Page 7 of Brutal Kingdom

“We all saw them. He has security. Big deal. Every senator’s kid on campus has a bodyguard.”

“Well, I recognized the big guy on the right and I promise you, he’s never guarded a senator’s kid. I used to see him all the time around my uncle Eric’s restaurant. He used to be a runner.”

“For who?” I ask, alarm bells going off.

“Tico DeLuca.”

I look over at Bella. You never want to get on the bad side of someone connected to the outfit. She owes Tabitha a thanks for interfering, but we both know she’ll never give it.

FOUR

JORDANNA

Roff smiles warmly as he lets me into the house and tells me Pepper’s waiting for me in the sunroom. She’s in her favorite chair, facing her garden, with a book in her lap. I settle myself on the chair across from her and after she tells me about her latest luncheon, she asks, “How’s your family?”

“They’re good, all things considered.”

Pepper eyes me with her shrewd gaze. “And have you processed it all?”

“As much as I can. We talked about it all summer, but even after visiting you and Daniella, we still have questions. But at some point we had to stop asking them and start living our lives.”

“I agree with your decision to put the search for answers aside for the summer. But now that you’re back, you need to make a choice. You don’t have much time before the deadline.”

My twenty-first birthday should be an exciting time. I should be thinking of something other than an impending court case. “I have my files, so I’m protected.”

“You know these people. Do you really think they’ll let you keep the upper hand? They’re probably searching for those files as we speak. Besides, that’s your insurance policy. Filing for your inheritance is your best chance at changing things for yourself and everyone else.”

“Why should I care about anyone but me?”

“Because as long as the old structure exists, they’ll keep going out of their way to hurt and control people like you.”

“Bella’s graduating this year. She won’t be around to control anything.”

“But her legacy will be infused into the history of the school, and she gets to pick her successor. If I had to hazard a guess, I’d say that whoever she chooses will be easily manipulated, and Bella will influence their decision even after she graduates.”

That’s something I hadn’t heard before. “So you’re saying Bella can just pick anyone she wants to take over when she graduates?”

“That’s right. The successor is handpicked. It’s usually passed down to family, but Bella is an only child, with no close family in town attending VDU yet. The next best thing is someone who the outgoing class knows will carry on with their policies. Some details may change but nobody ever has the guts or free will enough to stray too far from the original structure.”

“If that’s the expectation, why do you think I’d be a good fit in taking Bella on? I wouldn’t do anything the way she and Logan have done it.”

“That makes you perfect for the job. People are ready for a change, Jordanna. Even if they don’t say it, they are.”

“How can you be so sure?”

“Because I hear things. My friends hear things. And we discuss what we know behind closed doors. Their grandchildren aren’t happy, but they don’t feel like they have any hope in making things better because the families in control are such a tight-knit group.”

“Who’s family was in charge before Logan?”

Her lips twitch when she asks, “He never told you?”

“We never talked about it, and I guess I didn’t care enough to ask, because it had nothing to do with me.”

“It was the Hansen boy.”

My cup clanks against the saucer I’m holding. “Noel?”

“That’s right. His family was in control for two generations and his cousin would have been the next leader.”

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