Chapter 54
Chapter Fifty-Four
Nova
Thomas steps out of the limo when the door is opened for him by one of the valets. I try to control my breathing when he reaches his fat snubby hand back inside for me. I glare at the fucking thing but when my guard grunts at me, I place my hand in his and allow him to drag me out of the car. Cameras flash and I try to shield my face but Thomas hisses at me to drop my arm and smile. I do as I’m told like a good little puppy and plaster a fake as fuck smile on my face, then allow him to lead me through the crowd of reporters and enter the hotel.
The pure opulence of this place is astounding. I have never been inside a hotel reeking of wealth on this magnitude. Chandeliers line the ceilings and servers walk around with silver trays balancing on one hand with flutes of champagne. Thomas snags one for himself and when I reach for one for myself he shoots me a scathing look, so I drop my hand back to my side and plaster my fake ass smile back on my face and allow him to drag me around the room. We stop numerous times so Thomas can speak to people. The men don’t take notice of me and that grates on my nerves, clearly they deem women to be beneath them. When Thomas is finally finished having his ass kissed by half the people here, he takes us into a ballroom of sorts.
The place is lined with red velvet chairs that are trimmed with gold, a stage with a raised dais sits at the front of the room. It doesn’t escape my notice that this room has no windows and only two points of entry.
“Tonight, you will be announced to the Saints as the future lordess and my son’s future bride,” he says when he releases me and stalks down the aisle in the middle of the chairs. I look around and take note that we are alone.
“Why?” I ask.
“Because tonight is the only night of the year where I can be challenged for my roll as lord. I have taken every precaution to make sure your masked freaks can’t come and ruin everything.”
“Why is tonight the only night?”
“It has been this way since The Brotherhood first began. On the thirtieth day of October each year on all Hallows Eve, but as we like to call it the Night Of The Saints, the lord will be subjected to the votes of his peers. I’ve worked too fucking hard to forge alliances with everyone and gathered enough blackmail material on each of these cunts for some schmuck to ruin it by throwing up red tape on my deals and my son being kidnapped.”
“You aren’t going to give into their demands are you?” I press. Thomas purses his lips and narrows his eyes. “That’s why Nexus hasn’t been returned, isn’t it?” He says nothing but I know I’m right. “They offered the safe return of your son in exchange for you stepping down, your role as the Lord of the Haven Saint’s means more to you than the life of your only child.”
“What makes you think he is my only child?” I reel back in shock.
“You have more children?” Thomas ignores my question as he steps onto the stage and stands behind the gold podium.
“My son made his choice, he chose to be ignorant and refused to grow up and fall into line. He was more concerned about burying his head in any pussy than he was about leading. I thought that would be obvious to you of all people.”
“What, why?” I ask incredulously.
“Because, you rejecting him and turning down every advance he made only to fuck his friend sent him over the edge and forced him to make a stupid error. That fucking error put me in the debt of Vox Hatchett.”
“You owe Vox?”
Anger clouds his features. “The bastard is the one who disposed of the body of your friend.” Hatred coils inside me at the way he speaks about Waylen like he was nothing.
“Why am I here tonight, Thomas? You say you want them to know I am your son’s future wife but you have no intention of ever getting your son back.”
“Oh, but I know he will come back because I made sure everyone knew I had an announcement they didn’t want to miss tonight. I also know those masked freaks have infiltrated my brotherhood and will show themselves tonight to save you.”
“Save me?” I repeat.
“Yes, there will be a wedding tonight and when my son doesn’t show, I will have your hand.” I gasp and step back.
“No!”
“Yes!” he snaps.
“You’re still married to my mom!”
