My jaw tightens.
“Then I’m willing to negotiate his release early.”
Another pause. The flicker of candlelight dances across the stone walls.
“He has completed his rites,” the Chairman says. “But extraction is…delicate. If you remove him, the contingency is activated, and you’ll be in debt to the Brotherhood.”
My blood goes ice cold.
“Martine,” I say.
Creekmore doesn’t respond because he doesn’t need to, and for once, I feel a sense of relief. If I understand the situation, I can control it, and when I’m in control, very few things don’t go my way.
Behind me, Archie and Hudson stand silent, waiting for me to make the call.
I look the Chairman dead in the eye.
“Then let’s make a new contingency.”
Chairman Creekmore’s gaze sharpens at the word contingency, but he remains still. The two cloaked men beside him exchange a glance—slight, but I catch it. They weren’t expecting that.
“You confuse ego with power, Herron. You think you can just take whoever you’d like without repercussions, and then come here and demand the release of a Legacy as though you have the right.”
I step forward, my voice low but clear.
“We both know I’m a member because of power my name holds. And I’m here to give you something better.”
Instead of a reply, there’s only silence, thick as oil, so I continue with my hand. “In exchange for my wife's safety inher position, and the release of Ford, I’ll give you Douglass Huntington-Russell—and everything he’s been running at Seraphim underneath Marchand’s nose. I’ll also give you the information on Martine's real father.”
The flicker in the Chairman’s eyes is the only reaction I need. It was a lucky guess that they had a hunch about what was going on in that club, how Douglass was running a ring of forced sex work from some of the Bonesmen's wives, like Margaux, and forcing her to be used by other Bonesmen in exchange for cash and favors.
It was my original assignment. Look into the Huntington-Russell Senior twins and find information about Margaux Belmont. The Brotherhood already had an idea about the horrific atrocities happening behind closed doors and orchestrated with handshakes.
They had considered looking into only Henri for it, but Henri’s ledgers had already been such a mess. He had been beating and abusing his wife, making bad business deals, and going behind the Brotherhood's back. It was enough to decide to take him out, but they never had the proof they needed to consider his twin, Douglass, or his involvement.
Here I am, offering it up on a silver platter, precisely as they need it.
“Club Seraphim,” I continue. “Every off-ledger dollar and every unapproved transaction connected to the Brotherhood’s funds—laundered through a network by a Huntington-Russell Marchand doesn’t even know exists. I have the information.”
The silence becomes heavy with tension. The two other more senior Bonesmen beside him shift. One leans forward slightly, as if considering. This was the information they wanted, and I’m using it in exchange for my wife's safety. They can’t ask for her death, when I married her and gave her a position against their liking, if I hand them such loaded information.
“You expect us to believe you’d turn over your ownunapprovedwife's family,” the Chairman says, voice like a blade in the dark, reminding me of the choice I made without permission.
The one I knew I was bound to be punished for eventually. A part of me always assumed they wanted us together in the end anyway. Why put me on an assignment surrounding her?
I smile—tight, humorless.
“I expect you to remember who I am.”
I may not be a Legacy, but my family name carries more weight than that of any other student at Eulogia. The wealth and access that come with it are incredibly beneficial, and they are aware of this. My family has been the largest donor to the Brotherhood since its inception.
A long pause follows—one of the candles flutters in the draft.
“Douglass will be delivered alive,” I add. “With a ledger, names, and three untraceable drives of financials. All verified, in exchange for Martine to keep her position as my wife, and the release of her brother from training.”
“And the girl you went against orders and married is worth all of that to you?”
My jaw flexes.
