Chapter 61 Sable
SABLE
The dean’s disturbing accusations are still loud in my head, and I know I’m not the only one.
I look around at all the guys, and it’s obvious that despite the bravado they showed, they never expected to be called out like that.
They are the Founders’ heirs. My first month here forced me to accept these five men had complete control over everything and everyone inside this castle.
How did that change so quickly? One minute, they are kings, and the next, we need to watch our backs?
Soren was right, and it was always a hoax.
“We have always had to watch our backs since we were kids,” Hadrian says as we put some distance between us and the offices.
The stone walls might as well have eyes, and apparently, my quiet musings aren’t so quiet.
“But this means something bigger is coming.” Fear slithers down my spine at the accusation, and suddenly, the dim lights seem especially sinister.
“We are the heirs,” Lex says with authority.
“The four families don’t want their line to end.
I’m still not entirely convinced this is them.
” He keeps his voice pitched low, looking over his shoulder.
I’ve never seen them act this way before, and I wonder if coming here wasn’t a far worse mistake than I ever realized.
“Some of us are just a spare son,” Parker says.
“Still, that’s not how it’s done. There aren’t dead Founders packed under the floorboards,” Lex says.
“That you know of,” I say, realizing all sorts of people can be murderers, and this place has always seemed a little haunted.
“Fucking finally!” Nina interrupts our dooming.
She barrels toward us, forcing our entire party to a stop.
Her long brown hair is tied up in a loose and falling bun, her light eyes scrub us like she’s searching for something very important.
Cold hands take mine, and her anxiety oozes into me. Damn, she looks like shit.
“What happened to you?” I shake my head, wondering where my popcorn-eating friend went.
“Hey! Hands off!” Parker tries to get between Nina and me, but I wave him off.
“Nothing, everything is perfect.” She looks over her shoulder as if she’s trying to see beyond the walls and tugs me forward, making me follow her.
“Leave her alone! What the fuck?” Orion starts, but I wave him off as well.
My eyes are on Nina, and the fear I felt a minute ago doubles when I really take her in.
She’s a con artist, a fucking bitch. Whatever has a tough bitch like her shaking is something I’m not ready to face.
I follow her to a small passage, the secret tunnel of the east wing.
I’m rarely around here now that I made my own schedule, but I’ve followed Orion through this one before.
Nina leads me up the stairs and down the hall, and only then does she turn to me, breathless as if we were being chased.
“What happened?” I ask.
“Shit is going down,” she tells me. “You need to go.” She runs her hands through her hair, worsening the state of her bun, but whatever she’s discovered must be huge.
“Go where?” I insist. Isn’t that the whole damn problem, that I have nowhere to go?
“I don’t know! Anywhere but here. It won’t end well, Sable.
They fucked the Briarwicks over enough times before, and you think you’re the one who’s going to be able to take them down?
” Her eyes redden, and for a moment, I think she might actually cry.
Why the hell would she care so much about what happened to my family?
“Who fucked them over?” Lex asks, his entire posture hardening.
“What are you doing back here, Liliana?” There’s venom dripping from his voice, and I realize then, that while this was a tough one to explain, we probably should have done it sooner.
Nina looks at him for the first time, as if she’s surprised they followed us.
I wouldn’t be able to shake them off, even if I wanted to.
They are glued to my side now. There’s no escaping.
“Ask your dad, Morwen.” She smiles at him, and I see a glimpse of the bitch I know.
“Nina, go back to the beginning—”
“Nina?” Orion blurts. “Who the fuck is Nina?”
There’s too much. I shake my head because I don’t even know how to start this. I tried my best not to share much about her. I have no idea why I insist on being loyal to a fucking bitch like her, but yeah, that’s me, I guess.
“Nina is her real name,” Hadrian explains. “I know that. I just don’t understand why we trust a con artist.”
She laughs, throwing her head back. “Don’t trust me. I don’t give a damn.” She turns back to me, and I know she’s serious just by the way the sarcasm seeps from her expression.
“How is she involved in all of this?” Lex asks.
She laughs. “I’m the only damn reason you’ve got your girl back, Doctor. Don’t believe me? Ask the Musician and the one who likes drugs.” She gives them all a nasty look, leaving them in silence to ponder their many grudges against each other. This is going to be a damn complicated mess to unwind.
She turns back to me and grabs my hands to force me to pay attention to her and not the guys.
“I don’t have time to start at the beginning because I am getting the fuck out of here.
Remember that they thought they buried the Briarwicks, and then you swam out of that river.
Then they brought you here as an Offering to demean you, and you got the five heirs to fall in love with you. ”
“So?” I ask. I know I’ve done all that, but frankly, all the trauma in between has clouded whatever larger picture she’s alluding to.
“Damn, Sable, do you have any idea how angry they are?” she asks, and there’s so much fear in her face that I nearly shake along with her.
“Who. Are. They?” Soren says slowly, eyes pinned on Nina.
“Pull your head out of your ass,” she says to him with absolutely no patience in her tone, and I realize she’s been being nice to me. “Did you check the journalism department like I told you to?”
I shake my head. “A lot of shit is happening. I didn’t have time.”
“I told you to keep asking questions!” She’s exasperated. “Did you think it was a fucking suggestion and you could take your sweet-ass time?”
“Who the actual fuck are you to speak to her that way?” Parker asks.
Nina ignores them all as if they are nothing but part of the Bellthorn decoration.
She looks at me and only me, and I feel a weird kinship with her, like maybe there was something real in those years of friendship after all.
I want her to trust me, yet I wonder if she can.
I won’t go out of my way to fuck her over, but I have too many loyalties that stand ahead of her.
I get why she never would completely. I think deep down she knows that, and that’s why it is so easy to help me and so hard to let me in. Frankly, I don’t blame her for it.
“Your… dad didn’t do what they told you he did,” she says, refusing to meet my eyes now.
“What?” I ask, feeling like she’s kicked me in the stomach.
I take my hands from hers and step away.
My back hits a chest, and an arm closes over me, giving me comfort.
I know by the scent alone it’s Orion. I take a deep breath, trying to center myself.
I never wanted to talk about this with anyone, and I especially wasn’t looking to pick that wound open now.
Discovering that my dad was involved in sex trafficking ended me.
The full investigation shows things he did to teenagers, his laptop, his accounts, everything was compromised.
I puked up the contents of my stomach for weeks just thinking about it.
“What do you mean?” My voice shakes when I ask. There couldn’t be a crueler torture than raising my hopes about this to let me down.
“How is that possible?” Soren asks.
Nina looks at him, wagging her finger. “How? The people who pull the strings believe they’re more powerful than God for a reason. You should be asking why. Why did they want to destroy the Briarwicks?”
The question sits in my stomach like a stone, and because I haven’t done the research she asked me to, I don’t have a hope of guessing specifics.
“Who did this?” Parker asks.
While I don’t know their individual names, I know the answer. It’s always the same fucking answer.