21. Summer
I sat in my car,my chest squeezing so tight, I could barely breathe. My eyes were burning, my heart in my throat. Intense sadness welling up inside me.
I ran my fingers under my eyes, wiping away the tears. Shoring myself up for what I was about to do.
Last night, I’d realized one important thing.
If Rook was right, then I was in a shitload of trouble. And, not only me, but Callie.
I had to do the one thing I’d promised I wouldn’t—the one thing that was ripping me apart. And yet, the one and only thing that could get me out of this.
I was going to sell Darkmoor Manor.
Leave behind the safety and comfort of home.
The bay where my mom and I would walk.
The smell of my dad’s study.
Their graves.
Their legacy.
Grief struck me—I was losing them all over again.
But, it would be worth it. To keep Callie safe.
I’d done research on what I could remember from the contract, frustrated I hadn’t asked for a copy. With the few words I could remember—why on earth did it have to be written in Latin—there was a clause to get out of it.
I’d already cancelled my last appointment and set up this appointment with Olivia, expecting to use a substantial amount from the house sale to settle the contract.
I glanced at the address on my phone again, then up at the building, nerves making my stomach clench. It was the right address, alright.
The small house was old. Whitewashed paint, now gray and peeling. Broken windows, the roof, patchy and overgrown with moss. I peeked towards the windows, but they were cloudy with smoke and grime.
As I approached, the cracks in the driveway made me think of the saying, step on a crack, break your mother’s back. Except my mother was dead and gone—and, as soon as the house was sold, I would probably never be allowed to visit her grave again.
Gathering myself, I knocked, and the sound echoed ominously before Olivia’s pinched face appeared in the doorway.
“Miss Duvall,” her voice stiff and filled with scorn as she stared down her nose at me. “You’re late.”
“Thank you,” I snarked. It felt good to use my voice with her. ”It”s an art form.”
The soft creak of a chair in the corner had Olivia stifle her—what I was sure to be—scathing response, her gaze moving to the shadows beyond.
”Miss Duvall,” a cold, familiar voice had me straightening. Olivia stepped backwards, moving between me and the doorway.
Saul Vanderhorst stepped into the light, a jingling sound at his feet—his small pet alligator chained to the floor by his chair.
There were a few other people in the room, just as there had been when I signed the contract. I noticed Maxon, towering over the rest of the bodyguards. He didn’t look at me, but stared at the wall across from him, light from the soft lamp reflecting off his black framed glasses.
And, surprisingly, Grace—Tucker’s assistant—was also there.
I smiled at her but she quickly looked away.
“Please, come, sit,” he purred, gesturing to the chair across from him.
Seeing him so close, I could see the notch in his teeth, the wrinkles around his eyes and mouth, and the silver streaks in his hair. There was something familiar about him, a fleeting thought, a flickering ghost of a memory that I couldn’t quite grasp.
The smell of mold permeated my nose as we sat. “I hear you would like to cancel your contract with the Magnolia.”
“Yes,” I nodded, “to activate the clause to release me.”
“I see.” His steepled hands pressed to his lips as he took me in. “Pray, tell me,” he said, gesturing towards the stack of papers on the table. ”What makes you think that you have the authority to get out of this contract?”
”I...” I blinked in surprise at the sudden change in tone. Then set my jaw. “Yes, I remember specifically. Olivia said I would have a choice. There was a clasula exire. Terms to release me.”
”Oh really?” Reaching forward, a look of intrigue on his face, he pushed the stack of papers towards me, ”I know of no such clause. Would you care to point it out?”
My heart hammered in my chest as I flipped through it to find the paragraph, stating that if I hadn’t chosen a custodian, I could terminate the contract.
I furrowed my eyebrows, re-reading the page where it should be over and over. ”But,” I muttered, confused, ”it was here.”
The paper slid from under my fingers and Saul peered down at it, pointing to my initials at the bottom. “Is this your handwriting?”
The anxiousness in my belly climbed upwards and into my throat. ”It”s been changed. I don”t know how. Photoshop maybe?”
