“Can we just get on with this?” Bree drills him with a bored expression. “Pamela and Ashley need medical attention, and if we don’t get out of here soon, our father will start asking questions.”
Rhett slaps her hard, and her cheek instantly pinks. “Impudence won’t be tolerated, and impatience is a sin, young lady.”
“So is kidnapping and torturing people,” I hiss, glaring at him. “If you truly want to form a relationship with me, you will stop hurting the people I love.”
“Careful, Ashley.” His tone is like ice dripping down my spine.
“Just tell us what you want.” I hold his dark stare with one of my own. “We understand you want to create a new Board of Luminaries with a new family who will control Despond, and you will be Lord of The Luminaries. What do we have to do with it?”
“You will vote to approve my plan when it is presented to the board.”
“How?” Jase asks. “None of us sit on the board.”
“Yet.” Rhett grins, waggling his brows and smirking at Jase.
“You intend to install Ashley as the Manford heir,” Mom surmises.
It’s where my mind has gone too. Julia was an only child, and Pamela is James’s only sibling. While I am sure there are plenty of potential male heirs within the extended Manford line, I am the next in the hot seat. A match was already approved between Jase and the Manford heir, so I simply replace Julia in that arrangement. Rhett already alluded to as much when he stated earlier that I would get to marry Jase.
“Ashleyisthe rightful Manford heir, and she will claim the role she was always destined to fulfill.” He takes my hand in his, and it requires colossal willpower not to yank it back or shiver from the feel of his cold skin against mine.
I want to get out of here sooner rather than later, so I need to stop antagonizing him and at least look like I’m game to play along.
His gaze bounces between me and Jase. “You two will marry this week, and when we appear before the board to explain the treachery of Julia and James, I will table a motion to have Jase immediately installed as the Sloth Luminary.”
“And if we don’t agree, you’ll kill Chad? But if we do agree, you’ll keep him locked up to force us to toe the line? Neither scenario is enticing me to go along with your plan.” Jase levels Rhett with a lethal look.
“I thought you loved my daughter and wanted to marry her?”
“I do, but that’s not what I asked.”
“As long as you cooperate, I will keep my wife on a leash when it comes to Chad. When you have proven your loyalty to me, I will release him into your care.” Rhett stands and walks around the chair, staring me straight in the face. “Chad’s future depends on you.” He glances at Mom. “Your mother’s too. I can hang James out to dry, or I can implicate Pamela as well. The choice is yours.”
“There is no choice. You’ve made sure of that,” I reply.
“I don’t see what the problem is. You love each other, and this way you get to be together. Jase will become the Sloth Luminary. You will both have untold power and the kind of lifestyle others would kill to have.” He leans down, putting his face up in mine. “You will want for nothing. You will be loved and protected your whole life. You can take Chad as your lover knowing your husband approves. You get to have everything your heart desires.” He straightens up. “So, yes, there is no choice. But this works perfectly for everyone.”
Except he will dangle shit over us our entire lives to force our loyalty, because he knows he hasn’t earned it the right way and he never will. We will be prisoners in a luxurious cage, forced to bow to the demands of a madman.
It’s not going to happen, but he needs to believe it will.
“You give me your word you won’t throw Mom to the wolves, and you’ll see to it that Chad isn’t harmed?”
He nods.
“I want him taken out of that cage. I want him moved to a room with a bed and for him to be given three meals a day. I want your wife to keep her sleazy hands away from him.” I grind my teeth to my molars, trying not to think about the things Chad might be enduring at this very moment.
A grin tugs up the corners of Rhett’s mouth. “Marry Jase and support me at the meeting, and I will see what I can do about it.”
“Not good enough,” I snap, gripping the armrests on my chair and digging my nails into the leather.
“It will have to be,” Rhett coolly replies.
I feel Jase’s eyes on me, and I turn my head so we are face-to-face. He nods, the look in his gorgeous green eyes conveying he’s on the same page as me. Humor the monster, and we’ll work to extract Chad from the mess we put him in some way.
“Fine,” I say, turning away from Jase and refocusing on my sperm donor.
“Pamela.” Rhett eyeballs her. “Do I have your agreement?”
