Icould think of better ways to spend my day, but a round of golf with my dad wascustomary. Once a month, since I was eight years old, my dad would take me to the golf course, and we’d spend the day together,justthe two of us, talking about all kinds of bullshit.
In recent years,thatbullshit turned into conversations about the goings-on of Legion, thesecret society my dad ruled over, along with three other leaders. One day, I’d take my dad’s place, and for my entire life, he’d prepared me for whenthattime came.
I knew how lucky I was to have Ethan Rivers for a father. As an only child, I had his undivided attention, and no matter what was happening within Legion, my mom and I always came first to him.
I was the only one of the future heirs to have a damn good relationship with my old man. My best friend and business partner, James Carter, despised his dad, and the twins, Zayden and Brody Evans, could barely stay in the same room as their father for longer than ten minutes without one of them wanting to kill him.
Andthenthere was Cleo, the only female future heir, and probably the most sane one outof the five of us. Cleo hated her dad, but she had every right to. He’d always made it clearthathe didn’t want a daughter, and when he finally acceptedthathe wasn’t going to have any more children, he sent her off to institutions across the world.
She learned how to manipulate men into giving up valuable information, along with other nefarious skillsthatoften came in handy in Legion’s world, but those skills came at a cost.
Cleo never had a say in the matter, and from the little snippets she’d told us about what she had to endure at the various institutes, I didn’t blame her one iota for wishing death on her father. It sounded like she’d survived Hell on Earth.
My dad swung his club, whacking the golf ball, and the two of us squinted against the fading afternoon sun to see where it landed.
“So, I hear Eric has given James a deadline to get married and produce an heir?”he said,moving aside to let me put my ball on the tee.
“Yeah,” I grimaced.
My best friend had been dead against the idea of marriage for years, but his father—beingthe controlling prick he was—had recently delivered James an ultimatum: get married and get his new wife pregnant within three months, or hisplace in Legion would go to someone else.
In true James style, he was doing everything in his power to find a loophole, or at theveryleast, find a woman his father disapproved of. I’d had a beer with him a couple of nights ago, where he’d grumbled about his most recent date being a disaster, before he dropped a bombshell: he was going to Peartree House to pick a woman.
To say I was lost for words when James told me of his plan was an understatement. Likeme and the other three heirs, he was against the Peartree House program—a home where runaway girls were taken in and taught how to pleasure men and women. We’d all agreedthatwhen the five of us were on the board overseeing Legion, we would shut the place down.
But that wasn’t going to be for alongtime.
The saying desperate men do desperate things was true. James had spent his lifepreparing to take the head seat on the board of Legion, and he would do anything not to lose his legacy. So, despite my protests, he was planning to visit Peartree House in the next few days to pick a woman who would become his wife.
“Has he got anyone in mind?”my dad asked, falling silent as I took my shot.
When my ball landed a few feet away from his, we grabbed our caddies and startedstrolling to take our next shots.
“He’s been on a few dates,”I replied, shrugging.
I wasn’t going to break my friend’s confidence, notevenwith my dad. He wasn’t as close to Eric Carter as he once was, but I wouldn’t risk James’ plans being scuppered before he could put them into motion.
Besides, I despised Eric. I was looking forward to him throwing his toys around when he discovered what James had done.
“Hmm,”he hummed thoughtfully.“Time’s ticking. James will need to hurry things along.There’ll be anarchy if Eric gives his seat to Elijah.”
I snorted in agreement. Elijah was James’ cousin and a complete prick. He’d gone to livewith the Carters when he was younger and had been nothing but a pain in the ass. Eric used Elijah to keep James in check, playing them off against each other, something James was all too aware of. Elijah, though, was too stupid to realizethatEric was only using him to make sure James toed the line.
“James won’t let that happen,” I said, confident that my buddy wouldn’t give his seat up so easily.
Reaching our golf balls, my dad smirked at me.“It’ll be your turn for marriage next.”
“Not for a while,”I scoffed.“I’ve still got a few years of fucking around in me yet.”
I had no plans to marry any time soon. Like James, I had sworn off ever falling inlove. I’d experienced the shitty emotion once before, and it had only led to heartache and betrayal. Fuck going throughthatagain.
“Thank yourself luckythatI’m not as ruthless as Eric.”My dad clasped my shoulder, squeezing it.“Howthatman could give his son an ultimatum is beyond me. Regardless of what Legion rules say, I hope you find someone you love and cherish, the way I do with your mom. You take as long as you need, Son.”
A warm smile spread over my lips at the affection glinting in his eye. Ireallywas a luckyson-of-a-bitch to have the parents I had.“Thanks, Dad.”
He nodded, releasing my shoulder.“Now take your shot, I’m beating you, and I don’twant to lose my streak.”
We played for a little longer before we called it quits, deciding the lure of the bar in theclubhouse was more appealing. As we ditched our equipment, my phone beeped with an incoming text.
