Page 103 of Broken Princess

So they’re not fully onboard. Good to know I’m not being completely stabbed in the back by everyone I know. But still, I won’t risk Jordanna just for another year of leadership. “It’s fine Tabby. It’s already done.” I officially end my reign by walking away from them.

I thought giving up control would be harder. That it would make me feel different, but instead, I feel.Free.For the first time since unseating Noel, I feel like I’m facing unlimited possibilities. This is where true power lies. Making choices because you want to, not because there’s an expectation for you to be a certain way. Why did I ever think I needed that control? Yes, I like control, but I get more of a thrill from the way Jordanna bends to my will in bed. I get that rush when I’m sliding in and out of her heat. I feel untouchable when she tells me she loves me.

Now, we’re truly free to be together without the stifling weight of Bella and all my bullshit obligations weighing over our heads.

Jordanna

I breeze passed Roff with a terse hello heading directly for the study. I would’ve come sooner but I had to do damage control with Logan. I’m still ticked off that I had to fly halfway across the world to get answers I suspect Pepper’s had all along.

“Did you know? Or should I say, how long have you known?”

Lowering her paper, and pushing her glasses to the top of her head, she says, “About your family’s history? I told you the first day we met, that I knew more about you, then you knew about yourself.”

“Then why send me on a wild goose chase, when you could’ve just told me the story over afternoon tea?”

“I gave you tasks, and challenges to help you, because I find easy answers are seldom cherished. And more than that, I needed you to be invested in the history you uncovered.”

“Pepper, don’t you get it? I flew to Italy to look inside a safe deposit box, when you could have just told me what was in it.”

“Would you have believed me? Trusted me? More than that, wouldtheybelieve you? You needed proof to withstand what happens next.”

I slump into my seat. I thought confronting her would mean the end of her lessons and cryptic ramblings. “What do you mean next?”

“As I’m sure you’ve figured out. Your family comes from money.”

I think of the scroll with all the names on it. “If you and Daniella Rossi are to be believed, the branch of the family tree I come from was disowned.”

“Hmm. Yes. Sad story. Daniella’s great-grandmother and my grandmother were good friends.”

“That much I’ve now gathered. The compact was Judith’s, right?”

“Yes. Mrs. Shaw wanted to make sure her baby sister had financial security when the family cut her off, so she gave away a few of her possessions. Back then banks issued loans against valuables just like our current pawn system.”

“But the sister never put them up for collateral?”

“Oh, she and her husband sold the items right away and worked for years to get them back. There are still quite a few items out there. I have five, which are the ones my grandmother reclaimed, hoping to return them to Mrs. Shaw. She never mentioned it to my grandfather, either. She just passed them down to my mother on her wedding day with a note; and then they finally came to me for safekeeping before mother passed away. I think my grandmother knew one day, someone would show up here.”

I think of the items in the little town in New York, with the candle stick I know I’ve seen before. I can picture it so clearly now, in the attic of our old house, but I haven’t seen it in years. I need to go through the rest of the things from storage.

“How could she have known that?”

She answers my question with one of her own. “Did you know the initial scholarship at Van der Borne University was created for men only? Women had no rights, and could barely work outside of a domestic capacity.”

“Sounds about right,” I say rolling my eyes. She already knows how I feel about men thinking women are inferior.

“Imogen Summer is the sister who was disowned, and it was Bruce Shaw who suggested her husband get a job at VDU, before the family moved away.”

Her brows pinch, and her lips tip down. “Sometimes, I think the only reason they created the scholarship in the first place was to keep men on staff, by dangling a chance to mingle with the wealthy in their faces. Allistair Miller, Imogen’s husband, would have needed that job since everyone refused to acknowledge his wife came from money. When he died, his daughter was lucky enough to get a job there, and then her daughter.”

“All this time, I thought the scholarship was a new program.”

“No, dear, it’s an oldunadvertisedprogram. It’s gone through several formats but it’s always been offered to the family members of employees. Your connection just goes back a few more generations than others.”

“I’m sure there are other family members out there that could have benefitted from an education at VDU. So why am I the first person in my family to ever go to this school?” I’m sure the BP’s would’ve bragged about running everyone else off if I wasn’t.

“Because you are the first descendent I’ve come across who needed the opportunity.”

“Step-fucking dick.”I mumble under my breath.

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