Page 17 of Eternal

She rolls her eyes. “Sure you are, Declan.”

“Have you ever thought that you might not know everything there is to know about me, Teal?” I step forward, and instinctively, she takes a step back.

She doesn’t realize that she isn’t the only artist in this room. I can draw, sculpt, and paint. I’m good enough to get into Paris without my father needing to pull any strings. But the kind of art I prefer is something a little more unconventional.

“I know everything I need to know about you.” She grinds her teeth.

“Do you?” I smirk. “You seemed awfully curious to learn more a second ago.”

“I don’t know why I even bother.” She juts her chin up. “Forget I even asked.”

“Fine,” I bait her. “Suit yourself.”

Turning, I start to walk away, but she grabs my arm, stopping me.

“What did you mean I would need your help?”

Grinning, I turn to face her, basking in the irritation painting her face. Teal doesn’t like to be at anyone’s mercy, especially mine, which is why I’m desperate for every bit of her neediness in this moment.

“Did you talk to your father?”

“Not exactly.” Her eyes dart off, and she wets her lips. “But my mom said he has plans for me and Jase.”

“He does.” I nod, watching her for a reaction.

But when her gaze meets mine, her stare is vacant, and I don’t know if it’s acceptance or defeat.

I’ve known the Ivans family were moving back to town for months. My father won’t stop complaining about it, and the second they arrived, Jase pledged the fraternity. Vince Ivans and Paul Donovan are in the middle of a corporate merger that will wipe out one of the largest donors to my father’s political campaign, and I couldn’t care less. My father’s always in the middle of fighting off a hostile takeover, and he tends to win.

I don’t usually get involved unless he asks for something, but finding out about Violet tipped the scale.

My father preaches honesty. Transparency. He believes in protecting your blood above all. Or so I thought.

Violet’s existence changes everything.

I always knew my father was a cheating bastard, but I still considered him loyal. He fucked around on my mom because that’s what most Sigma Sin men do, but I thought that was the extent of it.

It wasn’t.

My father knocked up some woman on a business trip and tried to buy her silence. I was raised to believe you don’t disown blood, and that’s precisely what he did.

One revelation and my entire upbringing was brought into question.

Since discovering the truth, I’ve made it my mission to figure out what else my father might be hiding. Not just him but the entire Sigma House Council. Liam Westwood gave me the idea when he tried to use Violet against my father.

We managed to stop them before they benefited from the fact that Ian Pierce had an illegitimate child, but it left me wondering how many lies were told. It left me wondering whether I’m fighting for the House or the Council.

I’m going to find out.

As luck would have it, digging into my father led me to his interest in taking down Paul Donovan. Which is how I discovered Paul’s arrangement with Vince over Jase and Teal.

An arranged marriage is nothing new when two families have enough money that it makes sense, so I usually wouldn’t dig much deeper. But I know there’s more behind it than anyone is saying.

Besides, Teal is mine to fuck with, not her dad’s.

Always has been.

“So you knew about them planning my wedding before I did?” She tips her chin up, annoyed. “How?”