Page 75 of Reign By Wrath

“I’m on my way to the ancestral home right now. You’ll put me back on the list and let me talk to William. I’m giving you the key to bringing the Royals back under your control. Now he helps me find something on Everton that I can use against Everleigh.”

“You just will not quit, will you? We can find dirt on Everton without you dragging Grandpa into this.”

“My other demand,” I plowed on, “is that we go through it all together. If we find any more rapes, murders, or any other evil, violent shit like that, we turn in both the darer and the daree. They’re sent to jail and removed from the Royal line.”

“Obviously. Why would I say no to that?”

“I’ve read your texts,” I replied. “Any time you got dirt on someone, you used it to your advantage. You sure as fuck didn’t help them, tell them the truth, or save them from the blowout. You’re not doing that again. These victims will get justice.”

“You don’t know me,” she snapped. “I never found out about any rapes or murders and covered them up. I would never do that. I’m not some sociopath.”

I scoffed. “Could’ve fooled me. A guy dares to end your hookups, and you sabotage his relationships and spread around that he has a kid. A girl beats you out for valedictorian, so you destroy her family. Sociopath sounds like the right word to me.”

“Course it does because you’re clueless. A no-nothing Dreg that got the name Burkhardt without any of the responsibility. You don’t know what it’s like for me!” The sudden shout pounded my ear. “I have to be perfect all the time. Every day. The slightest weakness is used against me, not just by the Royal line but the whole country now that it’s an open secret that my father wants to run for president.

“You’re so worried about precious Shane because I told girls he had chlamydia and a kid. Ever think I was trying to help them? That bastard pressured and pressured me into sending him nudes. When I refused, he called me a frigid bitch and dumped me. It turned out his friends were bidding on the pics, and he was pissed I cost him thousands.

“And yeah, I did tip off Lizzie Duke’s mom about her cheating husband because I didn’t know what else to do. I had to be valedictorian. Second place wasn’t an option.”

I shook my head. Saylor would burst into flames before she ever admitted responsibility for the pain she caused. “What about Ahmed and Piper? What’s your sob story for lying and telling him Piper cheated on him, then throwing it in Katie’s face when he hooked up with her out of revenge?”

“Ahmed is a douche. He treated Piper like crap, but she stayed with him to cover up what she was doing with her cousin. She wouldn’t end it, so I ended it for her. No one treats my friends like that.”

“Youtreat your friends like that! You caused problems between Katie and Piper by spilling her secret about Ahmed.”

“I didn’t mean to! I was pissed because Katie was blowing us off to hang with your bitch ass. It just came out.”

“Ugh!” I threw up my hands, almost sending my phone flying. Victor edged away. “Only you can twist everything to make it not your fault. You came after my bitch ass from day one. You threw my sister’s suicide in my face. Said horrible things about her! How do you justify that, Saylor? I dare you to try!”

“I can’t,” she screamed. “I was wrong. I’m sorry!”

Words clogged in my throat.What did she say?

“I’m sorry, okay. I didn’t know until a few days ago how wrong I was.” She dropped her voice. A gusty sigh crackled through the phone. “The Wilsons didn’t start with you. They sniffed around Winter first. I didn’t care. I thought she was just some Dreg they were using to lock him down before Victor knocked up another Royal.

“But then Everleigh got in my head. She said the Wilsons were using the marriage as some kind of play against the Burkhardts. Claimed she overheard Martha and John talking in her office the night we all went to their Christmas Eve party.

“When people started going after Winter, I didn’t stop it. Figured the Dreg deserved it for plotting with the Wilsons to overthrow me. But if I’d known the truth about Everleigh. If I’d known it was all heading toward... Ashton. I would’ve, Sinclair. I would have stopped it.”

I was quiet for a long time.

“You’re saying you just took Everleigh’s word that Winter, and then me, was a threat. You didn’t bother to find out why? You—” My fist balled. “You didn’t discover that we’re cousins?”

“She didn’t say that we were cousins,” Saylor confessed. “She said you were my aunts.”

I frowned. “Your aunts?”

“Grandpa William’s daughters. I didn’t believe her at first. My grandpa siring a bunch of illegitimate brats with the help? I thought it was a lie until I found out I wasn’t set to inherit the entire company. The lawyer wouldn’t give me names or information. All they’d say is that Grandpa’s will gave me a thirty-three percent share,” she said. “It didn’t make sense. I was his only grandchild. The only person to take over after Daddy stepped down to take office. Unless... I wasn’t.”

The pieces began falling into place. “You figured it had to be Winter. But Burkhardts don’t go after Burkhardts, so you let everyone else get rid of her for you.”

“Yes.” She spoke so softly I almost didn’t catch it. “Then you showed up and had to go too. You definitely couldn’t marry Victor and give the Wilsons a third of my company. Everleigh played me. She made me think you two were the enemy when it was her all along.”

I swallowed a few times, trying to form a response. “If this is true and you’re sorry for what happened to Winter, why are we still fighting, Saylor? Why won’t you let me see William?”

“Because Winter might have been decent, but you’re a bitch. You turned the whole town against me. Piper and Gabriella wouldn’t be with Everleigh if you didn’t make it easy for them.”

Any soft feelings I might’ve felt for her imploded. “Family doesn’t have to like each other. Thor knows I’ll never like you.”

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