He tilted his head to the side, his dark eyes probing mine, ”Are you saying that someone in the Magnolia intentionally changed the contract? Somehow placed your signature here?” He licked a finger, then rubbed the ink, smearing it.
”I...” I stared at it, no words coming to me, “I’m—no, of course not.”
Then tell me, he pointed to the now smudged initials, “Are these your initials? SD?”
”Yes.”
”And is this your handwriting?”
“Yes,” I tried to swallow the lump in my throat, ”It looks like it.”
”And this,” He pointed to a clause on the page I”d been scanning, ”what does this say?”
”It says that--””
”Read it out loud, Summer. We both want to be clear, don”t we?”
I nodded. ”Yes.” I licked my dry lips, “Upon the participant”s initial meeting with their appointed custodian, this contract shall become fully binding and the participant will be obligated to adhere to all contents contained herein.”
”And have you met with any of your custodians?”
”Yes,” My voice sounded as weak as I felt.
“More than one, even. Are you a person of your word, Summer?”
”I swear to you, Mr. Vanderhorst. That wasn”t there when I signed it.”
”Then how did it get there?” he bent in closer, his nostrils quivering. His cold eyes bore into me, a weight on my chest, suffocating.
”I... I don”t know.”
”Do you think it”s possible that you didn’t read the contract as you should have?”
”I don”t know. Maybe.”
He leaned back in his chair, his eyes on the paper, considering. Sighing, as if disappointed in me, he bent down and picked up his alligator. “I thought you were happy with your arrangements, Miss Duvall. I don’t understand why the sudden change.”
My eyes were glued to the creature, as if trying to pull answers from it. It had a small bow tie around its neck, a leather strap around his mouth, and it looked like the tips of his ridges had been cut off. It made me sick to my stomach. “I just decided not to go through with it.” I didn’t owe them an explanation. Or the truth.
“Have you heard of caveat emptor, Summer? You should have, as it’s in the contract,” He pointed towards it, “it means buyer beware. Meaning, the buyer—you—are responsible for evaluating services rendered. Did you do your due diligence before signing the contract?”
My mouth was dry and my hands were clammy. I looked towards Olivia and Grace, hoping they would help me. “No,” I finally answered, “but I would say that you guys haven’t exactly been clear about?—”
“That’s what ‘caveat emptor’ is,” he interrupted and, with a dismissive gesture, he pushed the contract aside, a few pages drifting to the floor. “We, as provider of goods and services—money in this case—are not obligated to disclose all details about the product. I’m sorry if you weren’t as cautious as you should’ve been before signing this contract.”
“But I,” I stuttered, “I didn’t know.” I was regretting everything in my life.
Wishing I’d made better choices. That Benson had never shown me that secret room.
That I’d never heard of the Magnolia.
”Grace,” Saul said, breaking the silence.
Grace stepped forward, placing the computer in her hands onto the tabletop as he smoothly passed his alligator to the unknown woman standing nearby.
Opening the computer, Grace typed in a password, and a picture came up on the screen.
It took me a moment to realize that, blended into the crop of trees, was a man, hanging from it. He”d been lynched.
The blood drained from my face and I swallowed hard.
Grace stepped away but Saul”s hand snapped out, gripping her wrist. ”Please stay,” he said, tugging her to him.
She crawled into his lap, looking almost like a child. One arm wrapping around his neck, she pulled her knees to her chest, her head settling against his chest.
”Grace came here to us, just like you did, Summer. Isn”t that right, Grace?”
”Yes sir.”
”Except Grace didn”t ask for anything as trivial as money. No, she asked for employment. She knew from the beginning that we could elevate her life,” he fingered her hair, playing with a strand, ”not through the crass means of money but by giving her an education in experience. In how the world works. Isn’t that so?”
”Yes.”
”And yet, she also asked to be released of her contract,” his dark eyes gleamed. ”That was after we dealt with the ambassador of France, correct?”
”Yes,” she answered him. ”His wife.”
