Page 3

James

S omehow, I managed to hold back my growl of frustration, myanger growing deeper as the scantily-clad girl in front of me dropped to the floor and spread her legs wide, hoping her display of flexibility would entice me.

It didn’t.

She was the eighth girl I’d been shown, and while they all hadincredible figures, the way desperation to impress me oozed from them made me instantly despise every single one.

“No,”I huffed, ignoring the disappointment wash over the girl’s face.At the nod she received from Ann Milligan, who’d been loitering in the corner, the girl stood before rushing from the room.

“Mr. Carter,”Milligan said, taking a few steps toward me, trying torein in her obvious annoyance.“Most of the men who come here like to sample the girls before they select-”

“I’m not most men,”I snarled, glaring at the woman I’d taken aninstant dislike to.

Her haggard features hardened. I’d only met her for the first time acouple of hours ago after Welch had introduced us and told me she would see to whatever needs I had, but there was something about herthathad my instincts on high alert. Maybe it was because she looked and acted like she was from theVictorian ages, or maybe it was because it was the way she sneered judgmentally at me when Welch told her why I was there.

Either way, she wasn’t someone who’d make my Christmas cardlist.

“Of course. I meant no offense, Mr. Carter. Ijustwant to make sureyou get what you came for,”she said stoically.“Are you sure I can’t get you a drink before the next girl is brought in. We have an excellent choice of spiritsthatI’m sure you’d enjoy.”

My jaw clenched, I was rapidly losing my patience.“Fine, I’ll take ascotch,”I replied. At least a glass of scotch would help to quell the impatience bubbling under my skin.

The old hag beamed at me as if I’djustmade all her dreams cometrue, before scurrying over to the other side of the room, picking up a phone, and ordering a glass of scotch to be delivered to her.

Once she hung up the phone, she schooled her features andaddressed me again.“I believe the next girl will be to your standard-”

“You’ve saidthatabout the last two girls,”I said, interrupting herbefore she could piss me off more than I already was.“And all I’ve seen so far is disappointment.”

“It would help if I knew what kind of girl you were looking for,”shereplied, her tone curt.

The problem was, I didn’t know what kind of girl I was looking for. Ididn’t want a girl in the first fucking place, and I certainly didn’t want one of the attention-seeking brats I’d seen so far.

Notthatit mattered. I should have picked the first girl and beendone with it. It wasn’t like I was looking for a real relationship.Justan empty vessel to carry my child. I was saved from answering when a knock on the door echoedthrough the room. When Milligan called for whoever it was to come in, the next girl appeared, beaming brightly at me.

I refrained from rolling my eyes.

“Mr. Carter, please allow me to introduce you to Danielle. Danielle isone of our star girls here at Peartree House…”

I tuned Milligan out as I raked my gaze over the newcomer. Shewas a carbon copy of all the other girls I’d seen so far, and I knew she would be a resounding no , too.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mr. Carter,”Danielle purred, earning aglower from me. Still,thatdidn’t deter her from launching into a spiel about herself, confidence rolling off her as if she’d already convinced herselfthatshe would be going home with me.

As she spoke, movement from a side door caught my attention.Making itseemlike I was focused on Danielle, I watched from the corner of my eye as a girl came scurrying in like a little mouse, clutching a glass of scotch.She crept around the edge of the room, doing her best to not draw any attention to herself, and neither Milligan nor Danielle paused to acknowledge her existence.

The girl was a tiny thing, slightly taller than five feet, and as skinny as arake, like she was in desperate need of a decent meal. My curiosity peaked, and I pulled all my attention away from Danielle to watch the girl approach Milligan, her gaze trained on the floor, and her mousy-brown hair hanging limply around her shoulders.

Milligan huffed before indicating to the girl to bring me the drink. Asshe began to make her way to me, Danielle fell silent. Everyone watched as the mouse tiptoed across the room, barely making a noise.

It was almost as if she was used to being invisible.

When she reached me and placed the glass down on the tablenext to my chair, she lifted her head fractionally, enough for me to see her features.She might have been as quiet as a mouse, but she looked like onetoo with her small, upturned nose, high cheekbones, and thin lips.

