“And then Luce is a widow,” I promise.
Julian Fairchild is a dead man walking. His fate was sealed when Lucy ‘fell’. I don’t care if it was an accident. When too many Owed have decided to get rid of their wives by arranging a suicide-by-window, the odds of that being what happened to Lucy are too close to consider anything else.
Someone pushed her. I believe that to my bones. They tried to kill Lucy Wright, and I’ll take out any bastard who ever tries to hurt her, starting with her husband. Because even if it wasn’t Julian who gave her that push, he didn’t protect her or care that she fell—and that, to me, is worthy of a death sentence.
“Right. You marry Lucy, and the old guard won’t be able to use the excuse that the King of the Order needs a bride. You’ll have one, even if it isn’t Heather.”
One problem. Lucy isn’t an Offering. Not anymore. In the Order, the Owed never take someone else’s sloppy seconds. Technically, if Julian does die, she can either stay his widow or, if she wants a new provider, become one of the Used. No one in Harmony Heights would marry another man’s wife.
Except for me.
“So, Heather… we can do this cleanly,” Adrian says, as though he thinks he needs to convince me. “I’ll take care of the Moores, deal with Heather and her parents. The Order was paying for everything, so it’s not like they’re out any money.”
No. Just the prestige of their only daughter becoming the wife of the most powerful man in Harmony Heights.
I shake my head. “No.”
“Why not? You don’t trust me to take care of this for you?”
“I do,” I say automatically.
He waits.
I drag a hand down my face. “That’s the problem.”
Adrian’s mouth twitches. “Enlighten me.”
“You’re handling the legal mess with the Stanton and Hargrove. You’re keeping the old guard from circling while I figure out my next move. You’re covering my ass every time I cancel a meeting to sit upstairs with Lucy.” I glance at him. “I’m not handing you my broken engagement, too.”
“It wouldn’t be the first time I cleaned up after you.”
“And that’s exactly why I’m not letting you. I’ve been shirking my responsibilities for too long. It’s time I finally get off my ass and take care of something important.”
He studies me for a long beat. Something unreadable moves across his expression before he shoves his cigarette back behind his ear, then running his fingers through his hair.
“I remember when you were with Lucy the first time. You were happy. Jack made your life miserable, but Lucy… she helped you get through it. I should’ve remembered that. She makes you a better man.”
I wish that were true. If I were a better man, I wouldn’t be holding her hostage and lying about who I am, no matter what Adrian thinks.
Hang on?—
“What did you do?”
“Excuse me?”
“You said you should’ve remembered that in that careful tone you use when you made a decision, executed one of your plans, and didn’t think it would make a difference because you handled it… so what did you do, Adrian?”
My cousin crosses his legs, resting his ankle on his thigh. His fingers on his right hand twitch, and I know he’d be reaching for a smoke if he didn’t know that he’d be breaking the first promise he made to his newly-wed wife after he married her at gunpoint.
“Okay. Fine” He exhales roughly. “You need Lucy. I wasn’t sure how you planned on keeping her, but I knew that Heather needed to be handled. So I passed her on to an Owed who might be better for her.”
“And who’s that?”
“Alex.”
I roll my eyes to the ceiling. Alexandre? Really? Sebastien Reynolds’s older bother is a confirmed bachelor and notorious playboy. He blew past his thirtieth without taking a wife, but because Bas married Annaliese, I twisted the Order charter to let him keep his standing. As long as a founding family will continue their line—something I know Bas wants to do with his wife one day—then Alex can have all the fun he wants with the Used and I’ll look the other way.
And that’s the Owed that Adrian wants to Offer Heather to? Not saying I like it, but her worth is in her pedigree and her virginity. If Alex screws around with Heather and doesn’t marry her, he’s fucking up her life even more than I already have.