”Ah, yes, that was it.”
He didn”t elaborate but instead, clicked on the space bar, showing the next picture—a man hanging from ropes. His chest had wounds from possibly a whip. ”The history of the Veritas is a long one, long before this country was born. Of course, we don’t have photos of the early ones.” He tapped the spacebar again. A woman impaled by a wooden pole.
Tap. Two men on the ground. Two mouths screaming. Pigs eating their entrails.
Tap. A woman, her neck crooked, her dress pulled upward. Stockings ripped and bloody. A pair of bloody shears.
Tap, tap, tap. Each time a new picture emerging.
From black and white, to sepia, to color.
Bile climbed up my throat as the photos continued.
Saul’s gleaming eyes on me.
Grace’s distant gaze towards the window, overlooking the swamp beyond.
”Each of these people came to us. We didn”t seek them out. We don”t need to, you see. It is man”s lot to want more than what they have.” He leaned forward, continuing the slideshow of evil, his lips tilting upwards at the horror on my face. “Let”s take you, for example. You could”ve sold your house. Taken the money and moved on. And yet, you stayed. Came to us. Because you wanted more,” his nostrils flared, his eyes dancing as he watched me. ”Isn”t that right?”
I swallowed the knot in my throat.
He suddenly stopped, nodding towards the screen. “And there’s the ambassador’s wife.” The woman was on a bed, her hands and feet tied. There were several men around her, grinning from ear to ear. I recognized the worn and wrinkled face of several priests, still in their frocks. One of them in the infamous white.
She had a hallowed out look on her face.
“All these people, trying to weasel their way out of their obligations,” he tapped again, ”just…”
tap
“like..”
tap,
“your…”
he tapped one more time, landing on a photo,
“father.”
There was a whoosh in my ears as I recognized the next photo.
A 1927 Bugatti Coupe, smashed into a tree. The front was black from char and melted metal.
Suddenly, the screams from my nightmares filled my ears.
I froze in fear, my palms moistening with sweat, my heart pounding.
”I see you recognize the image,” I could hear Saul talking but I was barely registering the words, ”though I heard you didn’t remember that night.”
In shock, I finally tore my eyes from the screen to look at him.
He’d settled back in his chair, with Grace curled tight in his lap. He kissed her forehead, smiling at me. ”Do you think we”re monsters, Summer?”
My lips parted, but I couldn”t speak.
”I”ve personally been called worse, but,” a shoulder came up as he stroked Grace”s hair, ”I don”t believe in monsters, Summer. Only a handful of people understand the world and how it works; those who follow their goals, no matter the cost. Monsters? They don”t exist. There is only one thing that is guaranteed in life. You may think that is death, but I don’t believe in monsters and I don”t believe in death.”
He raised his hand, tugging up the sleeve of his grey suit and shirt to reveal red scars across his own wrists.
“There is only destiny. Each one of us has our own to fulfill.” He gestured at his scars, “That’s what my father taught me, when I tried to get out of my contract. Unlike you, Summer, I wasn”t afforded a choice—I was born into it through blood and water. Raised with no choice but to embrace my lot.” He leaned back in his chair, tugging his cuffs back down. His gold OG insignia ring glinted in the muted light. ”Just as I have, you will embrace your destiny. No one can escape it. Your father tried, and for that, your mother paid the price. After that, well,” he sighed, “he fulfilled his obligations before he died. Releasing both him and you and your sister from the Magnolia. But, like a pet to his master, you returned to us.” He tapped the paper, “You. Belong. To. Me. I am your destiny. There is no getting out of this contract. Do you understand?”
Fear clawing my chest, afraid I wouldn’t leave this room alive, I nodded.
Just like those people, just like both Rook and Lux had tried to warn me.
I was fucked.
“Yes.”
”Good,” he pat Grace’s knee and she quickly scrambled to stand behind Olivia, who was watching with an unconcerned look on her face. They all were. None of the guards blinked an eye, not even Maxon.
