Page 8 of Ruthless Legacy

“You need to fix this,” he says, repeating the same thing he told me on the ride down to the lobby this morning. I know why he’s laying this at my feet. My deal with Eloise is the reason Thea retreated into her corner. She’s cut off all contact with him and Holden.

It’s what I wanted, and I should be happy about it, but the stress on Holden’s face says he won’t be in control for much longer, either. I can’t be the reason he does something stupid, like hacking into a government server, or beating somebody to a pulp,or ruining someone’s life. Again. It’s obvious who he’ll go after if he chooses the latter. I’ve never heard of anyone targeting another legacy family, but he won’t care. Eloise needs to pay, and he’ll want to make that happen in the most painful way possible. Starting with her parents for giving birth to her.

“I’ll try.”

“There is notrying.Do it.”

I sigh, trying to keep my patience. “She won’t want to hear what I have to say.”

The look he gives me says he doesn’t care how difficult it is. I need to get it done. Iwill,because this is my mess to fix, and I need to do it before The League finds out what happened. Thea’s not one to bite her tongue. I’m surprised she hasn’t said anything yet.

We enter the building and stand outside her Forensic Evidence lecture, waiting for her class to end. The doors swing open; the students check us out as they walk by. I ignore them all. This isn’t a social visit.

The first thing Thea does when she sees us is roll her eyes and walk the other way. One look at Finn and Holden tells me what they expect me to do.Great, now I’m chasing after her. This is fine for Holden and Finn, but Ineverchase. Not even when I race. I’m always the lead car.

“Thea, wait!”

In true Thea fashion, she speeds up. God, this girl is so goddamn stubborn. I take the hallway on the left and exit the building through the teacher corridor. I’m waiting against the wall when she comes around the side of the building.

She tries to run again, but I grab the strap of her backpack, yanking her back like a yo-yo. “Stop fucking, running.”

“Then stop chasing me.” She slips her backpack off and stalks away from me. My long legs catch her quickly. I lean down and toss her over my shoulder, then move back to the side of the building, away from prying eyes and gossiping tongues.

She’s shaking like a leaf. Fuck, is she scared? Of me? “I just wanna talk. I’m not gonna hurt you.”

“Right, because you’d rather order someone else to do it.”

I lower her down so we’re eye to eye, and press her back against the wall, bracing her weight against my knee. “I’m not gonna hurt you at all, Nem, and I won’t let anyone else do it either.”

“Again. You mean you won’t hurt me or let anyone else do itagain.”

Her voice breaks at the end of her sentence. Shit, I hope she’s not about to cry. “Yes. That’s what I mean.”

“Why should I believe you?”

“You shouldn’t, and I’m not asking you to.”

“Then let me go.”

“I will, after we talk.”

“Put me down and we’ll talk.”

“How stupid do you think I am? We both know if I put you down, you’ll do something stupid like take a swing at me and try to run off. I’m not in the mood to spar with you right now or chase you. I promised Finn and Holden I’d talk to you, and that’s what I’m doing. So, I’ll just hang on to you until I’m done.”

“Talk fast. Just being this close to you makes me wanna vomit.”

I ignore the jab. “I know Finn and Holden have already told you, so now I’m telling you, they had nothing to do with what happened to you.”

“Which time? Because they’ve had plenty to do with things that have happened to me.”

“You know damn well I’m talking about your accident on Mayhem Night.”

“Let’s call it what it was, Pax. It was an orchestrated attack.”

My jaw ticks. I hate hearing those words, but it’s true. “That’s right. They didn’t even know about it.” I clarify before she can ask, “They didn’t know I made a deal with Eloise to get rid of you. I’m the one you should be mad at. Not them.”

“You’re one. That’s the deal with The Trium, right? So whatever you did, they did it too. Isn’t that the stupid little motto you keep yelling around campus?”

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