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“He doesn’t want you to hide anymore, baby,” Elijah continues. “Your online school can’t handle how smart you are. You’re fucking brilliant. You’ve been doing everything possible to lie low, because you’re not supposed to be alive.”

“But you are,” Theo says, his gaze intense as he watches me. “Fuck, I think you may have been a cat in another life. Or maybe a damn phoenix, because you seem to rise from the dead. This half life while hiding is bullshit. Jared went to get the bet lifted so you can take your name back.”

“But how?” I rasp.

“Men are very chatty when they’re getting flogged by a dominant female or when they’re being punished in some way by them,” Elijah says.

“I see it all the time since I’m in the dungeon making sure everything is working as it should.

If someone is spilling too many secrets, I’ll relocate them to a private room.

Sometimes, I’ll stay if I recognize the person, other times I’ll leave and the dominant will come tell me what she learned. ”

“In this way, we’ve been able to get portfolios of information to use against the council.

He’s with Mr. Reyes, Kitten. He’s safe,” Theo says.

“All the information in there will be released immediately by me if something happens to him. There’s also a fail safe that’ll release it if I don’t log in every twenty-four hours to tell the Cloud source that I’m alive. ”

“But how will you know if he’s okay or not?” I ask, my voice rising with anxiety. Fisting my hands on the blanket stretched over me, I imagine all of the shit that could go wrong.

My breaths are coming faster, and Theo squeezes my hand.

“He has an ear com in that is impossible to see,” he says.

“The meeting starts in half an hour. That’s enough time to get something to eat and come back here.

I’ll have everything set up so you can listen.

No secrets, okay? We didn’t tell you before because we just finished getting the last portfolio together on a senior Council.

Now, we just have to see how they react. ”

“They could say no,” I say, eyes wide.

“They’d be fools if they did,” Theo says with a vicious smile. This is the calculated man who sees every step before anyone else does. His glasses are perfectly perched on his nose, his eyes gleaming with excitement.

This is going to work.

“Come on, Rachelle,” Nacio says, pushing aside anyone that is in his way to pick me up off the couch. “Don’t tell me that you can walk. Your leg is bruised. Be my good girl and enjoy the ride.”

“That sounded dirty,” I say, smirking as I lay my head on his shoulder.

“Good,” he says, brushing his lips against my temple. “Jared has been working on this for months, querida. I don’t know how he’s managed to do it all but he has. Let’s get you ready to see what the Kings Society is like.”

My fear spikes at the words, but I know this has to be done. Skulking through the shadows isn’t working anymore. I miss my mom. She deserves to know that I’m alive.

And I deserve to live.

EMIL

My eyes shrewdly take in the table of men who raise and tumble empires through the complicated landscape of the Kings Society. It’s said that they know everything, but we’re about to prove that they don’t.

If they did, Jared and I wouldn’t be about to rock the Council’s foundation with what we’re about to present to them.

He has a satchel of portfolios, having decided that his presentation would be more impactful with physical evidence.

I have to give it to Jared, he’s a force to be reckoned with.

The four of them are, and I’m including my son in this.

I have no doubt they’ll be back to being united again after this. Rachelle is what split them up, and will bring them back together. I’m proud of my son for having been the one to refuse to stand down in the face of the Society to save Rachelle, no matter what it cost him.

“Gentlemen, we will open our meeting now. Everything will be recorded and put into our transcripts, unless what you’ve brought to us is deemed too sensitive to record,” Lucius St. James says.

It takes everything within me not to smirk or even have my lips twitch in amusement. I refuse to be the weak link here.

“Understood, sir,” Jared says, inclining his head.

“Why are you here today?” Lucius asks. “Emil said that it was serious.”

“It is,” Jared says with a nod. “You see, you put myself and the previous group of Carlysle Kings in a very difficult situation. Ignacio decided that Rachelle, his step-sister, would be our bet and our vessel to complete the task you put to all Kings.”

“Yes, and you completed your task beautifully, outside of Ignacio’s break from protocol,” Lucius says.

The hard gazes of the other men of the Council are meant to remind me of the dishonor cast by my son, but I have no such sentiment. I’m fucking proud of him. Therefore I sit straight and tall, and look back at the pendejos who still insist on such an antiquated tradition.

“You see, we didn’t though,” Jared says. “Rachelle lives, and you are going to nullify both our bet as well as our entrance into the Kings Society. We want no part of it.”

“This is highly irregular,” the man next to Lucius says. He is older than dirt, and his values are just as twisted. I’m not surprised he’s complaining.

“Not at all,” Jared says smoothly. His schooling and education has ensured that he was born and bred for this dance of wits. “I have six reasons why you are going to release us of this archaic society and all it entails.”

There’s a recording device running, and Lucius glances at it nervously as Jared theatrically pulls out six large folders. The kid has flair, that’s for damn sure. The rules are that once the recording has captured the words of the Council meeting, they cannot be erased.

Lucius is running out of time to keep the Senior Council’s secrets.

“What is the meaning of this?” another member asks, but my eyes are on Lucius.

I’m waiting for him to shut the damn recording off. Once he does, we’ve got him and every one of the Senior Council members.

Jared opens a portfolio with a grin, acting as if he has no idea which one he’s starting with. I know damn well this is the way he’s planned this. It’s exhibiting ‘go fuck yourself’ vibes.

“This folder appears to be about Lucius?—“

Click.

