Page 2 of Ruthless Legacy

His stubborn ass says, “I’m not going anywhere.”

I whirl around to face him, twirling my blade through my fingers. “Holden and I will catalogue the names and faces of everyone on that screen and we’re going hunting. We don’t need you trying to get a warning out to your partner in crime. So leave.”

His head jerks up. “Eloise is not my partner. I’m one of you.”

Holden’s voice is all hard edges when he asks, “Are you? Because you made a deal with Eloise and never mentioned it to either of us. Whether you had anything to do with what happened or not-”

“I didn’t!”

“Whether youindirectlyhad anything to do with what happened to Thea or not, you should have told us about these conversations after we found out she was hurt. Finn confronted you, and you swore you didn’t know anything. When he voiced his suspicions about Eloise, you brushed him off instead of coming clean about this arrangement. So where in any of that were you with us?” I don’t know how Holden’s holding it together. I glance over at him. I take that back. He’s not holding it together. But he always gives people a chance to dig themselves into or out of their graves.

“I won’t make excuses for why I kept quiet. I don’t trust her.Thea. Finn was distracted, and we had a job to do. I did what I thought was right.”

“Sicking Eloise on her was the right thing to do?”

“She was supposed to make Thea’s initiation hard. Make it impossible for her to progress with the Zeta Nus and embarrass her so she’d be willing to leave school when we gave her the final nudge.”

Pax is playing to Holden’s reasonable side, but I’m not falling for that shit. “And that didn’t work, so your plan escalated!”

His hands fist at his sides, his jaw clenches. I wish this mother fucker would swing. Then when he’s bleeding out, I can easily claim self defense. He grits out, “I didn’t escalate shit. When that didn’t work, I was too busy dealing with the rest of pledge season like everyone else. And then we found that birth certificate, so we didn’t need Eloise’s help anymore.”

To Holden he says, “Play the video. I know she only showed me a snippet. I want to see everything, too.”

Holden hits play. The video starts with Eloise and a few of the Zeta Nus getting ready for Mayhem Night.

Someone off camera says,

“It’s such a shame you can’t have any fun tonight, Eloise. That bitch screwed you over good. You know how much Finn likes to fuck when he’s raising hell.”

Eloise huffs, “I better not catch any of you near him tonight. But don’t worry. As soon as this stupid vow is over, I’ll have him back, and nobody’s going to distract him from me again.”

“Okay, but you’ve said that before.”

“Things have changed. Haven’t you noticed?”

“What things?”

“All that shit we went through, all the breakups. They were tests, to see if I’d stick by him. I have, and I passed. I proved my loyalty. Haven’t you noticed? I sit at the head table all the time now and I have the full support of The Trium.”

Eloise says it with so much conviction I’d believe her, if it wasn’t me she’s talking about, and I didn’t know it was a crock of shit. But since none of the girls she keeps around her are matched with anyone, they take what she says as gospel.

She dusts a little more mascara on her lashes and says, “Okay, let’s go see what gifts tonight will bestow upon our pledges.”

The next shot is Eloise and the girls dancing around a bonfire. I can’t tell what they’re burning, but I’m sure it’s something important to someone. There’s a ding, and she raises her phone to her face with a smile.

She waves it in the air and says,“Looks like someone snuck out of their room.”

They all shriek and holler, lowering their masks back into place and follow her towards their next destination. The camera bounces as they walk. The sounds of their footsteps change as they enter the tunnel under the stadium. I know who they’ve caught before the camera pans her way. Before she utters a word.

“Awe, did you call back up? Are you afraid of little ole me?”

The guy who answers is wearing a ski mask. “I’m not afraid of shit. Someone’s offering a reward for anyone caught outside on Mayhem Night, and here you are.”

I force myself to stand still and watch it all. I force myself to listen to Thea’s screams, her cries when they bludgeon her with the mop handle. When they kick her while she’s down. While they attack her from all sides because one-on-one she was kicking their asses.

I watch it all, biting my tongue, clenching my blade when they rip her shirt from her body, when they pin her down, and when the guy in the ski mask climbs on top of her. I force myself to watch when he shoves his minuscule dick into her unwilling mouth.

Amidst the rage, I feel pride when she bites into that fucker, and tries to rip it off with her teeth like a rabid dog. Even bloody, broken, and bruised beyond measure, my girlfights.

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