Page 73 of Trust in the Fallen

“When have we ever liked the easy missions?” Kovu chuckles.

Usually I’d agree. But usually my stake in the mission isn’t quite so high.

CHAPTERSIXTY-THREE

LEIGHTON

Acold shiver pulls my mind back to consciousness, but I can’t drag my eyes open immediately.

The pain in my side is excruciating, and each breath is harder to take than the last. I think back to my high school anatomy class, trying to figure out what organs are around that area, but my mind is too muddled.

I guess I can thank my father and his asshole security detail for that.

There’s something around my wrists, rope I think, and they’re tied behind my back. The tulle of my dress cushions an uncomfortable metal chair, but it doesn’t totally protect me from how cold the surface I’m tied to is.

“They’re not coming,” the governor growls. I’m used to seeing him in front of others, not having spent all that much time with him without a roomful of people, but he’s never sounded so…evil. Is it all a farce? Is the nice family man who wants to clean up the streets of New York with my father all a lie?

“Yes, they are,” my father placates him. “They won’t leave her here.”

“Maybe you overestimate how much those idiots care about your whore daughter.”

I hold my breath, hoping that maybe, just maybe, my father will jump to my defense. But instead he laughs. “For men like them, it’s the principle of the matter. They may not give a fuck about her, but they won’t want to be so publicly bested by us.”

Another set of footsteps cross in front of me, and I hold my breath. They’ll stop talking if they know I’m awake.

“How are we going to explain her death to the public?” Jason asks.

“She’ll be a casualty of war between us and the criminals of this city. My whore daughter will be the face of our plans to take the current administration in this city down, and bring in a new future.” My father speaks like he’s been thinking about this for a long time, like somehow this could have all been planned. But surely that’s not the case.

“Do you think the public isa going to buy that?”

My father chuckles a dark sound that’s nothing like the laugh I remember from my childhood. “People are idiots, Jason. They’re easily manipulated. That’s how the Legion got to their position, and that’s how we’ll steal it right out from under them. Soon enough we will take over their role within the city. We’ll get the whores off the street, sell them off to the highest bidder, all while we sit in our government offices reaping the rewards of both sides of the law.”

I can’t help the gasp that falls from my lips. Not only does he plan to overthrow the Legion, but he plans to keep their role while also continuing to serve and protect?

The back of a hand meets my cheek and drags my heavy eyes open. “Looks like our little whore is awake.” Jason leers down at me with a sickening smile.

My gaze flicks around the cold warehouse, small puddles of water litter the concrete floor from leaks in the roof. The wide expansive space is almost completely empty, which only makes my stomach drop further into the floor.

I glare up at the man I was supposed to marry today. How I ever thought I’d be able to spend my life with someone as heinous as him, I have no idea. But then again, I was never really given much of a choice.

“You watch her. We’ll be back shortly,” the governor instructs his son before he and my father turn toward the small door ahead of us that’s dwarfed by a huge roller door. I don’t know a lot about my family’s property portfolio, but this isn’t something I would have expected to find in it. But then again, I suppose I didn’t expect my law-abiding father to use me as a pawn to get what he wants.

Jason drags a metal chair in front of me and straddles it with the back resting against his chest. I think he thinks he looks cool right now, doing something a criminal mastermind would do in a movie, but he actually looks like an idiot, and it’s on the tip of my tongue to tell him that. But if I want any chance of getting out of here, I need to play this smart.

“Were they worth it, Leighton?”

A small smile tugs at the corners of my lips before I can train my expression. Too late to lie now I guess. “Yes. They were worth every second.”

His lips form a snarl, but he remains seated. “Did you know they were coming today?”

I shake my head. “Nope. I walked down that aisle thinking I’d never see them again.”

“Says a lot about what kind of slut you are, wouldn’t you say?”

I shrug. It stung the first few times those insults came from their mouths, but now they roll off me like they’re not designed to hurt me.

“Do you think they’ll come rescue you?”

---