“What do you think they’re up to?” I ask after twenty minutes pass.
I don’t have to wait long for the answer when I hear screams and shots before the third-floor door opens. “Clear,” Karl shouts, and when we climb the stairs, Karl’s standing there covered in blood.
“Is that- is that a piece of skin?” Liam asks, pointing to something hanging off Karl’s shoulder.
Karl shrugs. “Maybe, I didn’t really take the time to look,” he says, before wiping his Katana on the dead man missing a chunk of his face, and sheathing it.
Rowan steps through the door. “Let’s go,” he commands, reloading his side piece.
Sebastian takes point, and we move down the hall.
We’re coming for you, Riri. Just hold on.
EMMA
An annoying sense of d?j? vu sets in at the cotton feel of my mouth. The only difference is, this time, I remember every fucking thing that’s transpired.
“Oh good, you’re awake. I made sure the dosage wasn’t as strong this time. We have a lot to discuss and not a lot of time to do it,” Elise begins.
I’m seated in a leather chair across from her. I flex my fingers, realizing I’m not tied down.
Big mistake.
Elise slides bottled water toward me. “Drink up, and no, it’s not laced with anything. I need you coherent for this conversation.”
I eye the bottle in suspicion. She can’t honestly believe I’d take her word for it, not after Shay. My eyes close, and I force the image of my tenacious best friend falling to the ground, hoping to whatever higher power that she’s alive.
“Honestly,” she says, opening the cap, pouring some into a glass, and drinking it. “Do you think I have time to poison you?”
Snorting, I retort, “Says the woman that’s had me injected with sedative twice now.”
She slams the cup down on the table. “Drink the damn water or don’t. I was just trying to help.”
I bite back the ‘ shove the help up your ass’ rebuff sitting on the tip of my tongue and aim for answers. “What do you want to discuss?”
Her eyes light with excitement, and my hands slide down the arm of the chair, looking for anything I can use before I remember the blade strapped to my ankle in the boot of my Docs.
I’m going to kiss Karl for giving this to me when he took me knife-throwing.
“Let’s start with a little history lesson,” she begins, reclining in her seat. “Imagine the birth of a new nation. A country, in its infancy, where rules were being established, but the only ones able to make those rules that will govern the masses were men, even though women played an instrumental role in winning the country’s sovereignty.”
I sigh, leaning forward to rest my hands on my knees. “Yes, I know, the American Revolution.”
Elise’s eyes narrow. “No, you don’t. It was long before then. It started from the time our families’ ships touched this land. Our voices were silenced,” she seethes.
“You mean like the indigenous nations here before us?” I snap.
Her lip curls. “That’s not what we’re here to discuss.”
Typical.
“When the Fraternitas was formed, women were and still are not allowed. Power was to only pass through the male lineage,” she continues.
I roll my eyes. “And let me guess. Your solution is to shift the power from patriarchal to matriarchal?” I scoff.
Annoyed with my question, she challenges, “Look what men have done across the globe. The wars they’ve started, the famine, global warming, and the division amongst nations. Why would anyone want that to continue?”
“Right, because killing girls part of the Selection and aiding in the near annihilation of an entire family line screams the pillar of morality,” I snap.
Elise places her hand on her chest, appearing affronted by my claims. “Name a person with any real power that doesn’t have blood on their hands?” she counters.
“I’m not the one pointing fingers here. You are. I’m simply informing you that the moral high horse is bullshit. It’s the problem with absolutes and extremes,” I explain.
She throws her head back and laughs. “You think the middle ground holds power? Extremes always win. You just need to be on the right side of the pendulum. It doesn’t matter that the majority of the country is even-keeled. They’re never the loudest voice in the room. Now, shut up and let me finish.”
I watch as Elise stands from her chair and walks around the table. I halt any attempts to grab the knife.
“Our family has been working on a way to take over the Fraternitas for generations- a place we belonged from the start, and I’ve succeeded where many before me have failed. Do you want to know why, Daughter?” she probes, sitting on the table and crossing her legs.
Refusing to give her the satisfaction of a response, I sit back in my seat.
She tips her chin up and smirks. “Always so fucking stubborn,” she mumbles before continuing. “It’s because I am willing to do everything and sacrifice anyone to do it,” Elise boasts.
I watch, still shocked that this woman is my mother. The same sweet woman who baked cookies and planned playdates when I was younger.
“So why wait for me? Why not just take it all yourself?” I ask.
Her eyes flare as her lips twist into a sneer. “Because it wasn’t fucking allowed. It has to be you. You’re the oldest and will unite the powers once you have one of their babies.”
What the fuck is it with these people and babies?
“If you don’t want me to kill Jamie, Kellan, or Kylan, you’re going to do exactly what you’re told,” she demands, and my chest gets tight at the mention of their names.
I take a deep breath, trying to combat the building panic. Before, I would call bullshit, but after Antonio, I know the guards might not all be loyal to the Fraternitas.
“Don’t you start your shit, Emma,” she shouts.
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.