Page 73 of Bittersweet Legacy

As soon as I walked into my room, the door flew open and Archie walked in as if he had every right to.

“What were you doing with him, Esme?” He demanded, crossing his arms on his chest and closing the door with a kick.

“What does it matter to you, Archibald? It’s not like you care about me, right? You never cared.”

“That’s not the point. What were you doing alone with him, huh? What do you think he is looking for?” He snorted. “If you think I’m cruel, I suggest you look long and hard into your fiancé’s eyes because he is much colder than I have ever been.”

This is where the confusion came from, I’d looked long and hard into Caleb’s eyes today and behind the veneer of cruelty and hate there was a hurting boy, a boy I suspect had never experienced love.

“This-” I pointed at the general direction of the outside “has nothing to do with you. We’re engaged, remember? I’ll have to share his bed, sooner rather than later.”

Archie froze on the spot. “Esme – Esme tell me you, tell me you didn’t. Tell me you didn’t, Esmeralda.”

The command in his voice angered me even more. He didn’t want to be my brother, and I’d made peace with that… well I was trying to make peace with that but he sure as hell had no place acting like a commanding father – I already had one too many of those, I just wanted him to leave to let me process all the emotions I’d experienced today.

“No, no I didn't.” I admitted. “Not that it has anything to do with you. You have no right to ask about my life. You lost this right when you decided to discard me.”

“You…” he ran his hand through his dark hair with frustration. “You know why he would do it, right? Why he would take it? Because as a member of the elite he has the right to disown you if you give him your virginity, engaged or not.”

I crossed my arms on my chest and looked down, hiding my surprise. It was not even something I had considered.

“He’ll have the right to get his freedom back. As for you, you’ll be worth less than nothing.”

“Come on, Archie, why would you even care, huh?” I finally looked up and met his troubled eyes. “You wish father would kick me to the curb. So, don't pretend you have my interests at heart.”

“Maybe it’s true, maybe I don't care and wish you were gone. But not like that, never like that. You read the book, right? ‘The Guide of a Good Socialite Woman’?”

“Are you serious?” What was it with these men and their backward ways? “You really thought I was going to spend even one minute of my time reading that piece of crap, really?”

He shook his head. “Well I suggest you do because there are some things in there that can cost you dearly.”

He walked to my bookshelf and my heart stopped as this crappy book was just beside my mothers’ journal.

He opened the book and skimmed it before throwing it open on the bed.

It was open on chapter 10 titled ‘A Woman’s Virtue’, I couldn't help but wince at such a backward title.

“A woman’svirtue?” I spat the words.

“Yes, and if I were you, I’d read it carefully because I think I’ve figured out what Caleb’s endgame is,” he added, scowling at the book. “He wants to take the only thing of value from you, to get back at me, get back at dad, get back at our family.”

“Why would he do that to you? You're like the wonder twins,” I snorted. “You’re best friends or something close, no?”

Archie looked upward. “Best friend,” he laughed, but it lacked humor, it sounded bitter and a little sad. “Friendship…. Friendship in our world is very different from the world you come from Esme… Esmeralda.”

It was not his first slip-up and it seemed I was becoming more and more ‘Esme’ to him, I just wasn’t sure if it was a good thing or not.

“Friendship in our world is the epitome of ‘keep your friends close and your enemies closer’. Caleb Astor and I are friends in a sense that we need each other, we’re dependent on each other but that’s basically it, Esmeralda. Caleb enjoys destruction, mine included, so no, we’re not friends, not in the loyal sense you seem to think.”

I was not sure why he admitted all that to me now, maybe he was actually starting to see me as his own blood now. Maybe Taylor was right…

No, No Esme don’t!I chastised myself. Don’t start seeing a sibling bond that clearly isn’t there. His reasons to warn me were beyond me but I couldn’t risk hope.

I’d put the wheels in motion now. With a bit of luck Luke would call me tomorrow and I would leave, I didn’t need to have more regrets – I didn’t need any regrets actually, I needed to stay level-headed and move on.

Archie looked at me with an indescribable look on his face as if he was trying to figure something out, as if he was trying to read me.

“Is that all?” I asked, much colder than I’d ever been before. This life was already changing me even if I didn't want it to.

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