But when her eyes met mine, I was momentarily taken aback. Oneeye was icy blue, the other, forest green, both framed by thick, dark lashes. I’d heard of the condition heterochromia before, but I’d never seenit in a person until now, and I was immediately fascinated. Notjustwith her eyes, but everything about her timid demeanor.

“Your drink, Sir,”she squeaked before scurrying away again,moving so gracefullythather feet didn’t make a single sound against the wooden floor.

I tracked every single one of her moves as though she was one ofmy targets instead of a worker at the house, completely entranced by her.

“I apologize for the intrusion, Mr. Carter,”Milligan said, noticing mygaze was on the door where the mouse had disappeared.“Danielle, perhaps you’d like to show Mr. Carter how well you dance?”

“No,” I snapped. “We’re done here.”

Danielle pouted, proving she definitely wasn’t the girl for me asMilligan’s face twisted into disapproval. Nodding her head once, Danielle left the room, slamming the door behind her like a kid throwing a tantrum.

“I want to see that girl next,” I said before Milligan could speak again.

“Which girl?”she replied, confusion settling on her face.

“The one who brought me my drink.”

Milligan stared at me in silence for a moment before it registeredwho I was talking about.

Christ. The girl really was invisible.

“I’m sorry, but Willow isn’t of age.”

Willow.

The name suited her.

“When will she turn eighteen?”I asked, hoping it was damn soon,otherwise the plansthatwere already forming in my head would be ruined.

Milligan swallowed, seemingly hesitant to answer.“In two weeks,”she said, relenting.

That worked.

Grabbing the glass of scotch, I downed it in one mouthful. I wasdone.

My decision had been made.

“Perfect. I’ll arrange for Willow to be collected on her eighteenthbirthday,”I said, standing and brushing the creases out of my Armani suit.

“I’m afraidthatwon’t be possible, Mr. Carter,”Milligan said, blockingmy path as I made my way to the door, ready to get the hell out of Peartree House and everything it stood for.

Ironicreally. I hated the place as much as I did, and yet there I was,picking a girl who would become my wife.

“And why not?”I said, pausing when I reached the door.

She didn’t reply, but a few seconds later, a calculated look washedover her face, and a small, devious smile tugged at her lips.“It’s not my place to say, but I never agreed with it in the first place,”she said, shrugging.“Willow isn’t part of the program. She was claimed from the day she arrived here eight years ago.”

It was no secretthatI couldn’t stand Kevin Welch. He was loud andbrash when he had no reason to be. Yes, he was part of Legion, purely because he was born into it. Both his parents had been members, meaning he’d inherited his place, but he had nothing else to offer.

Much like Elijah, but at least he had the family name.

I was pretty certain the feeling was mutual, andeventhoughhe sat across from me with his hands resting on his rotund stomach, talking to me as if we were the best of friends, I could sense the hate rolling off him in waves.

“Anyway, enough talk about last month’s society meeting. Ann saidyou had some business to discuss?”he said, brushing the crumbs off his chin from the biscuits he’d been munching on.

“I want Willow,”I said, not beating about the bush. I wasn’t there tomake small talk with the fuckwit.

His face fell, the color draining instantly.

“Willow isn’t of age,”he protested as I suspected he would.

According to Milligan, the bastard had claimed the mouse forhimself, despite it being against the rules he’d agreed to when he took on the role of Director.

“She will be in two weeks. I can wait untilthen,”I replied, leaningback in my chair.

His beady eyes darted around the room, his jowls wobbling as heswallowed several times.“I’m afraidthatwon’t be possible.”

I quirked a brow, acting as though I didn’t know about his claim, andwanting to see what bullshit he would come up with.“And why isthat?”

“She…um…”he stuttered, desperate to come up with something.“She has already been claimed by another member.”

I shrugged, pulling out my phone.“Which faction do they belong to?I’ll call the faction head and inform them of my wishes. After all, unless she has been claimed by one of the board, I out-rank other members.”

I waited for his reply, holding in my urge to grin triumphantly atcalling his bluff.

Welch knew how Legion worked. The society was spread acrossAmerica, with States falling under different factions. Each faction had a rank structure and reported to the head of their faction, who in turn reported up the chain.

