Page 14 of Capturing the Ruthless Billionaires

“Yes—the year you turned twenty-two would also be the Swan House centenary. They were given no further instructions… except to wait.”

Her knees threatened to buckle under her.

“Cara was… she was stolen from her brothers?”

“They were led to believe she had died, Alexandria.”

“Oh god.” She slammed her hand against her mouth. There was nothing insidious about their level of cruelty; it was blatant, brazen, and heartless.

They had thought Cara had died…

“So the council and my parents... They’re using Cara to control them. Is that why they’re complying with everything?”

“Yes.”

“Are they threatening to—” She couldn’t finish her sentence.

“Her room is lined with canisters of poisonous gas. If the Dragons try to escape, if they get as far as one step out of the ante in which they are imprisoned, a hidden camera will scan their faces and automatically release the gas in Cara’s room.”

A thick sludge blurred Alexandria’s vision. She wanted to wake up from this nightmare. How had her parents so happily agreed to put Cara's life at risk in such a way? And yet, how perfect it had worked out for them, with Cara never leaving her room. Alexandria was truly going to be sick.

But she stopped short. Did her parents even love her, or even Rhea? She couldn’t say yes with a straight face. Her parents had always been together, side by side, like business partners, while their children were merely accessories for the perfect family picture. She couldn’t even remember if her parents had ever said the words ‘I love you’ to their daughters.

No. Because the Swan family didn’t need love or feel a need to show love. It was meant for poor people with no ambition. The demonstration of love was too vulgar for them.

And the men in the dungeon? They had allowed themselves to be imprisoned, to be stripped of their pride and ego, and made puppets with sperm by the Swan House family. They had done it for the love of their sister and for her life.

“What is going to happen to them now that the ritual is done?”

“They will be kept alive, until you are pregnant, in exchange for Cara remaining unharmed for the rest of her life. And then they will no longer be needed.”

She’d been right. Her family was going to kill them.

“Please don’t hate me, my sweet Alexandria. I gave my life to Swan House. For two hundred years, we were a proud family that created our own wealth and power, and we lived by rules that were fair to everyone. We left our barbaric ways in the past. But this… I will die with this in my heart.”

It took Alexandria a long moment to set aside her shock, fury, pain, and everything else that went with finding out her parents were monsters. The councilmen were monsters before she realized what this had done to Melle. She was so frail, aging right before her eyes.

“One. Six. Nine. Two. Eight. Five. Five. Five,” Melle said.

“What?”

“That is the code to disarm the motion sensor that would trigger the release of the gas in Cara’s room.”

Adrenalin pumped through Alexandria’s vein, making her whole body vibrate. She was going to save them if it killed her.

“There’s no chance of me being pregnant, Melle. I’m on the pill, and my parents know nothing about it. I’m leaving Swan House forever with Rhea and Cara. Tomorrow night. I’m also going to release them.”

Melle threw her arms around her, her strength again surprising Alexandria.

“I knew you would find a way, my clever girl. I knew you would. That gives me hope to remember Swan House the way it used to be.” She paused. “If you go left from the tunnel you will find three stone doors. If you push the third door, you’ll enter the ante. There’s only one guard there. Look around for the keypad, you’ll find it easily.”

Alexandria nodded. Would Melle have helped them escape before they were killed? She believed with her whole heart that the First Priestess would have saved their lives and faced the consequences.

Alexandria knew Melle would not come with her. She would die here, where she had lived all her life, devoting her last breath to Swan House.

Melle quickly reminded her to rearrange some of the teas, at least to cover their tracks before they left.

Alexandria couldn’t eat, couldn’t sit quietly; her mind thrummed incessantly. She had to do the right thing. She had to give Cara the choice of being with her brothers again. The thought of losing her sister killed her, but she had to make that right. She stopped herself from sobbing uncontrollably. It would slow her down and weaken her defenses.

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