Chapter 25
Twenty-Five
Sugar Skull
I’m in trouble.
I know I sound like a fifteen-year-old boy who skipped class, but I mean it.
Father called an emergency meeting at the Manor. He knows about Lola. I know better than to hide it.
What I don’t know is if Father bought my excuse.
When I called it in, I told him Lola deviated from protocol. Drew attention. So I neutralized her before she compromised our goal. Even with that under my belt, I don’t know what I’m walking into.
“Big Brother Ambrose!” Ezra Claringdale greets me as I walk through the Manor foyer, his voice worsening the ache in my head.
He still has that scar under his eye, and it’s hard to hide my smirk when I remember who gave it to him. It was the first time I saw that side of her. That darkness that lurks underneath. Something told me it wouldn't be the last.
“Atlas,” I correct him. He greeted me with a sign of respect, but I hate that shit. This place doesn’t deserve respect. I certainly don’t.
I move down the hall lined with photos of Brothers before us, Eastmount’s bloody history reeking from its walls. I’ve helped keep that history alive.
Until now.
“Are you on your way to see Father?" Ezra asks, walking next to me. "Tell him I’ve selected my Chosen.”
Father likes Ezra. They’re both cocky. Arrogant. Selfish. Both a recipe for chaos. It’s known Ezra hasn’t picked a Chosen, but Father chooses to see it as being selective. It’s actually because women on campus don’t want to deal with someone so unhinged.
“Zee Zafar.”
My feet stop when I hear her name from his mouth. My jaw clenches as I slowly turn to him.
He takes a step back. “I thought my Big Brother would be proud.”
“Anyone but her.” I keep moving down the hall.
“But I like the challenge!” Ezra calls. “She’s different!”
“That’s the problem.”
I enter the small hallway leading to the parlour, the double doors closing behind me. History lines the walls on each side of me. Our secrets. Fathers before him. The fallen.
They don’t ever let you forget what happens if you disobey.
What I’ve done is worse than mere disobedience. It’s traitorous. But after looking into Barry’s death, I'm not the only one with treason under my nails.
My eyes land on him.
Barrington Blackwood.
Zee’s father.
My best friend.
I know why he didn’t tell me about her. I know why he didn’t tell anyone.
My hand lands against the glass, my eyes on features reminiscent of my best friend’s daughter. Big almond eyes that tell stories their mouths never would. Sharp angles in their nose and chin, and a smile that softens it all.
How did I not know when I saw her?
A deep breath escapes me, a sharpness in my nose as my gaze lingers on my fallen friend. A real brother.
He’s the only reason I’m here.
Had he planned this all along? To protect her?
And I fucked it by fucking her.
Maybe Zee’s right. We’re better off on our own.
“I’m sorry, Barry.”
My hand slides off the glass, moving through another set of double doors into the parlour.
Dim lighting and another crackling fireplace greet me, wrapping the space in something intimate. Private.
Suffocating.
Like the rest of the manor, it showcases the old money fuelling this place. Dark wooden floors, dark leather sofas and floor-to-ceiling bookshelves. Zee would fill the entire thing with romances that would shatter the brains of women like Cherry and confirm the worst in people like Father.
They wouldn’t get it. They wouldn't get her.
“Brother Ambrose,” Father greets, leaning back against a brown leather sofa.
A large coffee table with a giant wooden chessboard sits in front of him, Cherry by his side. She reads a woman’s magazine in a short dress and heels, unbothered by anyone's presence. A few others fill the leather armchairs near him, confirming what I know.
He no longer trusts me.
“Thank you for coming on such short notice.” He gestures to the one empty chair across from him.
I nod, remaining by the door as I scan the faces in the room.
They’re men I know he trusts. Younger brothers who shot up the ranks by doing exactly what Father asks.
Scrubbing books, enforcing rules, and causing terror to those who don’t abide.
They all stare at me like they’re ready to rip my title away.
The one Barry worked hard for. The one that made things easy for so long.
“Thank you for having me, Father.” The last thing I want to do is keep up cordiality and rituals, but it’ll help my case.
“You have acted out of turn,” Father says. “Many have fallen at your hands for no good reason. I've invited you here to give your last warning.”
Heat fills my chest.
His last warning isn’t a death sentence, but that tells me he’s tightening the reins. That complicates things.
Up until now, I’ve been free to do my tasks. Free to watch Zee at my leisure. Free to fuck and hold her at my will. Now, Father wants me on a tight leash. He’ll watch me. He’ll test me.
“My reasons have merit," I say. "Lola got in the way. So did Kon and Reggie. Perhaps a tightening on delegation would reduce further issues.”
Shit.
Father’s face twists. “You need aid. You’re incapable.”
