Page 25 of Fallen Legacy

“Enjoy the peace,” Damon says, and he winks at me and gestures with his head towards his sister. I know what he is trying to say. He’s telling me to talk through my situation with her.

We watch them head out through the back gate to the field. “Let’s hope they wear them both out, and then they’ll just want to chill when they get back.”

“They’re full of energy, that’s for sure,” I say, smiling, cupping my drink with my hands.

“It’s exhausting,” she agrees, “but I wouldn’t be without them.”

I nod my head. “They are adorable.”

Emma places her cup down and she studies me. “So, still just friends?”

I realise she’s asking about me and Damon. “Yep, just friends. My life is complicated right now. Damon doesn’t need my kind of complicated.”

“Complicated as in a guy?” she asks, and I sigh in response.

“Ah, it’s a long story, but let’s just say I don’t let many people close and, well, recently I did and they betrayed me. They lied and used me.”

Emma tucks her blonde hair behind her ear and bobs her head. “He broke your heart.”

I shrug my shoulders. “He gained my trust, and I don’t trust easily, and now, well now, everything is just spiralling.” I pause and take a drink. “You know about the Aces, right?”

She scoffs. “Everyone knows of the Aces. The four families, the society.”

“Well, they brought me here to marry one of them. They had it all arranged, and I’m supposed to just fall in line with their plans like a good little girl.”

“Wow,” she exclaims, shaking her head in disbelief. “And which one are you supposed to marry?”

I laugh. “Archer Savage. The worst one of them all.”

Emma chews on her lip as she processes. “I had heard rumours of arranged marriages between the families, but it’s the thing you see in films, not in real life. Is he the one who hurt you?”

I bob my head in reply. “And to make things worse, my grandfather has me over a barrel because if I don’t go back and marry Savage, he’ll put my little brother back in foster care and provide the folder of evidence of my teenage stupidity to the police.”

“Shit.”

“Yep. Welcome to my fucked-up life. But that’s not all. It gets better,” I tell her. “I’m pregnant.”

Emma arches a brow. “And the father is?”

I laugh, seeing where her thoughts are leading. “It’s not Damon’s. Trust me, it would be so much easier if it were. Archer Savage is the father.”

“Ah,” she replies, grimacing. “You are in a pickle. How do you feel about the pregnancy?”

I sigh and shake my head, looking out towards the garden. “Honestly. I feel lost. I’m not ready to be a mum. Babies were not part of my life plan until way down the line. But then I have to marry Archer anyway if I want to keep my brother safe and part of the deal is a child before I’m twenty-one. I guess this way I play my part a little earlier than planned.”

Emma reaches out and puts her hand over mine. “It’s your life, Eliza. No one else’s. If you’re not ready, then that is okay.”

I smile at her, and she squeezes my hand. “Did you feel ready when you found out you were pregnant with the boys?”

She scoffs and shakes her head. “Absolutely not. I was only nineteen and Nick and I had only been together a year. Honestly, I don’t think you ever feel ready.”

“I feel so trapped. Like my life isn’t my own anymore. I wanted to have an abortion, but then I had the scan this morning and I saw its little heartbeat and now, now I just don’t’ have a fucking clue.”

“I take it Archer doesn’t know?”

I nod my head.

“And how do you think he’d react?”

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