everyone always invite him to parties?

That’s true, if he was awful they’d just stop, Delia agreed, but then all she ever did was agree with whoever was speaking.

They invite him because his family owns the entire town and everyone is afraid of him. I wanted them not to be that stupid.

My family owns a winery, but that doesn’t mean we get invited everywhere.

I laughed. Yes it does and yes you do!

She pouted again and I decided to leave before she complained about me. Chloe’s dad owned a huge vineyard that sold wine to the entire world. They were the second richest people in town and because of that, Chloe got her own way all the time.

My name is Tiah Barclay and this was my new world—lust, love, revenge, murder and intrigue.

Chapter 2—War Of The Divas

I went to the Pavilion Cafe with Chloe and Delia and discovered everyone in the world was sprackled—that’s our word for upset about everything. Pavilion was our meeting place where we went to gossip, mostly about boys. It was built in the 40s and had all this nostalgia stuff all over the walls. One side was a huge long counter made of ugly laminate and lots of little tables filled the rest of it. It was a great place until the owner extended and put booths at the back of the room. Now people like Lily Dubois and Zara Lytton came in for coffee, so the boys stared at them, instead of us. Even if we explained they fancied someone’s mother, they didn’t care, because they drooled over anything in a skirt. Chloe’s mother was very pretty, but no one matched Lily Dubois. She floated by you like her feet never touched the ground.

The Lytton children were dark blonde like their mother, Zara, instead of dark like their father, Alastair, with amazing aqua blue eyes. I would have called their hair light brown, but Chloe was always careful to say dark blonde. If she wanted blonde she could have dyed it, half the world did that, but Chloe’s mother put her foot down once and that was the once. Boys followed Chloe around because she was pretty, as well as being a Lytton. Being rich and pretty made her act entitled and she manipulated the guys for something to do. Then again, if they were stupid enough to let rich and pretty boss them about, they got what they deserved.

We were in Chloe’s huge bedroom. It was nearly as big as Mother’s sitting room and filled with the ugliest furniture ever! Her mother redecorated endlessly, as if it was a contest, so their home was always changing.

She made a face. Mother was on the phone all morning shouting at idiot designers.

Why’s that? asked Delia, and I rolled my eyes because it meant listening to Chloe bitch about her mother for ages.

Zara gave parties for something to do and she hired event organizers like Piper Seagrave or Tyler Brighton. Zara gave the first big party of the year, called the Spring Opener. She picked some obscure charity, had a party, and sent them money; it’s what she called giving back to the community. Everyone got their jewels out of their safe and then tried to buy the most elegant dress from whoever was in season. This year it was one of those old people designers like Joan Blankett, but who cared, since it was the same every year.

She wants Tyler Brighton to do it, but the porn queen got there first and now she is furious! She’s been shouting at everyone. She even called Lily to see if she could get Vaun to force Tyler to do the Opener.

Ick! Vaun!

Delia pulled the face we all did when he was mentioned. The weird thing was that the Dubois were a stunningly handsome family. They had ice green eyes and tawny brown hair with gold streaks, as if they had been out in the sun. If you were to see Vaun walking down the street, you’d think he was hot until he opened his mouth and said something creepy.

Six feet tall, and though you couldn’t tell it under his suit, he was sort of built. I knew this because sometimes he swam at Chloe’s house. He was there more than we liked because his sister was best friends with Zara. The rest of the Lytton family left their house because of the designer mishap. Zara made complaining an Olympic sport.

Porn queen? What about the Porn queen?

Chloe’s brother Riley poked his head around the door and my face went pink. He was the reason I was there and I hoped he’d come to chat. A couple of years ago my best friend was Mia Rossi, but last summer Chloe’s older brothers, Connor and Riley, came home. Connor was tall with short hair and eyes like the ocean. Every girl in town was a bit in love with Connor Lytton because he was steamy dreamy. He was nice too, and said hello whenever he saw us. He worked for his father at the winery, where he learned the business. Riley was different;