“Yes.” Her cold unfeeling tone is one I’m familiar with. “I will do whatever is necessary to protect my daughter and keep her safe.”
Rhett chuckles. “Oh, how it would pain James to hear you say that.” His tongue darts out, wetting his lips. “He has always had an unnatural obsession with you. Tell me, how many times did you let him fuck you when you were both horny teens growing up in the same house?”
“He’s my brother, you sick prick,” Mom retorts. Her expression doesn’t waver from that dispassionate look she has perfected, but there is a hint of fire behind her words, and I wonder why.
“Takes one to know one, bitch.”
“Where do I fit in?” Bree asks. I appreciate her attempt to keep the asshole focused so we can get the hell out of here.
“You will marry the Pride & Wrath heir after I have Walter removed from the position for his treachery. And you will vote my plan in when it’s presented to the board. Your father will concur. He won’t go against me when I have the majority vote and with two of his children in positions of power in other Luminary families. He would be crazy to.”
That seems like a risky strategy to me. Unless Rhett is confident in his ability to force us to do his bidding.
Bree cocks her head to one side, looking cool calm and collected as she eyeballs him. “You said earlier I would get to kill the prick. I assumed you meant Toby. If that’s not the case, and I’m still expected to marry Toby, why the fuck should I agree to anything you want of me?”
Rhett smiles, and it’s creepy as fuck. “If you don’t play ball, I’ll hand over the evidence from South America and let the board dole out the necessary punishment.”
Jase and I whip our heads in Bree’s direction. She is staring at Rhett Carter with panicked eyes and pale skin. Jase turns to look at me, and I shake my head. I am as clueless as he is over what could have happened in South America to put that look on his sister’s face.
“Okay.” Bree composes herself. “I’ll do it. I’ll marry Toby and vote your plan in.”
“That is excellent news, Breanna. I knew you would see it my way.” He tips his head to the side, staring at the far door—the one that leads to the ancestors’ room. For the first time, I spot the man standing guard outside the door. He is unfamiliar to me. Obviously one of Carter’s lackeys. Rhett nods in some form of silent command, and the man raps on the door.
“There is just one minor amendment.” Rhett straightens up, and he lets his grin loose. “You won’t be marrying Toby. He’s not the true Pride & Wrath heir.”
Shock splays across all of our faces.
“Let me introduce you to your intended,” Rhett adds, glee evident on his face when the door to the ancestors’ room creeks noisily as it opens.
ChapterTwo
Ares
Iwake on a cold stone floor in a darkened room with the motherfucking headache of the century. “What the fuck?” I mumble as I pull myself upright, staring at the creepy shit surrounding me. Every wall is full of shelves of skulls. Row upon row of them. Crammed full of skulls, some with small lights behind their eyes. I look up, my jaw slacking as I spot the circular tower-like structure that extends skyward, farther than my line of sight. The skulls go all the way up to the top. It reminds me of the catacombs I visited in Paris with Mom and Lilianna, a few short months before they moved back to the US and I relocated to the UK.
Staggering to my feet, I clutch the wall behind me when my limbs threaten to go out from under me. I don’t know what shit the cloaked assholes on the road injected me with or how long I’ve been out, but I still feel the drug lingering in my veins.
“Sit down and shut up,” a man with a gruff voice says. Narrowing my eyes in the semi-dark room, I squint at the armed man standing guard inside the room, just by the door.
“Make me.” I silently curse my uncooperative limbs as I stumble forward, unable to walk in a straight line. Guess there goes my plan to beat the shit out of this asshole, grab his gun, and shoot my way out of this mess.
Ashley!
The rest of the events of this evening come back to me in a flash, and I grab the side of the long table residing on an elevated platform before I tumble to the ground.
“I’d be happy to,” the asshole says, stalking toward me. “But my instructions are to ensure you come to no harm.”
“Where is Ashley?” I demand, summoning hidden strength as I grab a fistful of his shirt.
The man grinds his teeth as he forcibly removes my fingers from his shirt. “What part of shut up don’t you understand?”
Before I have the chance to retaliate, a succession of sharp raps hammers on the door. The asshole removes his rifle, prodding it into my ribs as he grabs my arm and shoves me toward the door.
“What’s going on?” I ask. “Why am I here and what is this place?”
If it wasn’t for the fact Ashley, her mom, Jase, Bree, and Chad were taken too, I might have thought this was gang-related or somehow related to my investigation into Lilianna’s kidnapping. But it can’t be.
This is bigger than me.
