Page 52 of Brutal Kingdom

“Nope. Wasn’t on the list of things I submitted for my project. Maybe you misread the teacher’s grade book.”

“Cut the shit, dammit. When are you gonna be open with me?”

“Around the same time, you stop being an ass. Oops. You can’t. You were born this way. Guess you’re shit out of luck of ever having me share my hopes and dreams with you again.”

I glide past him, flinging the door open when he calls out, “Elijah, Charlotte, Judith, and Bartholemew Summer.”

Turning slowly to face him, I force myself to ask, “What did you say?”

He shoves the document he’s holding at me. “Wanna explain what the hell this is?”

I take it and scan the heading before folding it up and putting it in my drawer. “This is none of your business. How did you get a copy, anyway?”

“I’m Logan McKay. I can get access to anything I want.”

Meaning he hunts down your secrets to find ways to manipulate and control. Nothing is sacred or safe with these people. “Well, I know you didn’t waltz in and request a copy from my lawyer. I paid him a hefty retainer with a nice kicker to keep this quiet. So if I had to guess, I’d say you either had someone break into his apartment or hack his office to steal it. Or did you take it from the county clerk?”

“You do know that once you file that, it becomes public record, right?”

“It’s a probate case, not a divorce announcement in the paper for a missing spouse.”

“Still, someone can look it up, if they know it’s happening.”

“That’s my point.Nobodyknows it’s happening. So stay out of this.”

“You want me to pretend I don’t know you’re filing official documents to access a trust fund that doesn’t belong to you? You’re a liar and now I find out you’re a thief too.”

Of course he assumes the worst about me, because I played him. And the bitch that really is to blame gets the benefit of the doubt.

“Who says it doesn’t?” He frowns at my question. “The trust fund, who says it doesn’t belong to me?”

“Everyone in town has access to the name of every family member of the founding families, no matter how obscure. The town council publishes a quarterly report and lists the status of each descendent. When they die, we know, when a new baby is born, we know. I looked, and your name’s never been mentioned.”

“Then you didn’t dig into the family far enough, or you weren’t looking in the right places.”

“I went back to the inception of ECS Enterprises and the town archives. Your family doesn’t exist.”

“Does Imogen Summer exist?”

“Who?”

“You know. Elijah Summer’sotherdaughter. The one who married for love, then got erased from the family line. Or how about the La Bel Anons? Did you see them listed? I’m guessing you haven’t, because they moved away and fazed out of the town records before Kingsley Hollow or Camelot Court were ever created. You did your generic version of research and I did mine.”

“Jordanna, you can’t just go making up relations.”

I give him a scathing look. “I’ve never made up anything in my life. But I know you think I’ve been lying since I stepped foot on campus. Some of your distrust is warranted, because of what I did.”

“You were plotting all of it from the beginning.”

“Plotting? Against you? For what reason? I didn’t know you. I had no issues with you. Not until you bet on my virginity and humiliated me. Last semester I never lied about how I felt. I was honest with you, every step of the way.”

“The part about you hating me. I believe. The lies you told were that you loved me.”

He’s so fucking clueless it’s almost heartbreaking. “I never lied. Notanyof the times I said it. But the hurt and anger were always at the forefront of what I was doing. You’re making me out to be the villain. Let’s notforget whostarted this war between us.”

“And you think you’ve finished it? That it’s over, and you’ve won?”

I bark out a harsh laugh. “What kind of idiot do you take me for? I know nothing’s over. I’m just sitting here waiting for your next attack.”

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