Page 53 of Fallen Legacy

“What did he want?” I ask, a chill running through my body, knowing I’m not going to like what she tells me next.

Rebecca physically grimaces. “Wilbur told me about the two of you. He knew the chippy had been struggling. The landlord kept putting the rent on the shop up to levels we were struggling to afford, and this place had been my parents’ lives. They’d worked so hard all of their lives to build up this small business. Wilbur offered us the golden ticket. He gave us the money to buy the property from the landlord, but there was a condition.”

I lean my elbows on the table, eager to hear more. “Go on,” I encourage her.

“There’s no easy way to tell you this, but he said the money was ours if we didn’t come forward to claim you.”

My stomach sinks. The conniving bastard had bribed my family to leave us in foster care.

“We were on the verge of losing everything,” she offers, her expression twisted in anxiety. “He knew we couldn’t say no. So, we took the money and agreed to keep quiet.”

“He left us in foster care for five years,” I tell her, trying to make her understand the brevity of their decision.

“I know,” she tells me with a nod of her head, avoiding my eyes. “It’s torn me up for years knowing that you were both out there and that we could’ve done something about it.”

I shrug my shoulders. “That’s Wilbur for you. He is always one step ahead.” That bastard had it all planned out. All this time we had a family that might have been able to take us in.

“To be honest, I doubt social services would have placed you with us if it’s any consolation. We didn’t have a spare bedroom,” Rebecca explains.

“Wilbur wouldn’t have allowed that anyway. He’d have made sure of that.”

Rebecca nods. “Everyone in this village knows the Aces and the power and pull they have. Gods, they own half the property here as well. He gave us a choice, but it wasn’t really a choice.”

I nod my head. She is right. Had they not taken his deal, he’d have made sure their business failed and seen them out on the streets.

“Tell me about her,” I beg, eager to hear more about my mum as a girl my age.

“Can you hang around for a while until my evening staff arrive?”

I look at Archer and he nods his head. “We’ll go get milkshakes and come back in an hour.”

“That’s perfect,” she beams. “I have lots of family photo albums to share with you.”

“That would be amazing,” I tell her, my eyes brimming with tears.

Archer gets to his feet and offers me his hand. “Come on, let’s get you that milkshake. We’ll see you in a bit, Rebecca.”

I’m shocked when she stands up and pulls me into a hug. Stepping back, she looks me over, her own eyes fighting back tears. “I’m so glad you’re here. We have lots to catch up on.”

* * *

I’mquiet as we sit outside the small ice cream shop, sipping on our drinks. It is a lot to process. We have more family here. We have gone from having no one to this.

“What’s going on in your head, Scar?”

I pull my gaze from the marina to look at him. He’s studying me with uncertainty.

“I’m okay,” I reassure him. “I mean, I’m not okay, but it’s no surprise.” I run my hand over my face. “Actually, I’m raging. I’m so angry. I want to destroy him, Archer.”

He nods his head in response. “Leave it with me, Scar. To bring Wilbur down will be a dangerous game. He has a lot of people in power on his side.”

I sigh in frustration. I know he is right. Part of me just wants to storm into the house and confront him, but I need to take a step back and think this through. Strategize just like he does.

“I don’t care what it takes. I want to see him finished. I want to destroy this legacy because it’s one built on lies and deceit. I don’t want a penny of his dirty money.”

I scoff to myself. He has the nerve to call the Silver’s money dirty, but he’s no better. He just thinks because he was born in a mansion surrounded by old money that it makes him somehow better than them. The Aces society has built what they have by holding information and secrets on people so they can blackmail them to do as they say.

“Are you ready to head back to Rebecca’s?” Archer asks me, and I nod my head firmly. I was ready to learn more about my parents.

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