Page 37 of The Royal Flame
CHAPTER
RIVER
Iused to be great at controlling my emotions, but ever since I met Maddy, my control has been slipping. Right now, I’m not even trying to grasp onto any semblance of calm. Not with what I heard.
Maddy hit Eli.
She punched him and took off. And I can’t get a hold of her.
I learned about it during class from a girl whispering the gossip. I’d took off and headed straight to my door while dialing Maddy’s number repeatedly. It rang at first but now it’s going straight to voicemail, messages aren’t getting delivered, and I can’t track her through her watch.
I’m attempting to convince myself this is because she’s upset with me. She probably powered her phone and watch down so she wouldn’t have to talk to me. But what if that isn’t the case? What if something awful happened to her? She’s being hunted after all, and the society might go after her again, not just because we broke up, but because she hit Eli.
“Fuck,” I growl out as I rake my finger roughly through my hair.
I’ve been pacing a hole in the floor of the living room for about fifteen minutes. I need to figure out what to do—I need to talk to someone.
As if sensing my thoughts, Finn comes strolling into the door. He’s wearing sweats and a t-shirt, and his hair is damp. He has a duffel bag with him which he tosses onto the table.
He takes one look at my face and frowns. “What’s up with you?” he inquires as he walks over to the fridge.
“Maddy hit Eli and took off,” I inform him as I check my phone again to see if my some chance she decided to call me.
Finn freeze, his eyes widening. “What?” He absentmindedly reaches into the fridge to grab a bottle of juice. “Why did she do that? Well, I mean, I’m sure she hit him because he was being an ass. But why would she risk pissing off the society. And she could get expelled.”
“I know that part, but I don’t know why she did it.” I haven’t told him yet about how we broke up. I haven’t even processed it myself. All I know is the center of my chests aches every time I think about it. “I… I decided to end our relationship today.”
Shaking his head, he unscrews the lid on the bottle of juice. “Why the hell would you do that? She’s perfect for you.”
“I know that.” I grip the back of the kitchen table chair. “Dad called me today and threatened her.”
“With what?”
“Well, he made it sound like he knew about her bloodline.”
Finn’s brows rise. “How would he figure that out? We barely just did.”
I give him a tolerant look. “Dude, really?”
“Right. This is dad. He knows everything. Well, except for the fact that he’s a piece of shit.” He takes a sip of the juice. “Actually, I think he does know that. He just doesn’t care.” He wipes a droplet of juice from his chin. “We need something to hold over his head.”
My head cocks to the side. “What?”
Finn shrugs. “If we have blackmail material on him, we can use it to keep him out of our lives.”
“You want to blackmail out father?” I ask slowly.
Is he being serious right now? It’s hard to tell with my brother sometimes.
He nods, twisting the cap back on the bottle of juice. “I know it’s crazy, but it could work. We blackmail him into leaving us alone. It might suck for a bit, but imagine how much happier we could be if he wasn’t a constant presence in our lives. And when we find mom, we can tell him to stay away from her.”
He has a point, however…
“I’m not sure I’m the kind of person who can blackmail someone,” I confess.
“Even if it means protecting everywhere you care about?” he questions, arching his brow.
I swallow hard. Could I do that to protect everyone from my father, including Maddy?
