Page 28

Ellie

“I would have thought her much better looking in person after the way you talked her up, Kenneth,” a haughty female voice said from my left Tuesday morning.

I was about to turn to see who was such a bitch when I heard who responded and it froze me in my tracks.

“She’s put on some weight, but she can easily lose it with whatever diet plan you put her on,” he said dismissively. “Don’t try and play games and act like you have the upper hand or some card to play when we both know where we stand and the resumes of our children.”

It took everything I had to send the texts I needed to, forcing myself to break past my fear and remember that I wasn’t a child anymore. I didn’t have to fear the bastard ever again and I was a successful woman.

More than that, he couldn’t do anything to me. I had powerful friends, and he was an embarrassment who very few vampires would even acknowledge much less admit they associated with.

Luckily, I’d been speaking with the head of our security and he instantly was on alert with what he sensed from me.

I nodded to his hand holding his phone when he was trying to quietly ask me what was going on.

Glancing at the text, he instantly caught on, thanking me for my time and wishing me a nice day.

But I knew him well enough and trusted him to do what he needed to. He simply wasn’t alerting my father that anything was amiss.

After I sent what I needed to, I remembered Ha-joon and warned him quickly before we had another issue like the Mandy situation.

Wow, we really never get a fucking break. We just worked through all of that and then it was the department heads all finding out we were involved. Then his sister trying to force him to mate. Now this bullshit. Seriously, I’m going to end up in the padded room. Maybe with him.

“Ellie, don’t be a brat and keep ignoring us,” my father demanded. “Come over here and greet us like you should.”

I finished what I was doing and slowly raised my head, giving him a look of hate that actually made him flinch. It gave me the courage to push down my fear. “As I should? Have you had some form of brain damage since I last saw you fifty years ago? Who are you to—”

Rage quickly filled his eyes that I would embarrass him by talking back. “I am your father and you will—”

I snorted. “So?” I snorted again when the woman and the man next to her couldn’t hide their shock…

And more rage filled my father’s eyes. “So what? That’s biology.

The last time I saw you I promised you would regret it if you ever tried to contact me again.

You slithered away and I’ve not heard from you in decades .

Greet you as I should—you are so damn delusional that—”

“That’s enough, Ellie,” he snapped. “You—that’s enough of your insolence and—”

“What scam is he pulling this time?” I asked the woman, gesturing between them.

I glanced at the man next to her and saw what was in his aura before snorting again.

“I see.” I smirked at my father. “How many times are you seriously going to try and sell me? Is this the seventh time now? Were you stupid enough to sign the mating contracts this time too?”

He pulled the lapels of his jacket in tighter. “It is my right to mate the members of my family as the head of the family and—”

“I’m not one of your uneducated followers—not that you have any anymore,” I mocked.

“ Every country has a law in place making that illegal for over fifty years now, Kenneth.” I raised an eyebrow at the woman.

“And anyone involved will be charged with a crime as well, so if you signed anything for my sale without my involvement—”

“Parents sign the contracts all of the time for their agreement for the children to approve,” she said a bit too fast.

“That’s not actually legal,” I drawled. “It’s still fraud.

You are signing something in our names .

” I looked at the man. “Were you involved?” I saw it in his aura.

“Yes, you were. Clearly, you were.” I focused back on the woman.

“You sexist old bat. How heinous of you to try this for another woman. Seriously, the only thing worse than—”

“Enough, Ellie,” my father seethed as he reached for me.

But I blocked him, and with a shove, pushed him while moving away from him.

“Do not touch me, you monster, or I will break you.” I focused back on the woman, mostly to piss off my father that I wasn’t worried about him.

“The only thing worse than family selling their own is women being part of the selling of other women.

“And before you give me some bullshit that I’m a child or I don’t know what I’m talking about, we both know that’s not true.

I’m also the head of Amanda’s Hope, so I know more about this than you do .

” I nodded when they both flinched at the name.

“Yes, so you absolutely are the fool to try this with me of all people.”

“You are a Reed and will act accordingly to—” my father tried again and stupidly reached for me.