”I think, however, since you don”t want to accept any of the men we”ve offered you, we can make other arrangements.” He stood, smiling down at me, and held out his hand. ”Show me you understand, Summer.”
Hesitatingly, I took it, and was suddenly jerked forward. Grabbing the back of my hair, he slammed my head against the table.
Pain ricocheted through me and I gasped in surprise.
”How dare you think you can do what you want,” he growled, his voice dark and menacing. He slammed it again and again, making my ears ring and my head throb. ”You signed this agreement and you will fulfill the terms we give you.” Slam.
Screaming in pain, I wrestled with him. I punched out. Jerking my wrists behind my back, he shoved me into the table. His hips straddled my back.
Fingers pulling my hair. His elbow digging into my spine.
So harsh I thought it would snap in half.
“You do as we say or we will go after your sister.”
Back bowing. Scalp screaming. Face slammed.
Fear spiking.
“Do you want me to bring her here?”
“No,” I howled. Gritting my teeth.
“You see, what you don’t know, little girl, is that every single person is an open book—their destiny laid out before my eyes. Be they stubborn or bold, foolish or wise, I can read them like the pages of a book. All except one man. One. Single. Fucking. Man. Denying me the pride of my father. Keeping me from receiving permission to kill Emerson Forten and becoming Magnus of the Magnolia.”
His lips came down on my ear, tongue darting out, licking the rim. Disgust crawled up my spine.
“And that man, my dear, is Rook Craven. He’s been with us for years and yet, his destiny is black before me. I combed through every inch of his financials, sent my raven spies to watch his every move. And yet, nothing. He completes Magnolia business with efficiency. Has no interest in the many women and men we put up for auction. No desire to participate in any housing or business proposals.”
He paused, panting, his warm breath pouring over my ear. Sliding down the skin of my neck and shoulder like a snake.
“That is...until you.” Excitement filled his voice. “From the second he saw you, his eyes lit up like a Christmas tree. I knew then that you were his destiny. For the first time ever, I could see exactly how to manipulate Rook Craven. He looked like he wanted to eat you, along with all the other wolves in the room. Including me.” He jerked his hips forward, digging into my ass where I could feel his hardness. “Can you imagine? The answer to my problem in the form of the daughter of the man I despise.” He laughed, the sound cruel, making a chill run up my spine. “Now. You will find a way to capture Rook for me. You are the only thing he cares about, and I will have that man under my thumb. And so, you’re going to be my little spy.” A clunk on the table—a sleek, black phone. “A little bird in my ear. Do you understand, Summer?”
I nodded, trembling with fear.
“Say it out loud. I need to hear it.”
“I—I…”
“Remember your sister. She has no idea we exist. Yet.”
“Yes!” I squealed out, the pain in my back intensifying. “I understand.”
“I own you, Summer. You will do as I say. Now, take the phone.”
I reached forward, but he suddenly grabbed my wrist and held it to his crotch, squeezing my fingers around his hardened dick, ”Feel that Summer? You see how I love your pain? I crave to see you bleeding and begging me for mercy.” He threw my hand to the side, his teeth coming down to bite my ear, “But Grace will have to suffer for your sins because, unlike you, her bloodline isn”t pure enough to protect her from my lust.”
He stepped back, breathing heavily, letting the silence hang heavy between us, except for the sound of air wheezing from his lips. “Take the phone,” he directed again.
Hesitatingly, I gripped it, the edges cold and hard.
“I will contact you on this, from here on out. No matter what, you will answer. Tell me you understand.”
“Yes. I understand,” eyes squeezed shut, trying to keep my tears from falling, I mumbled into the table, not looking at him.
“I need Rook’s secrets. Anything to enslave him to the Magnolia. As soon as you have it, text me right away. Do not wait. And then go exactly where I tell you to go. Understand?” he paused, and I nodded.
“Yes.”
“Good,” he purred, and I winced as his fingers slid though my hair, a disgusted shiver working its way up my spine.
“Now,” he said, “for your little display of rebellion. I suggest you get home as soon as possible. You might not like what you find there.”