Page 6 of Ruthless Legacy

She doesn’t respond. I can see her shutting down. Shutting us out. She’s already shifting her mindset back to viewing us as her enemies. I grab her hair, forcing her head back to look at me.

“You need space to fortify your walls, to gear up to fight? Fine, we’ll give it to you, but when it comes time to track these people down -whoever they are- we’re right there with you.” My other hand grabs her face, smushing her cheeks. “Now kiss me.”

She struggles against my hold. I grip her tighter as I lean down, pressing my mouth to hers in a bruising kiss. It’s quick. Hard. And when I pull away, I whisper against her ear, “I fully expect to see some violence and people screaming after you watch the video. Maybe a little bloodshed, which is in Finn’s wheelhouse. But if you go too dark, I’ll be there to pull you back, just like you did for me.”

With one last kiss, I release my grip, dragging Finn out of her room and into mine. I go straight to my computers to run through the copy of the video I have. I’m scrubbing the metadata, trying to see if it matches anything else out there. It’s a lot harder than it sounds because right now I have no way of telling how many times the clips were shared. Since it was Mayhem Night, and the campus was open to alumni and league members from across the country, anyone could have additional copies of the video snippets, or the entire thing.

The search net is wider than I’d like. I need to narrow it down, but I can’t use any league assets to do it. Mad as I am at Pax, I still need to protect him. Protectus. He was an idiot for making that deal with Eloise, but I know he didn’t intend for this to happen. He’s notthatheartless.

I log onto a hidden server under one of my alias and send a message to a secure chat I have with SMVM0St33l. I’ve never met the person behind that screen name, but they’re a legend in our underground cyber community. They have a backdoor to Prospectus, the integrated grade book and social media app we use on campus. I tried to create my own backdoor, and got nowhere. The security encryption on the software is impeccable, and they refuse to share the code that got him access. They’re the one who helped me mess with Thea’s grades. We’ve been cyber friends for almost two years now. Lots of people call themselves Hactivists, but SMVM0St33l, is the only person I’ve come across whose skills and motivations are like mine. We’ve created a few exploits together, and split the profits when we sold them to whoever had enough cash to pay for them.

SMVM0St33 doesn’t appear to be online, but I send my message anyway. He or she is pretty good about getting back to me within a few days. In the meantime, I have other things to focus on, like the ghost image I found attached to one of the video clips. It’s barely two seconds of footage. A blip that’s barely there, and blurry as shit, but I froze the frame enough to make out that it’s a hand. My gut is telling me that the dark glob on the hand isn’t just artifacts from the video or a shadow. I’m pretty sure it’s a tattoo, and when I’m done recreating this video, the owner of that hand will be the first person I track down.

Chapter3

Thea

My hands shake as I grip the tablet Holden left me. I’ve watched the video three times, trying to desensitize myself to what’s on it. I listened to Pax and Eloise plotting against me, heard the laughter, and listened to my screams, waiting for a memory to resurface. There’s still nothing. If they shot me up with that fancy drug they use at parties, then that explains why there’s just dead air where the memory should be.

Holden’s right. Pax never appears on screen, and none of the voices match his perpetually condescending tone. Eloise is there in the beginning, and it’s not a far jump to assume she’s there for the entire thing.

I also understand why Holden says it was edited. After the girl, who sounds a lot like Eloise, says to bring me along, the camera cuts off. It doesn’t come back on until I’m already in the burning coffin.

Finn says he walked up on Pax and Eloise talking about this video. I want, no,I need,to hear from Pax what else they talked about. I walk to my door, quickly closing it back, when Finn steps out of his room, followed by Holden and Pax. Through the crack in the door, I watch the three of them walk towards the elevator, wearing suits.

My confrontation with Pax is on hold. Maybe that’s a good thing. I feel the rage. The violence Holden warned me about. I want to fight, but Wolfe wouldn’t like that. Disappointing him is the only reason I’m not at Eloise’s door right now, gutting her and yanking out her insides. I need to burn some energy and I want to update him on what I’ve learned. Snatching my keys off the table, I dial his number.

“LaReaux?”

“I’m ready to go on the warpath.”

“I’m at the gym, sweetness. I’ll see you when you get here.”

I look over my shoulder as I walk to my car and in the rearview mirror, driving to the gym as if my enemies are hot on my heels. In movies, when the protagonist gets closer to the truth, the bad guys become more determined to stop her. And in action movies, the unexpected T-bone on the street is an overused but effective plot device.

I know I’m not living in an action or suspense movie, but damn if all the crazy shit I’m going through doesn’t make it feel like I am. I pull into the parking lot of Wolfe Pack and hurry towards the doors, letting out a sigh of relief when I make it inside and see there are people here working out.

“Hey little girl.” Tank calls from the corner of the ring.

I mumble a quick greeting, rushing over to where Wolfe is standing. “Let’s go talk in my office.” He passes his clipboard to one of the other trainers and places his hand on my lower back, ushering me across the gym.

I step inside his office, and force myself not to flinch when the door clicks shut behind us. He notices. Of course he notices. “What’s got you on edge, LaReaux?”

I pass him the tablet, deciding it’s easier to let him see for himself. I’m not even sure how to explain it. I can’t force the words out of my mouthtoexplain it.

“Is this a fighter you want to prepare for?”

I mumble. “You could say that.”

He presses the button and Eloise’s voice grates across my nerves. I’ve watched it, I know what he’s seeing, what he will see, but that doesn’t stop me from shivering from the brutality of it. I press my back against the wall and slam my eyes shut, going somewhere else in my mind, waiting for it all to be over.

I don’t open them again until Wolfe pulls me into his chest. “Come here.”

I blink and the tears I’ve been letting my anger mask, the tears I’ve been holding back, slip free. He sinks down to the floor and pulls me into his lap, cradling me against his chest. I bury my face in his shirt, trying to mute my sobs. I crack, because he gets it. He understands. I crack because he doesn’t tell me to be brave. He doesn’t offer any promises to hunt down people for me. He just holds me and lets me break, even though I know we’re both processing the footage. Holden, Finn and Pax may have seen the video, but only Wolfe and LJ know just how much damage I had when it was over.

He rubs my back and kisses the top of my head. “You’re safe, sweetness. Go on and let it all out. You’re safe. I got you.”

Chapter4

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