Heartless Legacy (Heartless Heirs of Canyon Falls #4)

75. Pax

Chapter 75

Pax

F ailing at something turns out to be easier than I thought.

I didn’t expect to be contacted so soon. The sender’s name on the Prospectus alert was a jumble of numbers and letters, but the message made it clear who it was from. I read the question twice, committing it to memory, before the message self deleted.

How well do you know your league history? Name the twelve and their current descendants. Place your answers in a red unmarked envelope and leave it taped to the underside of legacy table number six.

I went to the tomb and copied the names right off the wall, while Holden and Finn got a printout of the entire list of residents in Vale Tower. We did as we were told with the envelope and received one in return.

Now we’re in Holden’s room, each of us holding a copy of the list we sent with tons of red x marks and line outs with different names. The descendent names we submitted aren’t matching up.

I look up from the stack of paper I’m holding. “How the hell do we have people living here that aren’t from the original twelve bloodlines?”

Finn suggests, “Probably the same way Thea got here. Computer glitch.”

“If that’s the case, then it’s been glitching for half a century, because some of these families have been assigned to this dorm since our grandfathers went to school here.”

Finn nods. “That’s usually how it goes when you leave an error uncorrected. I guess legacy now means if someone in your family lived here, each generation is automatically assigned a room.”

I grumble, “Some of these names were bitching the loudest about Thea living here.” Looking up, I see him and Holden staring at me. “Yeah, I know. I sound like a hypocrite because I was bitching about it, too.”

Finn asks, “The question is, what do we do about it?”

Holden chuckles. “I think we should do the right thing and honor their original complaints about unauthorized residents and flag them in the system for transfer to an appropriate dorm.”

The mood in the dining hall is somber. I ignore the glares students throw my way as they walk by. They can take their issues up with the housing office. Hopefully, they’re prepared to wait for a response because the voicemail box is full after being flooded with complaints about the notices students and families received that they’re unauthorized tenants in Vale Tower, and are banned from residing there in future semesters.

Where were all the complaints about it being “just a building” when Thea was going through the same thing? Thea. Fucking Thea. That’s basically all I can think about today. Literally, and figuratively, my mind constantly replaying what happened in the lounge. She never answered me when I asked what she was doing in Vale Tower. Was she meeting someone in the lounge for a hookup?

I scan the legacy tables. Who? The only legacies besides us she was halfway decent to were the ones at table thirteen. Who has she befriended this semester? I narrow in on table five. It’s probably one of them.

Was the person going to get the same treatment I got? Was her plan to use and discard them? To leave them on the sofa with a hard dick and wet face? It was crazy hot and humbling, and I’m down to let her do it again. Those thoughts are why I’m doing a shit job at ignoring her right now.

She must feel my attention on her. Her head turns my way before her gaze slides to Eloise. What’s she thinking? Does she want to come over here and spill our secret? Did she use me just to rub it in Eloise’s face? God, I hope she did.

But Thea doesn’t come over. She doesn’t gesture. She doesn’t do anything to suggest that something happened between us. As much as I would enjoy her using it against Eloise, I love that we have a secret even more.

Maybe there’s something to Holden’s suggestion that taking on this challenge of losses helps us get her back. Our status as the top legacy families has never held any appeal for her, and last year she worked so hard to get on equal footing with us. Slipping a few slots on the leader board might not be so bad if it changes the options available to us.

My friends are going all out, and she seems at least a little receptive to their advances. For obvious reasons, I can’t openly pursue her, too, and I know agreeing to this side project doesn’t automatically fix everything. I have a lot to atone for and the weight of my arrangement with Eloise still dangles like a cement anchor around my neck.

There’s a burn of anger in Thea’s eyes whenever she looks my way. It’s easy to understand why. How can she not think of him when she sees me? She’s justified in wanting revenge. I deserve every ounce of pain she dreams of inflicting. I deserve to bear the punishment for my father’s actions and my own. But we’re not over. She hates me, but that night in the dorms proves she’s still attracted to me. I can work with that.

I plan to turn that hate into something useful. Make her focus it all on me and let it loose in whatever way she chooses. I thought getting time alone with Thea on campus would be impossible with Eloise hovering. But Thea’s resourceful. She came right into Vale Tower and rode my face before slipping out like a shadow wraith. The dorm was busy that night with people rushing off to another challenge. Nobody mentioned seeing her.

I fell for my father’s lies and was such an asshole to her in the beginning. It took me a long time to get my shit together, but when Thea became my companion, I finally admitted she’s perfect for me. I don’t care what she thinks. I don’t care what our current situation suggests. Thea belongs with me and I belong to her.

Pulling out my phone, I log onto the website with the shopping cart I started last year. I hesitated about making this purchase, and then she was gone. I’ve wasted too much time. Lost too much time. There’s nothing I can give her that will make any of it better, but maybe this will show her that I want to help her regain a small measure of control. Maybe it will convey to her what I can’t say out loud. That I’m willing to give up control. The card will contain a simple note.

For when you’re truly able to overpower me