Page 1 of Fallen Legacy

NOTE TO THE READER

This book is meant for those age eighteen and above. It contains swearing, sex, and scenes that some may find triggering, including, death, kidnap, threats, intimidation, violence, and use of knives.

If you are sensitive to any of the above triggers, please think twice before continuing.

ELIZA

It’s been four days since I packed my things and up and left the Alderman mansion. Silver hasn’t pushed me for information. He’s just let me be. I’ve spent these last two days wallowing. Drowning in pain. Angry at myself for being such a fool, and angry at the people that have used and betrayed me. Truth is, I was never really one of them. How could I be? I didn’t grow up with them; they have a loyalty to each other that I will never be granted. Whilst I have been sitting here drowning in my feelings, I have wondered how different my life might have been had I grown up here. Would I have just gone along with the engagement like it was nothing?

I miss my brother, Kit. Him not standing by me has been the hardest part to process. For the last four years it’s been just the two of us. We have relied on each other and no one else. As much as I am angry at him, I understand. Kit has yearned for a family and somewhere to belong and he’s so desperate for it he can’t see the manipulation and lies. I’m not sure what my next steps are. I’ve contemplated ringing Hayley, my old social worker, and telling her everything. I mean, there are laws against this kind of thing; but then would she believe me? Wilbur is a well-respected man. Why would anyone believe a washed-up teenager like me over someone like him?

There’s a knock on the bedroom door and Silver appears in the doorway. He tilts his head and observes me sitting in bed, twisting a piece of tissue round and round in my hands. He shakes his head and comes into the room, standing at the foot of the bed.

“Okay, I’ve let you do the whole self-pity party for four days now, princess. Enough is enough. Time to shake it off, pull up those big-girl pants and face the world.” He grabs the duvet and yanks it off me. “Come on, up. You need a shower.”

“Can’t you just leave me be?” I whine, trying to reach for the duvet, which he throws on the floor. “Can I at least have one more day of wallowing and then I promise I’ll sort myself out?”

“No,” he says with a firm shake of his head. “This isn’t the fiery girl I met just a couple of months ago. Whatever has gone on, princess, you are a fighter. Don’t let them dampen that spirit.”

I chew on my lip and nod my head. I know he is right. This isn’t me. “I feel broken,” I admit to him, keeping my eyes on the shredded tissue in my hands. Silver comes round and sits on the side of the bed. He places a finger under my chin and raises my face, forcing me to look at him.

“You’re not broken Eliza. You’ve taken a knock and now you get back up and you come back stronger than ever.” He pats my leg. “Come on, up. I’m taking you out.”

“Ugh, where?” I groan. I’m not in the mood to face the outside world.

“Just get dressed and meet me downstairs. I’m not taking no for an answer.” He strides out the room, and the fucker takes the duvet with him, making sure I can’t bunker back down underneath it and continue my pity-party. With all the energy I can muster, I swing my legs out of bed and head for the en-suite. Time to look like a human being again.

* * *

We’ve been drivingfor about twenty minutes, and I still have no clue where we are going, and Silver is keeping stum about it. I turn the radio on because the silence makes all the noise going on in my head feel ten times louder. Silver grumbles at the song on the radio and changes the station. He grins and turns up the volume and starts singing at the top of his voice.

“Come on, princess. I know you know this one. Sing it with me,” he says with an infectious grin that has me fighting a smile. “Sing it with me.”

I roll my eyes but join in with him; I think I even break a genuine smile for the first time in the last four days Silver takes one hand off the steering wheel and starts dancing in his seat as he drives. He nudges me when I’m not joining in, and I do a shoulder roll and sing louder.

“There’s that beautiful smile,” Silver says, throwing a soft wink my way. You can say what you like about this guy. On the outside, he looks like a rough diamond with his tattoos and ear and eyebrow piercings but look past that and he’s genuinely a great guy. If only I’d have been more attracted to him from the start, maybe I wouldn’t be feeling the hurt I do now. “What’s going on in that mind of yours?” he asks me as he turns the radio down now that we have finished our karaoke session.

“Why couldn’t I have chosen you?” I ask him with a weary smile.

Sighing, he shrugs his shoulders. “We don’t always do what’s best for us, princess.” He looks over at me and winks. “Although I’m glad you’re regretting not sampling the Silver goods.”

I lift my foot from the floor and jab him in his thigh with it. “Drop the smugness.”

Laughing, he pushes my foot off his leg and grins. “Are you going to tell me what happened?”

I avert my eyes to the scenery outside and shake my head. “Not yet. I’m still processing.”

I see him nod his head from the corner of my eye. “In your own time, princess.”

I sit up in my seat when he turns off the road onto a dirt road that leads up to a farmhouse. The driveway is full of cars, and he parks up next to a large grey range rover. Silver kills the engine and climbs out of the car, so I do the same and meet him at the front of the car.

“I hope you’re hungry,” is all he says as he strides towards the house. The place looks like it has stood here for centuries, with its thatched roof and weathered stone front. When he opens the front door, the warmth hits me, followed quickly by the most delicious smell of home cooking.

“Hey Grandma,” Silver shouts as we enter. A voice hollers from further into the house that they are in the kitchen. Intrigued by why Silver has brought me to his grandma’s house, I follow him through the place until we come out into a large country kitchen, complete with an aga. The kitchen is filled with people, and I falter in my steps.

A lady in her late sixties with grey hair pulled back into a messy bun looks up from the stove. She wipes her hands on the tea towel in her hand and she opens her arms to him.

“Get here, boy, and give your grandma a hug.”

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