10. CHAPTER 9 #2
Laurent opened his mouth, ready to spit poison, but Blaise cut him off.
“He’s alive,” Blaise said firmly.
Relief hit me so suddenly it made my eyes sting.
Alive.
Then Blaise added, “But he’s hurt. Badly.”
Laurent smiled like that was a gift.
“They didn’t kill him because I told them not to,” Blaise said, and there was ice in his voice now. “Not because he didn’t deserve it.”
I looked up. “You told them not to?”
Blaise held my gaze. “Yes.”
Laurent scoffed. “Tu es sentimental, mon frère.”
“Je ne suis pas sentimental, du tout,” Blaise replied, cold. “He’s no good to us dead.”
“He’s not useful to us alive either.”
Laurent’s eyes gleamed, then he turned to me, and I really saw it. He wasn’t angry because I’d endangered myself. He was angry because someone had touched what he considered his.
The family honour… family property. The Fernández pride.
“Do you know what Father said when you disappeared?” Laurent snarled.
Blaise’s shoulders tensed. “Stop.”
Laurent ignored him. “He said, ‘We cannot let Orion think we can’t control our own house.’ That’s what you are to them. You’re not a person, but a breach in the wall. A problem that needs containment. A freaking door they failed to lock.”
My throat felt tight, but this time it wasn’t from sadness. It was from pent-up anger. I’d always known they viewed me as property, but I was tired of being the breach, the issue that needed to be controlled. Which was why I ran in the first place.
A problem that needs containment. Rage and hurt burned through me, feeding the ache that had lived inside me for years.
“So what?” I asked in challenge, keeping my chin up. “Now you plan to bring me home. Mother yells. Father threatens. I'm locked up in my room for weeks. You all clean up the mess. Then what?”
Blaise’s expression hardened. “Then you marry him,” he said.
My stomach dropped like I was climbing a fleet of stairs and missed a step.
“I’m not marrying—”
“You are,” Blaise cut in, the firmness in his tone made my blood run cold. “Father has already agreed to continue. He thinks this proves we need the truce more than ever.”
“Because he’s afraid,” I said.
“Yes,” Blaise said simply. “Also because its important for the future of Equinox Continental. The only problem is Orion will use this to his advantage.”
Laurent smiled. “He already is.”
I looked at Laurent. “What did you hear?”
Laurent’s eyes glittered. “Father was on the phone with his lawyers before we found you. Orion’s team is revising the contract. They calling it risk mitigation.”
I turned to Blaise. His jaw was clenched.
“Is that true?”
He didn’t answer fast enough, and my pulse thudded too loudly, I felt it in my veins.
“What did Orion change?” I asked, and my voice came out fiercer, almost desperate. I didn’t even know the wording on the original contract, still, revising at this time meant nothing good. And I needed to know now.
Blaise sighed. “Our lawyers don’t have the final draft yet.”
Laurent stepped in. “But I know what he’ll do,” he said. “He’ll tighten everything. Make sure to put you on a tight leash, so you can't move without permission. You won't have—”
“Stop,” Blaise snapped.
Laurent sneered. “Why? You think she doesn’t deserve to know?”
Some men take ground and never stop taking.
Is he still agreeing to the marriage to punish me?
A cold unease crept through me at the thought.
Blaise turned to me again, and for the first time his protector mask slipped a little to show the regret hidden underneath.
Was it for rescuing me or for what rescuing me meant? I couldn’t tell.
“Léonie,” he said, softer now, “I’m sorry.”
The words struck harder than Laurent’s rage, because it was rare to see Blaise apologize for anything. The fact that he was, proved that this was truly inevitable.
“For what?” I asked, even though I already knew.
Blaise swallowed. “For bringing you back.”
The room went dead silent. It almost felt like mourning. Maybe it was. A moment of silence for my new life sentence.
I stared at him, my mind racing, trying to find a way around the truth.
“You didn’t have a choice,” I said.
Blaise’s eyes held mine. “Neither do you.”
Laurent leaned against the wall, already bored of all the sentiment. His voice cut through it.
“If you truly wanted respect,” he said, “From our father, from the world, for yourself—” He smiled, thin and cruel. “You should've run as far as possible and stayed gone.”
My hands curled into fists in my lap. His gaze held mine, watching my reaction, to see how much his words stung.
“Shame your lover was a sloppy loser.”
“Get out,” I yelled at him.
Laurent’s smile widened. “Gladly.”
He pulled up the sleeve of his sweater just above his wrist, an unhinged glint in his eyes. “But know this—”
Blaise’s head snapped toward him. “Laurent—”
Laurent held up both hands in mock surrender. “Fine. I’ll go before I say something unforgivable.”
He walked to the door, paused, and looked back at me with eyes that were blazing with violence. “If he dies,” Laurent sneered. Because he always had to have the last word. “It won't be because of our father.”
He smirked. "It'll be because I got bored waiting for permission."
He left and the lock clicked.
Blaise stood still for a moment, as if he didn’t know where to put himself—protector, mediator, brother, defender. I watched him cross the room and crouched in front of me.
“Look here Léo,” he urged.
I did, fighting back the tears burning at my eyelids.
“You’re going to survive this,” Blaise said with conviction. “Whatever Orion Kade thinks he’s doing, whatever father agrees to, you’ll survive it.”
A lump formed in my throat.
“How?” I whispered. “They’re going to hand me to him like an apology.”
Blaise didn’t flinch from the ugliness.
“Yes,” he said. “They are.”
“We are—” he corrected himself, a strain on his features as he realised he was a part of it too.
I swallowed hard, forcing myself to breathe. My throat still hurting like hell.
“I need to see the contract,” I tolf him.
“Léo—”
“I need to read it,” I repeated, firmer. “Before you all sign anything on my behalf.”
Blaise hesitated, then shook his head. “It’s not on your behalf Léo. It’s for our family and our legacy. You’re—”
“Collateral?” I completed the sentence for him. My face twisting in disgust.
“I want to help you, but my access is limited. Only Father and Debo get to decide who gets access to what. They’re the ones who’ll decide on it—” He paused, stood, then tucked his hands into his trouser pockets.
“Laurent and I will only be there as witnesses, as directors of Equinox Continental. That's all.”
“You can still try,” I said, and there was strength in my voice that surprised even me.
Blaise could get anything he was determined to. I’ve seen him break into our father’s home office once, when he wanted to retrieved something that was seized from him as punishment. He knew what I meant by asking him to try.
He stared at me for a moment then a faint, sad smile touched his lips.
“I will try,” he conceded.
I nodded.
“I’ll be back,” he told me. “Eat something. Don’t fight the guards. Don’t—”
“Don’t make you regret protecting me?” I finished.
Frustration crossed Blaise’s face.
“I’m already there,” he admitted, his voice honest and devastating.
He walked out the door, leaving me alone again with the tray of food that had gone cold.
I sat very still until my breathing leveled out, and my pulse finally found a steady pace.
Then I reached for the bread anyway. I needed the strength, even if I had no appetite.
The truth was clear now. My family didn’t bring me back with the intention of punishing me.
My only use here was to be the sacrificial lamb offered to the Kade altar for their dynasty to flourish.
Their only plan was to offer me to Orion Kade to do as he pleased.
My father is scared of him, so is Debo, even though he wouldn’t admit it and has hid it under disdain.
What would he do to me?