Page 12 of The Cruel Heir
Kingsley looked clean to the outside world; stock portfolios, hedge fund reports, white-tablecloth boardrooms. But the real power? That moved through offshore property flips, private shell LLCs, and cash-only art auctions. Half the board owes me their silence. The other half owes me their survival. I smirked. “She needs to be under my roof, Frankie. I need her where I can control her.”
Frankie chuckled, shaking his head as he flicked ash into the tray beside him. “Your mother treats her like trash at the country club. You really think she’s just gonna move in, like nothing’s wrong?”
I’d silenced her once before, four years ago, snapping the bridge off her school violin, and warning that quiet girls live longer. The crack still echoes, whenever she dares raise her voice.
I set my glass down with a sharp clink. “St. Bipal is too expensive for a waitress with no family leverage. Her dad’s tapped out, and once I freeze their access to the Clear View trust, she’ll have no apartment, no job, and no car. Just me, and the house I’m offering.”
Frankie nodded slowly, processing. “And if her father resists?”
“Old money doesn’t kneel to networking. I was born into rooms he had to pay his way into.” I leaned back, swirling my drink. “I doubt he gives a fuck, but in the event I’m wrong, I’ll remind him money can’t buy legacy.”
Frankie studied me, before exhaling through his nose. “The Kingsley Family Trust won’t like any negative attention on the company.”
“You know the drill. If her father so much as whispers to a lawyer, we leak the photos of him accepting bribes from the club’s redevelopment project. If that fails, our fire insurance guy owes me a favor in Palm Beach.” I sipped again, stretching out my legs, as I let my mind weave the last pieces of the web. I savored the burn as it slid down my throat. “The Family won’t have anything to say, once they see the empire I’ve built from this ruin.”
“She’ll fight you.”
I met his gaze, unwavering. “She can try.”
Frankie took a drag, observing me. “You really want her that badly?”
“She wasn’t a distraction. She was the one thing I couldn’t buy, couldn’t bend, at least not before. My mother wanted to pawn her off for board votes. I wanted to keep her for me. To reshape her in fire.” I let out a low chuckle, tapping my fingers against my glass. “Want is too simple a word. This is about ownership, Frankie. Control.”
Frankie scoffed. “And your mother? What’s her play in this?”
“She thinks she’s getting power,” I mused. “She believes this orchestrated marriage will benefit her with the board. But she underestimated me. I will do whatever I have to, in order to keep her gold digging hands off my father’s legacy.”
Frankie raised a brow. “You need to be careful. She was the reason you were forced overseas to begin with. She’s not to be trifled with.”
I smiled, slow and sharp. “She’s washed up, and wrong. I won’t give in. Mother better fall in line, because I won’t allow anyone to get between me and Zara.”
Frankie nodded, impressed. “So Zara is just going to be another pawn?”
“No.” My voice dropped an octave, thick with something darker. “She’s the queen I’m keeping locked in my castle.”
Frankie leaned back, rubbing a hand over his jaw. “You’re staking a lot on her breaking the way you want.”
“She doesn’t have to break,” I murmured. “She just has to realize there’s no way out.”
Silence stretched between us for a moment, before Frankie sighed and stubbed out his cigarette. “I’ll make the arrangements. However, this merger with Eastwood BioPharma can’t take another scandal,” Frankie warned. “The board’s already skittish about your image.”
“Then they’ll be reassured when I debut a fiancée, and a clean public record,” I said smoothly. “No one asks what happens behind closed doors, as long as the stocks keep climbing.” I swirled the last of my whiskey, staring out at the skyline.
Zara thought she was fighting me.
She didn’t realize the game had already been played.
And I had already won.
ZARA
It had been a little over a month since Sterling caught me in the laundry room. Since that day, my body had stopped feeling like mine. And now, my period was late. It wasn’t like he took the time to use a condom. As much as this drove me up a wall thinking about it, I was currently on the phone with my manager, hoping for some work, so I could afford a trip to the doctor’s office.
“Perfect. We’re understaffed, and I could use you on a last minute wedding.”
Tara’s voice bled through the phone, sharp and tiny, like it belonged in someone else’s life.
I didn’t answer right away. Even though I knew I needed the work, I didn’t want to go back there. Since Sterling caught me in the laundry room, and left his mark inside me. Now, I was more cautious. Something had changed within me. In my core, I felt like a whole new woman.
