Page 30 of A Dove To Break (The Dove Institute Collection #1)

“It is so good to meet you!” she says sweetly. “I am Toula.”

“It’s nice to meet you,” I say with a smile.

“All set?” Adrian asks his father.

“Yes. You’ll have to explain what got us here later, though,” Paulo says

“Wait. You came here but don’t know why?” I ask.

“Yes, ma’am. I trust my son,” he says proudly. I nod because I don’t know what it feels like to have a parent believe in me on that level.

I walk between Adrian and Brent. The others are behind us, but Adrian’s mother and father are in the back.

We get to a door at the end, and Adrian only hesitates for a moment before opening the door.

He motions for me to go in first, so I step into the room.

A dozen sets of eyes turn and look at me.

Two of which belong to Charles and Edward.

“What is the meaning of this?” Edward demands. “Get your whore…”

Edward starts to shout at Adrian, but Adrian ignores him and pulls his pistol. The color drains from Charles’ face when Adrian points it at him. When his father steps into the room, everyone is on their feet.

“Paulo, you…”

“Shut up,” Adrian barks. “This is your one fucking chance to do the right thing. Your piece of shit son nearly got my wife killed. Did you know he was helping Fredrico?”

“Fuck yo…” he doesn’t get the words out before Adrian pulls the trigger. Charles’ head snaps back, and a laugh accidentally slips out when I notice the back of his head has exploded.

“Now then,” Adrian says as he walks over to the table. He pulls a chair and motions for me to sit. When I do, he rests his hands on my shoulders. “Everyone, sit. And someone, for the love of God, move his body.”

Edward looks pissed, but he is saying nothing. Fiona is sitting on one side of me, and Toula is on the other. Concern paints everyone’s face when they see mine.

“I’m sure some of you are very confused, but at least one of you knows exactly what is going on,” Paulo says.

“I was nearly killed twenty years ago, and things were too volatile for me to be able to keep my son safe.

So, now that I am back, and Charles is dead, I am taking back my position as head of this society.

In doing so, I'm following tradition and handing my position down to my son, who is now married.”

“You can’t…” Edward starts to say. I’m annoyed by the way he is glaring at Brent, and it reminds me that he tried to kill him. When I hear his voice, I react instinctively.

“Shut the fuck up,” I snap at him.

“Control your whore,” Edward demands.

Adrian ignores him and looks at the others. “I will be calling an emergency society-wide meeting today,” Adrian says. “Attendance is required. Also, understand that I’ve spent 20 years preparing for this moment. If anyone tries anything, you will join Charles in hell.”

“Are you not over your dead boyfriend yet?” a man asks.

“What the fuck did you just say?” I say with a grave tone.

I look at Adrian, and the hurt I see on his face is enough to make me boil over.

Fiona nudges my leg, and when I look over at her, she puts a knife in my hand that is under the table.

I position my hand on the blade so it is flush with my forearm.

I stand up, and Brent follows behind as I walk around the table with the knife concealed from almost everyone.

“Coming to suck my cock, Alania?” the man laughs.

“Apologize,” I demand.

“Or what?” he asks, standing to get in my face.

“Get the fuck out of her face, Hugo,” Adrian growls.

“Oh, suck me, little boy! You already have once,” Hugo mocks.

I’ve never felt anger like this before. One minute, Hugo was running his fucking mouth, and the next, I was pulling the blade out of the side of his neck.

His eyes are wide as his hands fly up to his throat to try and stop the blood gushing from his neck.

He is panicking, and I step out of the way so he can walk past me, but put my foot out at the last second so he trips and hits the floor with a grunt.

He tries to get up but doesn’t get far before going limp.

“I don’t give a fuck who you are. If I ever hear anyone make a comment like that again, I will fucking kill you myself. I’m not going to allow anyone to degrade my husband.”

“Yes, bitch! I love this!” Fiona says as she snaps her finger with a grin. She’s the best fucking hype, girl. I’m so glad I met her. I look at Adrian to make sure I’m not overstepping. He might regret giving me power because I’m fucking thriving on anger. He smiles and gives me a small nod.

“Understand that I might not have had the pleasure of meeting Edgar, but I will make it my mission to kill everyone involved in his murder,” I say simply.

“A homicidal slut. Interesting,” Edward huffs.

“Didn’t I tell you to shut the fuck up?” I ask. “Please, keep going so I can add that to the list of reasons why I’m going to fucking kill you.”

“Come here, Little Dove,” Adrian says. I go to him and he kisses me. “It’s your trauma. Do you want to say it?”

“Don’t you fucking dare,” Edward growls and stands up. Brent suddenly grabs hold of my arm and yanks me to him when Edward pulls a gun.