I thrust the heel of my hand in his chest, smirking when I heard something snap and he landed hard on his ass. “I won’t act like a Reed, Father . I’m not a gambling addict. I’m certainly not a failure like you who lost leadership of the coven after—”

“ Silence, Ellie! ” he roared, the words echoing in the large foyer and everyone who hadn’t already been watching the altercation freezing.

I chuckled darkly and squatted down to his level.

“Or what? You’re going to sell me?” I gestured to the people there with him for just that purpose.

“What can you actually do to me? I have more power than you. I have more wealth. That’s why you’re here.

It got around that I have a lot more money than you thought.

“That’s part of the deal, right? You get some sort of control of my buildings or… Probably everything. They get to brag their daughter-in-law runs ASH or…” Horror filled me when I saw what was in the mother and son’s auras, slowly standing and focusing on them. “Oh, so he promised you my job, huh?

“Buy me to restore his fallen reputation and I’ll just hand over running ASH to my forced mate?

” Yes, it was all in their auras. “And he gets all my wealth and companies?” I felt ill.

Yes, it was in all of their auras again.

“Well, that’s not happening, not now or ever, and I’ll be pressing charges for you signing contracts that I wasn’t a part of. ”

“You’re lucky we were even willing to consider you given who your family is,” the woman spat. “You’re not remotely pretty enough to mate into our family and you have a gambling father who is—”

“Oh, he’s much worse than a gambler,” I purred, deciding to throw a match on the gasoline they’d spilled all over us just… Because I’d lost my mind? The stress of too much had compounded from the moment things had blown up with Tommy?

I wasn’t really sure, but I was very certain I was mentally cracking.

“He’s a rapist.” I was glad when the woman flinched, but the man clearly didn’t care. So that was great as someone they were trying to force me to mate.

Seriously, fucking awesome.

My father jumped to his feet. “It’s not rape if I was drugged too!”

“No, it’s not,” I agreed, swallowing a snort when my father—no, Kenneth—gave the woman a vindicated look. “But did you report it after it happened? No, right? And one time didn’t get her pregnant, did it?”

“I was—that was—”

“You knew something wasn’t right,” I pushed. “You might be a gambling addict, but you’re not a complete fool and drunkard.”

“Of course not!” he bellowed.

“Right, so you figured out that you were being drugged and given over to a woman not your mate,” I said firmly, turning to the woman and smirking. “Because I’m a bastard. Did he tell you that?”

“No, no, he did not,” she bit out, her jaw grinding.

“He never does because it was his wife who drugged him so he raped a maid. She didn’t want her beloved daughter to be subjected to him after she was sold to him and knew Kenneth would do the same.

” I smacked his hand away when he reached for me and faced him.

“I would rather the whole world know than you ever have a chance to sell me.

“I have never cared about such nonsense because I am my own person and what matters is who I became. The embarrassing part is being your daughter, not that I’m a bastard.

What’s shameful is what was done to my mother, and you hid it.

That you let me believe your wife who did this to both of us was my mother. That you believe you own me.

“I am mine , Kenneth. I have never thought for one moment I am your property. Not when I was a girl and certainly not now when I have built a life for myself after fleeing you. If you were a fraction of my intelligence, you would have done your homework better, and you are not the head of my family anymore, fool.”

“That’s not possible unless you’re mated, girl,” he hissed.

“It is because there are other unhinged assholes like you. I’m Ellie Reed- Miller ,” I purred.

“I had myself legally removed. Centuries ago even before the laws forbidding selling family into matings.” The smile I gave him wasn’t all that sane.

“You have nothing you can gain here but lost everything you had left poking out your damn head, you fool.”

I saw a blur from my right and worried it was Ha-joon, but then I saw him coming and moving to intercept someone.

Alan.

“Unhand me,” Alan snarled, his fangs out and trying to get Ha-joon off of him. “I will kill the bastard.”

“Don’t,” Ha-joon grunted. “She has it in hand.”

“Kenneth Reed, come with us,” the officer said as he joined us.

I did a double take when I saw he wasn’t just normal patrol but someone with rank. He dipped his head to me, making it clear that the right people received my message.

Thank. Fuck.

“I’ve broken no laws,” Kenneth argued.

I snorted. “That’s never true.”