“You withheld information. It caused complications that I had to diffuse. She’s Blackwood’s daughter. That wasn't disclosed."
“For your own good. But I see that was a mistake. A good mistake."
My eyes narrow.
"She has proven useful to us,” Father continues. “Lola was bringing her to me.”
“Why?”
“You question me?”
“I'm following orders. The plan was to have her eliminated. I deserve to know what changed."
“You failed.”
“I will end her."
“She will be brought to me!" Father’s voice rises.
I plant my feet into the floor before I do the very thing I’m capable of when it comes to her. I can't lose control.
“This is the wrong decision. She won’t comply. She’s reckless. She’s impulsive. She’s not fit.”
"Yet." Father smiles. “You are dismissed.”
“Father, you’re—”
Slam!
His hands bang against the coffee table, toppling chess pieces. “This meeting is finished. Unless you want the same ending as your traitorous Father Blackwood.”
I see fucking red.
He admits it.
He killed him.
I knew it, but this fuck stands by it.
I shove my hands in my pockets and swivel on my heel. “Your cufflink is undone.”
My last words before I exit the room might seem trivial. But the slam I hear against the table as the doors close behind me means it got him.
Perfection. We all strive for it, but Father? He needs it, especially when he’s reprimanding his Family. It looks bad if someone below him calls him out. His appearance just hits harder.
Call me petty. I’ll own it.
Moving towards the parlour hallway, that heat ripples across my back again.
My feet stop.
I’ve felt this all morning.
Looking back, the doors behind me remain closed, Father’s voice muffling from the inside, barking orders to regain composure.
Pulling out my phone, my brain runs the math on my next move as I tap into the feed in Zee’s home.
My eyes narrow.
My grip tightens.
Zee hasn’t moved.
At all.
I rewind the feed, clocking something that feels like deja vu. But it isn’t.
A small smile spreads across my face as I piece it together.
She looped the video.
She’s smart, but sloppy, and I need to put a stop to whatever she’s planning before Father beats me to it.
As far as I know, he already has eyes on me.
I reach for the door as a scent enters my nose, lingering in the air.
Spicy. Sweet.
Hers.
It’s faint, fading, but unmissable.
A tingle ripples down my spine. More than a shiver. More than a tremble. It’s enough to make my cock jump before it hits me.
Fuck.
She should know better than to sneak around here.
I push through the door, my eyes scanning the hallway as I walk towards the ballroom. Young Brothers glance my way as my gaze covers the corners. They don’t look like they’ve seen Zee. They’re too calm.
Her scent fades when I make my way to the library. It’s nonexistent in the bathrooms and the kitchen. It’s not until I’m by the back porch overlooking the garden that I smell her again.
Then I see it.
A small pile of soil near the white French doors, dark against the marble.
Crouching, I pick some up, rubbing it between my fingers and bringing it to my nose.
It's from the forest across campus.
A slow smirk tugs at my mouth.
Zee’s turned the tables.
I stride back towards the front door of the manor.
Zee can hunt me, but I’ll always catch her first.
“Zee?”
She set her boundaries, but as far as I’m concerned, two things break that. Father’s words and her actions.
If Zee followed me to the Manor, she still wants to be by my side. It’s a sign that we’re still connected despite the chaotic web we’ve weaved.
I’m not coming home. That hasn’t changed.
I’m taking her out of it.
My gut instinct to get her out of Eastmount was right. I let her delay me. I let her convince me. I let her make me lose control.
Now father wants her, and I’ll burn this place to the ground before I let that happen.
I need to make us disappear.
The house is quiet once I’m inside, and I’m quick to the cameras I set up in case Father got hold of the feeds.
The one next to the old cookie jar in the kitchen.
The one in the picture by the staircase.
I skip the one in the living room. Father can watch Zee’s loop, but the rest? Those were for me.
“Zee!”
It doesn’t smell like she’s still here. It doesn’t sound like it either. No music. No creaks. No faint smell of weed in the air.
I climb the steps two at a time, using the rail to pull me up further. My feet slow before I pass the large window in the upstairs hallway.
“This is your last warning.”
Father’s words ring in my head, reminding me I need to be careful. I crouch until I’m past the window and stop again before entering the bedroom.
Placing my back against the wall, I lean over just until I can see the road.
I spot a man in a black hat parked inside the forest, the hood of his car pointed at the house.
Amateur, but Father works fast.
The urgency in my chest builds as I move to the bedroom, ready to pack her things and—
My breath shallows, the walls closing in.
I slap my hand against the wall, bracing myself.
Every trace of her is gone.
The ashtray is empty, the floor clear of clothes, not one old romance book in sight.
My eyes linger on the bed, on the things she did leave.
The headphones. The vinyl.
I don’t need to check the drawers to know what’s happened.
My angel is gone.