Page 29 of Bound By Blood and Lies

“He didn’t recognise any of it,” I say, glancing at Felix briefly before looking back at the fire. “He wasn’t acting like a man caught out, he was acting like a man who’d just realised his house was on fire and he’d been sleeping through the smoke.”

“So, he’s either genuinely blindsided,” Riggs mutters, “or he’s the best actor in England.”

“He’s a lot of things but he isn’t an actor. Get it through your head, Riggs, he’s on our side. Even more so after what I told him.”

“And what did you tell him?” Riggs asks.

“Enough to make him understand the scale.”

Felix studies me for a beat longer than necessary. I can feel it. Measuring what I’m not saying, but his shoulders relax as he lets it go.

For now, I think with a grimace. I’m not a coward but I’m not exactly looking forward to telling her brother I tried to purposely get her pregnant.

“Did he agree to help?” Felix sits back down, the cards seemingly forgotten for the moment.

“He agreed to help,” I say and I look at Felix. “He also tried to take it off my hands.”

“Of course he did,” Riggs snorts. “Where do you think you got it from?”

“Anything else?” Victor asks, leaning forward as the firelight carves hard lines across his face.

“He told me why we only have one male heir,” I say.

The room shifts almost imperceptibly. Even Riggs straightens, which is rare enough to be concerning. Atlas slideshis laptop aside, giving me his full attention. The way he tilts his head would almost be eager if it didn’t look so analytical.

“Well?” Victor prompts.

“Decades ago,” I begin, keeping my tone level, “after the war, the founders authorised a biological intervention. The intention was to increase the probability of male heirs. They were worried about succession and bloodlines within The Company.”

Felix’s jaw twitches

“It didn’t work,” I continue. “In fact, it did the complete opposite. According to my father, the intervention not only altered the men born after it but every one that followed.”

There’s a beat of silence where the fire pops and everyone processes what I just said.

“So, they tried to rig nature,” Riggs lets out a low whistle as he leans back, “and nature did what it always does and laughed in their faces.”

“It explains why everyone loses their mind over a potential heir,” Victor says.

The flames catch in Felix’s expression as his eyes drop to the floor. I can almost see him rearranging the board in his head, shifting pieces, redrawing threat lines and factoring in variables we didn’t have yesterday. Atlas goes still in that particular way he does when he’s processing something as his fingers hover over nothing. Victor’s eyes harden as tension threads through his posture like he’s physically holding himself in place.

The fire crackles between us again.

“You think it’s connected to the sex trafficking ring?” Victor asks after a beat.

I draw breath to answer, but Atlas beats me to it.

“Yes.”

The certainty in his voice makes my head snap toward him. Atlas doesn’t deal in absolutes. Hearing him commit like that is enough to make my heart skip a beat.

“I’ve managed to decode more of Fisher’s work,” Atlas continues. “He doesn’t have a male heir. It’s not hard to see him trying to figure out how to get one.” He shifts slightly and the firelight catches his glasses.

“Maybe through his daughters. Or maybe…” His eyes cut to me. “Through Fae.”

“Well, that’s horrifying,” Riggs says, dragging a hand down his face before lifting his beer. “Cheers to the founders. I hope they all rot.”

“Isn’t your dad a founder?” I glance at him.