Page 92
Story: Bloody Wedding
Next time, I’ll have a better one.
Bas reaches out, giving me an apologetic clap on the shoulder. “I tried, but you know Connor… he’s as protective asyou are, and with him freaking out about the auctions… he can’t let Haven out of his sight because he’s terrified Jack will order his wife to the basement.”
I blink. “What was that? The basement? Offerings don’t go in the basement.”
Bas sits back in his seat. “I know. And that’s why Connor’s freaked. After what happened to her?—”
“It wasn’t her fault.”
“Tell the King that. She would be send to the auctions if he can figure out how to get her way from Connor.”
Hang on?—
“The auctions?”
“I used to think they were bullshit myself… like a myth or something… but it looks like the King brought them back. I saw Luke and Kev at the Court a couple of months ago. The confirmed it. Said that Jack started up monthly auctions about…” Bas’s forehead scrunches. “You know what? It was shortly after his wife’s accident.”
Accident.
We both know it wasn’t an accident, but in Harmony Heights, you never know who’s listening, either.
Still, I don’t understand. Or maybe I do. When Aunt Reese died… that was around the time that I stopped paying attention to any other woman in town: Order or not. I get why Jack didn’t tell me about the auctions, either. Dallas and I were against them, and as kids, we let Jack know.
According to my uncle, some women are too damaged to be Offerings, too valuable to be Used—and, during the auctions, they become Bought. He sells women to the highest bidder, usually men who come from out of town and leave Harmony Heights with their new ‘wife’ in tow.
But that doesn’t make sense. If Jack brought back the auctions, there’d be a huge influx of cash. I’m in charge of theOrder’s books, the legit ledges and the cooked ones. If we had sex trafficking money, it would come through me.
Unless it wasn’t for the Order.
Unless Jack is embezzling from the society he rules…
This is something I should know. I can’t blame Bas for not mentioning it before. He avoids everything Order-related in town, and if he accidentally gets information, he makes himself forget it as though it’s meaningless to him.
But now that Idoknow, this leverage I can definitely use.
It’s probably the worst possible time, but I smile.
Yes. Fuck Jack Collins. If he’s embezzling from the Order, I can use that against him. He wants to come between me and Loni? Good luck when the old guard votes to get rid of him because he betrayed the society.
I smile—and it lasts just as long as it takes my phone to buzz four times, so quickly, it rattles against the glass tabletop.
I pick it up, and my heart stops.
DALLAS
Emergency!!
Get your ass back to the Fortress
Jack has Loni in your office
NOW!!
No.
No.
I have two weeks. Two whole fuckingweeksuntil the Claiming ceremony. There’s no reason Jack would send someone to get Loni, or for her to go without telling me…
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92 (Reading here)
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104