“How long after buying me did you rape me for the first time?” I ask him. “Wait, I’ll tell you. I was six.”

“What?” A man snaps, looking at Dad. It distracts him, and someone else takes the gun and hands it over to Adrian.

These people are weirdly obedient to anyone who claims power over The Society.

Paulo was thought to be dead, so they blindly followed Charles, not knowing they were actually following Edward.

Charles died, and now they’re blindly following Adrian while the less-than-willing are weeded out, like Hugo.

“Edward has been violently raping and beating me since I was six years old. My body is covered in scars that he gave me. I don’t remember anything prior to being raped, but we do know that I am not his biological daughter.

A DNA test was performed for Brently and me, and we are not blood related, even in the slightest bit.

That has led us to realize that I was likely bought through human trafficking,” I explain.

“And before Edward tries to turn into some kind of scandal, I will be transparent in saying that I am in a relationship with Brently as well as Adrian.”

“What is it, Owen?” Raul asks the man who took the gun from Edward.

“Are you involved with Brently also?” he asks Adrian.

“Yes,” Adrian says simply. Edward barks a laugh. I am about ready to come across the table and beat the shit out of him when Brent speaks.

“You literally raped a little girl. A six-year-old child . But somehow, two men being in a relationship is funny to you? How fucked in the head are you?” Brent asks.

“You are no fucking different than me. You went into that cage and fucked your sister, not knowing about biology,” Edward booms.

“Are you kidding me? You are the one who pushed us together!” I snap.

“You fucking drugged him and then whipped me bloody until I violated him in his sleep. You can try to justify any way you want, but you are just a pathetic old man with a tiny, half-limp dick. Thank God you didn’t pass down that trait to him. ”

“What’s the plan?” Owen asks Adrian.

“He will face The Society on accusations of human trafficking, abuse, and rape of a child,” Adrian says. “You all will decide his punishment. I want him placed in a holding cell at the main warehouse.”

“You got it,” Owen says.

“A few things that I do not need the counts to vote on are as follows: Women entering the school must be consenting. We are done with forcing women to do things they don’t want to do.

We are not going to have a school based on rape.

That is not what we were meant to be. Furthermore, anyone who is proven to be abusive to their submissive dies.

We will no longer be judging or dictating relationship dynamics.

This entire society was built on normalizing all dynamics, not just women blindly obeying men who abuse them.

I have the money and the means to get rid of anyone who goes against me.

Call me a dictator, I don’t really give a fuck.

I will replace every single one of you if you do not agree.

There’s no compromise. You either follow my new rules, or I will dispose of you. ”

“What about the school? A new group is supposed to start,” a man says.

“That will be put on hold. The entire program is going to be reworked, including the testing,” Adrian says.

“Understand that Brently and Alania possess just as much power in this society as I do. Women are no longer going to be excluded from decision-making, so that starts at the top. The three of us will discuss and come up with a plan on how to proceed.”

“Why not fill new holes in the council with women,” Paulo suggests.

“Ma?” Adrian says to Toula.

“I’d love to,” she says sweetly.

“Fiona?” Adrian asks.

“Me?!” Fiona asks.

“Yes. Ma is from a different generation. It is important that we are able to relate to the men and women coming into the school. Your input would be valuable,” Adrian explains.

“I’ll do it,” Fiona says after a moment.

“Good, so it’s settled,” Adrian says. “Raul, you’ll take over Edward’s spot.”

“You got it,” Raul says with a warm smile. Adrian sighs and looks at his friend. “You don’t have to, Adrian.”

Adrian turns to everyone else and keeps his head held high. “I am also involved with Raul. It is important that I lead by example, and that starts by being transparent.”

“So a poly harem?” Owen asks.

“Yes,” Adrian confirms.

“Well…” Owen says. “My wife and I have a girlfriend that we share, so… who am I to judge?”

“Anyone else want to walk away?” Adrian asks.

“Walk away?” Another man laughs. “You mean get killed by your vicious little wife?”

“Just don’t say stupid shit and you’ll be fine,” I mutter.

“I’ll admit, I am pleasantly surprised by how protective she is of us,” Adrian says, smiling down at me. “But I love her.”

“Is she also involved with Raul? And is Fiona involved?” the man asks.

“He wishes,” I cackle, earning a wicked grin from Raul.

“It’s still new for most of us,” Adrian says. So, Owen, take Edward to holding. If he fights, just kill him. He’s not worth the effort.”

“You got it,” Owen says. Edward is suspiciously quiet. He isn’t fighting this at all, which leads me to believe we are missing something. Why would dying at the hands of The Society he ran in secret be preferable to surviving?

Unless… there is another entity he is more scared of…