Page 193 of Ruthless Legacy

“You do?”

“Of course. It’s long passed time we’ve done so. I was waiting for the perfect match and suddenly one falls into our laps.”

I look over at the door again. “Oh, I hope you aren’t looking for the LaReaux girl. She won’t be joining us.” He taps his finger on the conference table. “Did you really think a union between you and that girl would happen? That you and your friends would share a wife?”

“If you know why I’m here, then you already know they’ve agreed. Thea’s is the only signature we need to make it official.”

“Is that all? As I said, she’s not coming.” He fiddle with his cufflinks. “The Pearse boy has a long road of recovery ahead of him. I’m sure his parents will be happy to know the police caught his attacker.”

Michael Pearse? Is he saying Thea stabbed him? Her nightmares make sense now. So do the injuries from the challenge that landed her in the hospital.

My father says, “Too bad she won’t be going to trial anytime soon. They’ve transferred her to Rockridge Psychiatric Facility.”

Rockridge is a league mental hospital where they send the people they want silenced forever. I’m not even sure how many actual doctors are on staff there. They keep the patients drugged so they can’t ask for help or complain about their treatment when their family comes to visit.

“That young lady is a danger to the community. She’s deeply disturbed and needs help. The kind of help only Rockridge can offer her.” He smirks. “What remains to be seen is if she’ll be rehabilitated or spend her time there drugged out of her mind.”

“Is this because I’ve stopped taking jobs? Just tell me who the council wants me to get information from.”

He scowls at me. “I hate that you were whoring yourself out like that. I told your mother it was beneath you. But you and your tattoos played into a fantasy the wives had, and those jobs garnered us intel we wouldn’t have otherwise. It brought us favor with certain members of the high council, so I let it go on. I was glad when those jobs stopped. I have no interest in you returning to them.”

I don’t want to go back to them either, but I’d do anything to save Thea from Rockridge. “Then what is this about?”

“All the years I’ve spent talking to you and prepping you for this and you still can’t see the big picture? It’s time for a change in The League.”

“We are changing.”

“How? By letting women pledge? They have their purpose, but we both know it isn’t in the council. Still, I pretended to support the initiative, and let the recruitment committee carry on with this foolish plan.”

“Why, if you didn’t agree?”

“Why do you think, boy? It would have given the council a reason to vote a loss of confidence for your grandfather and his acolytes when the thing blew up in his face. That didn’t work, of course. The women made it through indoctrination, and their first few prospect challenges. Now, I have to get creative on how to get him ejected. Letting someone who’s mentally unfit join The League… well, that should do the trick, don’t you think?”

“If that were a problem, don’t you think someone would have used Finn as a reason to oust him by now?”

“Oh, yes. Your Trium member. Another disgrace to the organization. Though I suppose he, too, serves a purpose when it comes to interrogation and manipulation. At least his father keeps his crazy under wraps. Joshua Laurent hasn’t been able to control his granddaughter, so someone else has to do it.”

Eloise laughs from her spot by the door. “And what’s she doing here? Are you planning to force Finn to marry her today?”

He scoffs. “Why would I do that? Marrying him would be a waste.”

“Finn and Eloise have been in contract negotiations for years.”

“Yes, to my great displeasure. Eloise understands the game. Knows what must be done. She’s a greater asset tousthan she would ever be to that miscreant.”

I swallow the bile rushing its way up my throat.Us. As in our family and not The League. “You want Eloise to be my next companion?”

“I told you I want you to go through with a marriage contract. I fully support you signing one today. Yours to Eloise.”

No, no, no. This can’t be happening. I need to stall for time. “It’ll take some time to convince Holden to agree to marry Eloise.”

He throws his head back and laughs, slamming his palm against the table. When he’s done he says, “This is a power play, not a sing-a-long. This move will finally put us on top. What bolder statement is there than to steal another’s chosen wife out from under their nose? After this, everyone will know that we’re above the Sullivans and Rhodes lines.”

I’m gonna be sick. He wants me to betray my Trium by going behind Finn’s back and signing a marriage contract to Eloise. It’ll tell everyone that I don’t support the Trium sharing power. That I think someone has to be the lead. It will tell my friends that I’ve been manipulating them all along, so they’d never see this betrayal coming.

I can’t think about their feelings right now. I need a plan. I have to do everything in my power to protect Thea. There will be no coming back from this for me and my friends if I let her rot in that place. “I do this and you’ll let Thea go?”

My father sneers at me. “You do this and she won’t have her brain fried and her pussy worn out by the staff. She certainly stabbed that boy and deserves to be punished. The length of the punishment and the measure they go to rehabilitate her are the only things this choice affects.”

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