Page 92 of Ruthless Legacy

I look across the room at Kit, who has been sitting beside Wilbur with his mouth hanging open, watching all of this unfold. “Come on, Kit.” I hold my hand out to him, expecting him to jump up and take it straight away. When I look back at him, he looks from me to Wilbur, anxiety written all over his face.

“Would it be so bad, marrying him?” He gestures with his head towards Archer. “You guys are already a thing.” He can’t meet my eyes as he speaks. “I like it here, Eliza. We have a family. I don’t want to lose that.”

“He left us in foster care, Kit,” I remind him, shaking my head in exasperation. “He left us to face the world alone.”

Kit finally looks over at me and the look in his eyes devastates me more than anything that has occurred tonight. “You can go, but I’m staying, and I think you should stay and think this through for once. Would it really be so bad to just marry him?”

I wipe at a stray tear that falls down my cheek. “You’re choosing him? It’s always been me and you, Kit. We’ve never needed anyone else before, and we don’t now.”

“Eliza, sit yourself down, young lady,” Wilbur orders, his voice bellowing across the room, making everyone flinch. “You’ll do your duty to this family, like your father should have done. You’ll repair the damage he did, and you’ll marry Archer Savage.”

“Go to hell, Wilbur, and take all these poisonous snakes with you.” I spin on my heels and storm from the room. I hear Wilbur shouting after me, demanding I sit back down. Edith rushes through from the kitchen to see what all the commotion is, and she stops still in her tracks when she takes in my tear-stained face.

“Eliza, what’s wrong?”

I snicker and raise my hands to the ceiling. “What’s wrong is that I should never have stepped foot in this god-damn house of lies. No wonder dad ran away. No wonder he went as far as he could from that man and did everything he could to start a new life.”

I take the stairs, two at a time, to my room. Grabbing my old rucksack that I arrived with, I throw my clothes inside. I make sure to only take the clothes that I came with, none of the finery that was paid for with Wilbur’s money. The last thing I throw in my bag is my teddy bear and my photos of my family. A family I no longer have now that he has taken Kit from me.

The door bursts open and Archer strides into the room. “Scarlet, just breathe a minute.” He runs a hand through his hair and his dark eyes plead with me. “Look, I wanted to tell you. I even tired this morning.”

I take a step back as he takes a step forward. “You stay the fuck away from me. I hate you,” I hiss with tears spilling down my face. “There you go. I hate you. Isn’t this what you wanted? To destroy me.” I clap my hands together in applause. “Well congratulations. You fucking did it. I broke my rules for you. I let you in. One day you’ll regret losing me, because I was the first real thing you had in your life, and I wasn’t there because it was my duty or because I wanted the status. I was there because there was something in you that called to me.” I clench my hand over my heart. “You saw me. Just like I saw you, Archer Savage. But I’m a fool, a stupid fucking fool for ever thinking that there was anything more to you than your cunning and your deceit.”

I throw my bag over my shoulder and try to move past him, but, he grabs me and pins me against the wall, gripping my chin between the fingers of one hand whilst the other keeps me pinned in place. “Don’t go,” he says as his dark eyes hold mine prisoner. He opens his mouth as if he is going to say more, but he hesitates.

“I’ve nothing to stay for.” I lift my knee and hit him right between his legs and he staggers back, swearing under his breath and clutching at his groin. Taking my chance, I flee down the stairs and wrench the front door open. I run down that drive like my life depends on it. I keep running and I only stop once to take out my phone and throw it into a bush at the side of the road. There is no way I am giving that fucker the chance to track me down. I don’t know where I’m going, but so long as it’s far away from here, that is all that matters.

Somehow, I find myself at the cemetery in the bay. I have no idea what led me here, but I walk the rows of graves until I find the one I’m looking for. I trace the letters of my grandmother’s name where it is carved into the stone, and I sit myself down and rest my head against her headstone. I wonder what she would make of all this if she were here. She had an arranged marriage planned, and she defied her family and married Wilbur.

I miss my mum and dad so much that my heart physically aches. I just wish they were here to fold me into their arms and tell me everything is going to be okay. But nothing is okay. I’ve lost my brother to that poisonous bastard, and I fooled myself into believing I actually had friends here. What a complete idiot I have been. So desperate to have a family and belong somewhere that I failed to see what was staring me in the face all along. I am nothing more than a pawn in a rich man’s game.

I shiver as the coolness of the night closes in. It’s getting late and I need to find somewhere to stay, but where can I go? There is no one around here I can rely on or trust. I shake my head and swear at myself. Of course, there is one person who has always looked out for me, who didn’t give a shit about the Aces and their power and influence. I can only hope that when I ask him for help, he’ll be there to support me.

It takes a bit of a walk and when I finally arrive, I’m shivering from the cold. Deep down, I’ve always known that this is the side of the bay I belong on. Hitching my bag up my shoulder, I walk up the drive to the large house that looks so out of place on this side of the Bay until I find myself at the front door. Taking a deep breath, I rap on the door hard, and I keep knocking.

“Okay, fuck, quit hammering. I’m coming.” The door opens and Silver’s eyes flash with surprise when he sees me. He leans against the door and cocks his head. “Well, well. To what do I owe the pleasure?”

I drop my rucksack on the floor in front of me. “I need a place to stay.”

He grins at me, straightening up from the door, and then holds it open for me. “Well, come on in. Welcome to the dark side, princess.”

The End.