Page 58 of Fallen Legacy

I scoff. “Well, since I had little choice about coming to live here in the bay, regret would be a useless emotion to be feeling.”

Phil nods his head, continuing to study me. “Still, it must concern you that someone wants you gone so badly that they’re making threats to your life. Maybe your past is catching up with you.”

I frown. “What would you know of my past?”

He shrugs his shoulders. “Well, you are your father’s daughter.”

“Enough,” Archer barks, glaring across the table at his dad. “You need to stop living in the past.”

“Exactly,” Edward adds in. “Our two families will finally be united again. Forging that bond and keeping our strength as the founding families. It’s what built this bay and its surrounding villages and what led us to be a global powerhouse economically. Past grudges need to be buried.” Edward smiles at me. “We’ll show this stalker that they can’t touch us. We’ll carry on as normal. The party to announce your engagement will show that we’re a united front. In the meantime, we have our best private investigators working to identify who this bastard is.”

“That reminds me,” Archer interrupts. “The engagement party needs to move here. I don’t feel Wilbur has tight enough security.”

Edward nods his head, wiping his mouth with a serviette. “Agreed.” He smiles at me. “It’s been a long time since we’ve had a party here, my dear. Why, I think the last time we held a social event here was when Phil and Libby announce their engagement.” Edward picks up his drink. “In fact, shall we retire to the lounge and discuss plans for the party?”

Archer smiles briefly at his grandad. “Why don’t you and Eliza go through? I just need a quick word with dad.”

I don’t miss the half smirk that Phil gives him. Edward pulls my chair out and ushers me with him out of the room. I glance over my shoulder to find the two Savage men glaring across the table at each other.

ARCHER

Istare across the table at my father. All my life I’ve had him drum into me that the Alderman’s needed to pay for what they did to my mother. All my life he’s been set on making sure someone paid for the fact that his wife was in love with another man. His visceral need for revenge consumed me. It became my life’s mission, but everything has changed now.

“You need to let this go,” I tell him.

He scoffs, leaning back in his seat. “Is her pussy that magical that you’ll forget that her family is the reason you no longer have a mother?”

I slam my fist on the table. At one time, I was too small to fight back when he became aggressive, but those days were long gone. I’m his equal now in strength, perhaps even slightly stronger.

“Don’t talk about her like that,” I hiss in warning.

My father laughs, tipping his head back. “Oh, son, have I taught you nothing? You’ve let a woman hypnotise you with sex. I don’t doubt she’s a little vixen in bed, but don’t let that blind you into thinking she won’t betray you. They’re all the same, women. All out for what they can get and how they can manipulate us into their own agendas.”

“You’re wrong,” I reply, swirling the wine around in my glass. “You brought me up with this poisoned view of women, but they’re not all like that. She isn’t like that.”

He looks at me with such disappointment. “Love is a weakness, son. You’ll see it soon and I’ll be there to remind you I told you so when she betrays you.”

I shake my head at him. Finally, seeing him for what he is, a bitter man stuck in the past. “Let it go, dad. Go fuck one of your little whores and gamble some more money away. Isn’t that what you do best?”

Phil slams his fist on the table, jumping to his feet. “You little fucker! Remember who you’re speaking to!”

I slowly get to my feet, showing him he no longer scares me or controls me. “I know exactly who I’m speaking to. A man who has tried to twist and shape me into a bitter kid who you could use to enact your revenge. I’m done being your puppet.” I walk away from the table and leave him there, silently seething.

I pause when I get to the lounge, hearing laughter. It’s something this house has heard little of in the last two decades. Grandad and Eliza are dancing together, both smiling and chatting as he teaches her the steps to some ballroom classic.

“What’s going on in here?” I say, stepping into the room.

Scar lifts her gaze my way, smiling at me in that way that makes me want to stop the world and rebuild it for her. My heart squeezes in my chest with a foreign emotion.

“Edward is teaching me the foxtrot. I’m not very good though,” she admits.

“Nonsense,” my grandfather protests. “You just need practice. Come dance with your fiancée and let this old man have a rest.”

“Old man,” Eliza scoffs, shaking her head. “You’re not old Edward.”

“He’s an old crock,” I joke as I stride into the room and take her from him.

“Watch it,” Edwards warns me, grinning. “You’re not too old for a clip around the ear, my boy.”

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