Page 7 of Legacy

“Why would you want me to marry her?”

He sighed, scooting his chair back to stand. “The optics would be good.”

“What fucking optics?”

He was delusional if he thought he’d fooled anyone. He’d killed his rivals and stolen what was theirs, without remorse or regret.

He pushed to his feet and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I killed her mother, and now my son would be marrying the dead woman’s daughter. We’ve come full circle. It will look like our strength and power brought them out of hiding. That they need us to survive.”

How the fuck do you think that if they’ve been surviving all this time without us?

It hit me then. The truth behind Ozias’s statement struck me. If I married Avra, it would legitimize the Xenos claim on the Vitalis territory. Juno Vitalis’s will transferred all the deeds and land rights to the Vitalis sisters upon his death. This stately residence, this entire grand estate—all of it. Everything would have gone to the sisters. Now that they were alive and returning, they might want it back.

Still, I found it too convenient. No one offered themselves up to the enemy like this. In our world, the men held the land. The men called the shots.

Ozias may believe this was good fortune falling in his lap.He seemed ready to assume that Avra’s return and offer to marry me would be a twist he could manipulate.

But I wasn’t an idiot. I wasn’t blind. I understood plots and deceit. I was no stranger to manipulation, and it was good that I knew how to set up and avoid traps.

I see how it is.

I would enjoy being her prey. Then, when she least expected it, I would spring my trap.

“By the way,” my father added as he rounded his massive desk.

I tilted my head to the side as he paused before passing me.

“Avra and her sisters will arrive for dinner in thirty minutes. You might want to freshen up for your engagement celebration.”

Three

Avra

I stared out the window, taking in the countryside through the window of the car Vik and I drove in and tried to center myself for the evening again.

My plan was in motion, and there was no turning back.

Returning to Greece and moving my sisters into the house Vik had found took a lot of maneuvering and strategy. Throughout the move, I tried my best to remain numb to the entire ordeal, to the fact that we were no longer going to pretend that we’d died fifteen years ago.

The hiding was all over.

Except, the emotionless façade I had learned to wear so well seemed so fragile tonight. Tonight, Vik and I rodeto the estate where my sisters and I had last seen our parents alive. As we drove closer to the massive house, the grief I rarely, if ever, allowed to surface demanded release.

Just looking out the window hurt my soul. There were so many familiar landscape features and nearby areas filled with memories.

No. I couldn’t allow myself to fall apart. This wasn’t the time for unexpected remembrances to flare up, but to plan, to attack, to…

Be calm. Stay levelheaded. You can do this.

If only my nerves understood the objective and settled down.

No matter what, I refused to allow fear, apprehension, or worry to win. And I’d be damned if I let anyone detect a break in my armor.

Not the driver. Not Vik. Not anyone.

Vik had taught me the fine arts of schooling my features and perfecting a mask of indifference. Now, it was time to apply those lessons.

As Calista liked to call it, my game face would remain unshakeable. I would never let Ozias see a crack in my façade. Of all people, he would only get the tough shell of the woman I had to become because of him. It was all he deserved.

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