Page 9 of Ruthless Legacy

I tip my chin in acknowledgment.

“There. Then they’re guilty too.”

“Ordinarily, that would be true, but not this time. If there are going to be consequences for what happened. If you retaliate or decide to tell someone, you blame it on me. It was. All. Me.”

She stares at a spot over my shoulder. “You’re just trying to protect your friends.”

“They can protect themselves. This is me admitting my role in what happened. You’re gonna draw your own conclusions, but this is me telling you that I never gave anyone the order to hurt you the way they did. I would never order that type of brutality.” I dip my head, capturing her gaze. “I’m not a coward, and I don’t need other people to fight my battles. If I wanted you fighting for your life, I’d have faced you myself. You’re an easy win.”

I see the anger resurfacing. Good. I hate the fear that’s always swirling beneath the surface of her deep blue eyes. Her smile is menacing, her eyes promising hell.

“You wanna fight me, Nem? Beat me bloody as repayment for what they did to you? I’ll give you a chance.”

“You will?”

“Absolutely. But you have to do one thing.”

“What’s that?”

“Don’t hold what I did against Finn and Holden. I don’t understand the pull they feel towards you, but I do know that Holden has come out of his shell, and Finn’s not as volatile when he’s fixated on you. If you push them away, they’re gonna go completely feral, looking to avenge you. You’ve seen Holden, and how he gets, well Finn’s the same way only knives are generally involved. I don’t want either of them doing something they can’t come back from.”

“I’m not responsible for them and my being mad at them shouldn’t affect what they do.”

“Shouldn’t, no. But it will. Itdoes. Don’t ruin their lives just to spite me. I deserve all your anger, all your rage, all the backlash and retaliation. Just me. Give itallto me.”

She doesn’t agree, but she doesn’t disagree either. I’ve said what I needed to, so I lower her to the ground, taking three steps away. She snatches her bag off the ground and shoves into me as she leaves.

Chapter6

Pax

It’s our first group dinner of the New Year. A small affair at my grandfather’s house. The other Trium families and a few upper council members are in attendance. Despite the tension between us, I’m glad Finn and Holden are here.

It takes everything in me not to react when Eloise walks into the room with her parents. Finn stiffens, his gaze briefly meeting mine. I greet a few more parents and council members before going to my seat near the end of the table.

Holden’s off in the corner, talking to his father. Whatever they’re discussing has him on edge. His father clasps his shoulder, then leans in to whisper in his ear. Holden shakes his head, then nods once. I notice Parker’s fingers flex on his shoulder, dragging him a little closer. The move is full of affection. Just short of a hug.

Holden turns towards the table just as his mother enters the room. She doesn’t hold back. He stops in front of her and leans down, accepting her kiss on the cheek. She also whispers something in his ear. Whatever she says eases some of the tension in his shoulders.

He slides into his seat and sips his water, refusing to meet my gaze. “You good?”

“Yeah. Dad told me not to react to anything we hear tonight.”

“Parker thought you needed a warning?”

He doesn’t answer. His attention is on the front door where my father is standing. He’ll be one of the last people to take his seat. The other families arrive and my father sits thirty seconds before the three high council members do.

We’re working our way through the first course, and I’m making small talk with the person across from me when someone says, “I’m so glad the vote is finally over.”

To which someone else replies, “He lobbied hard, but he couldn’t actually prove he had no knowledge of what was going on. At least this way, his family has a purpose in our world.”

A third council member adds, “It definitely helps with the allocation of bloodlines. We’ve been pulling from the lower legacy ranks faster than expected and they haven’t all been a good fit. At least this girl already has experience. She’ll sail through the training and I have some ideas about which family to assign her to.”

Parker cuts in. “Let’s not jump the gun. He may decline the vote.”

“He’d be a fool to do that, Parker. This is the way to get back in our good graces.”

Parker scoffs, “By making his granddaughter a guardian? That certainly helps whatever legacy family they get assigned to, but it doesn’t benefit him.”

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