Samantha’s mother is a glimpse into the future of what Samantha might look like if she weren’t going to suffer a timely end. Decades of plastic surgery, lip fillers, and Botox have made it impossible to see some of their genetic similarities. Aside from their piercing crystal-blue eyes, both mother and daughter have had so many procedures one could make the argument Samantha was adopted.
“Let’s cut the small talk. Time is limited, and you have the information we want,” Karl snaps.
Wait, I lied. They both make the same expression when they feel passed over or slighted in some way-the flare of their nostrils and curling of their lips as their faces attempt to scrunch.
Definitely not adopted.
Blair schools her features, a smile returning to her face as if she remembers she needs our help. “Right. Well then, ask away,” she mutters.
“What role has your daughter played in the Filiae Bellonae’s efforts to overthrow the Fraternitas?” I demand.
She sighs. “Samantha was an integral part of the plan. She was our way into your lives without being overt. She was being used long before she agreed to be a co-conspirator.”
My eyes widen at that information as I think back to when we were younger. There was a time when we’d all been thick as thieves-inseparable before the day she betrayed us.
“Her locket,” Blair answers my unspoken question. “It was a recording device.”
Karl gasps. “I remember that fucking thing. She’d never take it off.”
“She couldn’t even if she wanted to. The clasp could only be opened with the key fashioned solely for the necklace, and I had the only copy.”
“So, you, what? Listened to us while we played?” I growl.
Blair smirks. “No one ever suspects young children. So many conversations were overheard. Your fathers spoke so freely, and none of you paid attention or understood what was transpiring. You were too young.”
“But I wasn’t,” Sebastian chimes, and she rolls her eyes.
“Your father was in our pockets long before you were even born. He was so bitter about being passed over that it took nothing to get him to agree,” she gloats, and Sebastian’s lips thin.
Theodore Grant was a whiny dick. It shouldn’t have been as shocking when it was discovered he was a turncoat.
Lifting her hand, Samantha’s mother held up a finger at a time, ticking off what they discovered. “We knew the plan for Emma to come back once she was near eighteen. We knew the Council had plans to rig the Selection so she’d become the Chosen, and we knew they planned to use your union to birth five sons-Heirs connected through the original bloodline.”
If the Council hadn’t already informed us of their ultimate plan over the summer, Blair’s news would’ve left me speechless.
It was satisfying to watch the smugness melt from her face with our lack of surprise.
“Oh, I’m sorry. Did you think you revealed some bombshell?” Karl mocks. “If you want our help, you’ll need to deliver more than shit we already know.”
Needing to move things along before we run out of time, I jump to a time we believe Samantha agreed to help willingly. I ask the question we suspected we already knew the answer to, “Did your daughter purposely lure Karl and me out of school that day?”
Before she can answer, a woman in a maid’s uniform brings her a blue cocktail, and Blair thanks her before she exits.
Karl leans forward, his eyes narrowing to slits. “We don’t have all day. Answer the fucking question!”
Blair smirks, bringing the drink to her mouth and downing nearly half of the glass’s contents before placing it off to the side.
“I’d tread carefully if I were you, Blair. We’re your only chance to get out from under your daughter’s thumb,” Sebastian warns.
Unfazed, her shoulders push back, and she sits taller, pride evident in whatever she’s about to reveal. “Of course she did. The minute she heard she wouldn’t be your chosen and that some girl she’d never heard of was, her hackles rose. Jealousy is a powerful motivator. Sometimes too powerful.” She pauses, and then a faraway look settles in her eyes before she continues. “From that day forward, she did any- and everything necessary to ensure she was your end game.”
“What exactly does ‘ everything necessary
‘ mean?” I seethe.
Blair clenches her teeth. “I don’t know when we lost control of her. I had her on such a tight leash. She shouldn’t have had the time or the resources to orchestrate what she has.”
If her daughter wasn’t a grade-A cunt, I might feel sorry for her. Having a mother who manipulates you for their own personal gain does something to your trust. But every member of the Council is guilty of this. The more I think about it, Emma and Samantha have similar situations. Both their moms used them instead of loving them. Only Emma doesn’t think the world owes her everything and should bow at her feet in worship.
“We’re almost out of time, and you still haven’t given us anything we don’t already know,” I state.
“Samantha was originally supposed to be one of the girls Selected. We’d planned to use her to ensure Emma was the one Chosen in the end. But after the kidnapping and her bratty behavior over the years, we knew there was little chance of that.
Some hope had returned when Rowan started sleeping with her, but we quickly ascertained that was just a ploy.”
A feeling in my gut begins to stir-something I’ve contemplated since Samantha’s big reveal.
“She was told to do whatever was required to become one of the Selected. So, she killed her friends. One by one until you had no other choice but to choose her. What we didn’t count on was for her to betray us and work for Senator Baker,” she scowls in disgust at the mention of her stepson’s name.
“You’re a heartless bitch,” Sebastian shouts.
Ignoring his outburst, Blair continues. “We didn’t know everything she was up to until it was too late. Samantha and Matthew had masterfully positioned themselves to take over. They undermined every step we executed-the threatening messages sent to scare Emma out of town. The orchestrated kidnapping from the school locker room where Emma would be assaulted and then killed. Samantha staging her own kidnapping and rape, hoping you’d comfort her.”
With each confession, my body coils tighter-desperate for release. The lack of an outlet for my rage causes heat to creep up the back of my neck, and my hands curl into fists on the table in front of me. If Blair or her daughter were in this room, they’d be ripped apart-neither deserve anything but gruesome deaths.
“Even with Elise’s untimely demise, we were still on course. Emma was in love with all of you, and we knew each of you already reciprocated the feeling, or you were well on your way there. However, our plans went up in smoke the night of the announcement,” she snarls.
I watch as anger emanates from Blair, and I wish again that a screen didn’t separate us.
Blair’s jaw ticks, and she inhales, attempting to reign in her emotions. “When the announcement was officially made, I realized how fucked we were. As smart as my daughter may think she is, she’s not. Because any daughter of mine would know to ensure they’re the biggest bad on the table, and neither Samantha nor her idiot half-brother did that. Having Karl kidnapped to force your hand pissed all over the Novus Ordo Seclorum’s plans.”
My ears perk at the mention of their name.
“What do they have to do with any of this?” Karl questions.
I sneak a glance at the disguised calm in his tone. Karl’s face is devoid of emotions, and the razor blade he had earlier has been replaced with a hunting knife.
New Book: Back Home to Marry Off Myself
Loredana’s father left the family for his mistress, leaving them to fend for themselves abroad. When life was at its toughest, her father showed up with “good news” after 8 years of absence: To marry off Loredana to a paralyzed son of the wealthy Mendelsohn family.