“We were divorced three weeks ago. The joys of having lawyers in The Brotherhood and it's even greater when you have a judge in your pocket to fast track things. You will be the new Mrs. Valerian before the night is out.” Horror washes over me as people fill the room. I try to calm myself but it’s futile. My whole fucking world is turning on its axis, I can’t do this. If I am to marry this son of bitch, then he will have the power to lock me away like he did my mom or worse, he’ll be fucking me. I stumble forward and nearly lose my footing when someone knocks into me but an arm snakes out and grips my own, stopping me from falling face first into the carpeted floor.
I snap my head to the side and instantly the chatter around us becomes white noise as I drink in the sight of him wearing a tux. The tattoos on his neck peek out from the collar of his shirt enhancing the dark aura that naturally clings to him. His eyes are hard and his features are pinched but underneath the hard front he is putting on, I can see tension lining his eyes.
“Vox,” I breathe his name like my prayer has been answered and this evening's events suddenly feel bearable with him being here. The past two weeks of unanswered calls and messages seem to fade away as I breathe in his intoxicating scent.
“Be ready, witch,” he says low enough for only me to hear. He releases my arm and tries to step away but I grip the lapel of his jacket forcing him to stay where he is.
“He’s going to make me marry him, I can’t marry him, Vox.” I watch the mask he wears slip for a moment as he reaches out and cups my cheek. I nuzzle into his touch, pleading with my eyes for him to rescue me from this nightmare.
“I told you, witch, you’re mine and I’ll never let anyone take you from me no matter what it costs me.” The instant he pulls away from me I feel cold and terrified, but there is a slight bubble of hope inside me now that he is here. I look around and scan the growing crowd. I spot Hayze and Archer’s dads, each of them give me a slight nod. When Archer and Hayze themselves walk through the grand double doors, the noose I have felt around my neck for the past two weeks begins to loosen. If they are all here then that must mean they have a plan, or at least I hope they have one because I can’t go through with marrying that sleezy fuck.
“Brothers, claim a seat so we may begin.” I face the podium to see a red-haired man standing there, with two men carrying a throne-looking seat onto the dais and it comes as no surprise when Thomas parks his entitled ass on it. I look around for a spare seat but then Thomas calls my name and beckons me to join him. I can feel the numerous eyes of all the members on me as I make my way toward him, but there is one set of eyes I feel burning into the side of my head and I know without a doubt that it's Vox.
As I lift my leg to climb onto the stage a shadow falls over me. I look up to see it’s Hayze. He shoots me a wink and I thank him, his body shielded me from unintentionally flashing the men in the room. I don’t miss the way Thomas glares at my friend when I stand beside him.
“Welcome to the Night Of The Saints, my brothers.” The red-haired man calls out. I look out at the faces in the crowd and it shocks me to see how many of these faces I have seen in town but it’s not just that, it's the many faces of influential men I see that stumps me. “On this night we are here to celebrate the leadership of our lord Thomas Valerian.” Everyone begins clapping and it takes all my willpower not to roll my eyes. “As you are aware, this is just a formality before the party can begin, so let us put this old tradition to bed.” I frown, not following what is happening. “I doubt there will be any complaints but as the law states, I must ask as the keeper of the rules if there are any grievances against our lord?” I can tell from the tone of his voice that he suspects everyone will remain silent like they clearly have for years.
A smile so full of self-satisfaction stretches across Thomas’ face as he says. “I think we can move on, David.”
“Of course?—”
The man is cut off when Vox stands. All heads snap toward him and gape at him until Hayze, who is three rows behind Vox, follows his lead. Archer follows his friend's lead and stands but he is seated across the room. His and Hayze’s dads are the next to stand. Murmurs break out and begin to grow in volume as the red-haired guy looks at Thomas for guidance.
Thomas reaches out and grips my wrist. I wince in pain and bite down on my lip to keep from crying out when he yanks me down to hiss in my ear. “You better not have had anything to do with this, bitch.”
“I have no idea what’s going on, I swear,” I grit out through clenched teeth.
“Well… this is unexpected.” Red hair man sounds exasperated and at a loss for words, considering it's his job you would think he would be better equipped for something like this.