In a way, it was like a police force. The board were the chiefs, theirheirs were their deputies once they reached the age of fourteen, andthenappointed members were the faction leaders who chose their own members to support the running.

But the beauty was, the higher up the rankings you were, the moreprivileges you had. Sadly for Welch,evenif it wasn’t against the rules to claim a girl for himself, he was a low-level ranking member, so Willow would have been mine anyway.

Didn’tthatmake me feel all kinds of smug?

“I…I,”he faltered, before closing his eyes, his body sagging. “What Imean is, Willow isn’t part of the program. She’s-”

“Whythen, is she here? If she isn’t part of the program, tell me whymine and the board’s money is funding her keep?”I snapped, enjoying the knots the idiot was tying himself in. Until something occurred to me.“Would I be right in thinkingthatif she isn’t part of the program,thenshe hasn’t been trained like all the other girls have?”

I glared at him, waiting for him to confirm what I suspected.

He sighed.“She is untouched, yes.”

Why did the thought of me breaking her in make me want her allthe more?

“Thenyou’ve failed in your job. Perhaps I need to inform the boardthatit’s time to replace you.”

Welch’s face turned beetroot red, an angry vein bulging in his neck.“You’re not being serious!”he roared, slamming his hands down on the table.“You know I’ve done an excellent job with this program over the last twenty years, James!”

“I know the bullshit updatesthatare fed back to us,”I replied,keeping my cool, whenreally, I wanted to plant a bullet in his brain for the way he’djustspoken to me.“But from what I’ve seen with my own eyes, the girls you and your staff are producing are not meeting expectations. And now I find outthatthere is a girl living here for free without any use. Why shouldn’t I reportthatback to the board? Maybe a fresh set of eyes on the program might not be a bad idea. Shake things up a bit.”

Steam practically billowed from his ears.“Why her?”he gritted outafter glaring at me for several seconds.

I finally let an accomplished smile take over my face, ready to admitthatI knew his dirty little secret.“I could ask you the same thing. I assume you remember the contract you signed when you took the job? You know the part where you agreedthatyou would never touch any of the assets or claim a girl for yourself?”

His face turned anevendeeper shade of red, storm cloudsgathering in his gray eyes.“I remember it vividly!”he roared.“But you try living here forthatlength of time with all those promiscuous girls flaunting themselves around the house. I challenge any red-blooded man to go as long as I did without touching a few.”

He clamped his mouth shut, realizing he’d let slip a secretthatcould be his undoing, notjustfrom his current role, but from the society. Legion had strict rules, and if they weren’t adhered to, the consequences could be severe. Of course, rules were broken all the time, and faction leadersalways had a way of finding out dirt on their members which was fed back to the board, and kept under wraps in case there was ever a time we needed ammunition to remove a member.

Welch sighed again before pulling out a tumbler and a bottle ofJack from his desk drawer and pouring himself a generous amount, resignation written all over his face.“She was ten when I first met her. I knew straight away she was different from the rest.”

Disgust curled in my gut at the thought he’d been fantasizing abouther since she was ten years old. For all of Legion’s dirty dealings, pedophilia and underage sex was not one of them. It was why we had the rulethatno girl could be claimed until she had reached the age of eighteen.

“She’s eighteen in two weeks,”he mumbled, wincing as he downedhis drink.“I’ve waited all this time. I was going to keep her, it was why I was waiting until she came of age.”

“You had plenty of other girls to tide you over though, didn’t you?”Igrowled, my fingers twitching to reach behind my back and pull my gun out from where it was tucked under my jacket.

He poured himself another shot of whiskey and downed it.“I knowwhat the punishment will be.”

Death .

“Not necessarily. I could make the board aware of all of your sins,or you can give me what I want and we’ll forget this conversation ever happened.”

I wouldn’t. I’d bide my time, gather the evidence, andthendish outhis punishment. After all,thatwas my goal when I took over Legion, to weed out those who were rotten to the core. Welch was one of those without hisveryrecent admissions.

He held my gaze, debating if I was telling the truth. Eventually,he squeezed his eyes shut and nodded his head once.

My triumphant grin grew wider.

The mouse was mine.