“As stated by the code of conduct by The Brotherhood of the Haven Saints, any member with a grievance is given a chance to speak freely and openly in front of The Brotherhood on this night.” Shane speaks clearly and firmly causing more murmurs to break out around the room. I scan some of the faces and see varying ranges of outrage, shock, awe and confusion on members' faces.
“Speak your terms,” Thomas snaps, his grip on my wrist doesn’t lessen and I know for sure that I will have bruises. Shane flicks his gaze to Vox and nods for him to take over. Thomas follows his line of sight and instantly turns rigid. I watch Vox in a sort of trance as he steps forward, without uttering a word or doing a single thing aside from taking a step he has garnered the attention of everyone in the room, his presence alone has a hush falling over the room. It’s almost like they can sense they are in the presence of royalty.
“I hereby vote against the accession of Thomas Valerian.” Shocked gasps and scoffs of outrage break out but Vox ignores them as he pushes on. “I hereby move to have the lord stripped of his title and exiled from The Brotherhood and Hollow Hills.”
Thomas opens his mouth but the keeper of rules beats him to it. “State your terms, brother Hatchett.”
“Thomas broke the code of The Brotherhood when he had Ezekiel Tempest’s father and my own murdered.” Men jump to their feet and begin shouting, while others remain seated with clear shock plastered on their faces. Thomas releases my wrists and pushes to his feet, then stalks toward the edge of the stage.
“You vile bastard?—”
Thomas is cut off again by the keeper of rules. “Lord, you know the rules!” he admonishes in a tone that brokers no wiggle room. Thomas’ face turns crimson as he tries to mask his disgruntlement but he is failing. I can see the hatred he feels toward Vox. “Everyone, quiet!” Surprise washes over me, I thought the keeper of rules was some soft pushover but clearly I was wrong, the guy takes his job seriously and is definitely a stickler for the rules. All the members slowly claim their seats except for Vox, Hayze, Archer, Shane and Henry, who remain standing but now all converge in the center of the room in front of the stage. Vox’s gaze cuts to mine and I see it, the past two weeks he hasn’t been around wasn’t because he wanted to leave me, he needed this time to gather the proof he needed to end this bullshit with Thomas and set me free.
“I will not stand here and be accused of murder without being able to defend myself, David,” Thomas shouts.
“Your title holds no power now that the court has been brought into session, in these matters I am the one deemed with the highest ranking. Be seated now… please,” David the rule keeper snaps back. Thomas purses his lips and marches back to his chair but not before grabbing my arm and forcing me back with him. As if appearing out of nowhere, my guard materializes beside me and grabs my other arm just as Thomas let’s go. “State your proof,” David asks Vox.
“The coroner’s reports were destroyed by Thomas himself.”
“Then you have no proof, Vox,” David states.
Archer reaches into his tux pocket and pulls out a folded sheet of paper and hands it to Vox. “I said the reports were destroyed but I never said I didn’t have another form of proof,” Vox states in a cocky tone. “We have an eye witness who is willing to attest to the fact that Thomas paid them to cover up the evidence that their deaths were not caused by a car accident and that they were in fact murdered.” I can feel the tension wafting off Thomas in waves, it’s clear to me he had thought he was in the clear when Nexus destroyed the files I hid in Vox’s garden shed.
“Rule Keeper,” Thomas grits out drawing David’s attention to him.
“Yes, lord?”
“As per the rule of Saints, now that he has confessed they have a witness I am able to speak.” David purses his lips but nods his agreement. Thomas stands with a wicked smirk on his face and looks directly at Vox as he begins to speak. “I vote to have Vox Hatchett removed from the Saints for the murder of Ezekiel Tempest.” Members begin to shout and call out at the admission. Thomas stands there smugly thinking he has clearly won this argument but the second a smile touches Vox's face, his bravado begins to falter.
This fucking fool was three steps behind them this time.