The recording is switched off, the noise loud in the room with dark mahogany furniture and dark green walls. Every bit of these chambers exude old money and influence, none of which will save them right now.

“What do you think you know about me, Mr. Denton?” Lucius asks coldly.

He’s accepting that Jared may be more their equal despite being so young. Jared smirks before diving into the information of each Senior Council member before pushing the folder to them. He fully details each of their sins and faux pas that will lead to prison time if convicted and lost revenue.

Each man gets less and less sure as Jared goes through each misstep of their lives. Underage prostitutes, embezzlement, cheating, fraud, and more. Cheating may not seem like a huge deal, except one of the men is newly married to an heiress and she has a prenuptial agreement.

As the last words fall through Jared’s lips, I allow myself to grin. Check fucking mate.

“As you can see gentlemen, your goose is cooked. You could kill us and keep the evidence, except there are precautions being taken to ensure that if we die of mysterious causes, all of this material will be released,” I say with a shrug.

It’s a ‘what can you do’ type of movement, and Lucius’ eyes burn with banked anger.

“My daughter deserves to live a life free of fear. She should not have to die from the repercussions from a jealous stepbrother who chose to make the mistake of throwing her to the wolves,” I say gravely. “Release her and the boys from this immediately, or we’ll burn your world down to ashes.”

“I’d say that you could never, but it seems some people have very loose lips,” Lucius croaks out. “I don’t know how you could have found so much of this.”

“A good education will take you far. Isn’t that what we’re told?” Jared asks cheerfully.

We’re both enjoying this too much. These men won’t shoot us in the back because too many people saw us come in. There are proper channels that need to be used to even make an appointment, and it’s all working in our favor.

They can’t kill us.

We also have Theo listening to every damn word being spoken and he’s recording it all. Covering our own asses has never been more necessary than now.

“You’re awfully smug right now,” Lucius says as he glances at the fire in the room. As we’re in April, it should be too warm for one, but old men have ailing joints.

“It’s a simple thing,” I remind him. “Scratch Rachelle’s name from the Bet Book.”

Every group of Kings who pass through Carlysle Prep has to enter their bet to the Society, and the book is where it’s put. It’s kept in this room. I will insist on Rachelle’s safety effective immediately.

“Emil,” Lucius groans, his hands fisting as he looks at all of the evidence on the table.

“No one has to know,” I say. “She has been through enough. She coded in the hospital and really did almost die after she was buried alive. I would prefer that she not have to hide away for the rest of her life. Let my daughter go.”

“You’re very serious about this,” Nico says, a third member of the Senior Council. These men are the dinosaurs of the Society. They’re all older than I am, and rule with iron fists as they teach the next generation what to expect as part of the Kings Society.

“As a coronary,” I say. “Jared, they’re free to keep these copies, correct?”

He and I are playing off each other, and the Council members look on with dread. There will be a final act to this. We will either walk out of here with Rachelle’s name scratched from the book and boys removed from the Society, or we will be bringing these men to their knees.

“Oh yes. I have many digital copies,” Jared says with a wide, congenial smile. “Where are we going from here, dear Council members?”

This kid is bold, and I have to swallow any noises that may want to come out. He’s baiting them.

Lucius sighs as he gets up from the table and walks to a heavy bookcase. Removing a large, heavy book, he returns to sit with us.

“As her father is here, I will not say anything crass about gilded cunts,” he says, grimacing as he realizes that’s exactly what he just did.

“I would certainly advise against it,” I rumble, my voice dark and full of rage. I have no doubts that Rachelle is listening to all of this. There’s no way that Theo would be able to hide this meeting, nor would he want to.

The com device only works one way for the purpose of this meeting so that any of their security devices wouldn’t be able to detect the frequency. Rachelle could be screaming from the living room in Santa Barbara, and no one would be any wiser.

My adopted daughter is made of stronger stuff than that. I doubt she’s losing her shit over this, but things have to be tense since we left without saying goodbye.

Lucius opens the book and searches for Rachelle’s name.

“All in favor of canceling the girl’s debt of death to us, say aye,” he says, pen in his hand at the ready.

“Aye,” the men grumble glumly, staring down at the dossiers of information in front of them.

Lucius scratches out her name before turning it around to show that where the time and date that Theo, Ignacio, Elijah, and Jared entered the bet is now a blackened out name.

“It is done,” Lucius intones. “We will not strike back for this betrayal, and you will not release the information discussed here today to anyone else. Theo Holmes, Jared Denton, Ignacio Reyes, and Elijah Fletcher are no longer in the Kings Society, and our records will show that they never have been. Did I forget anything else?”

“When Rachelle comes back from the dead, there will not be any kind of violence, legal action, nor harm that will happen to her,” Jared says. “Not one hair, freckle, or anything else.”

Lucius looks amused as he rolls his eyes and nods. “That’s a bit dramatic, but yes. We all agree that she will live free from harm for as long as her natural life is.”

I frown at him, but he smiles back.

“If anything happens to her, these files will be released,” I warn.

“Yes, we all understand this,” he sighs. “Go make arrangements to bring Rachelle Reyes back from the dead.”

Jared holds his tongue about what he thinks her last name should be and we stand together.

“Thank you, gentlemen. One last thing. Elijah’s inheritance is being handled by a Society member until he turns twenty-one next year. How will that be handled?” he asks.

“We’ll override that and open it to him effective immediately,” Lucius says.

Turning, we walk out of the meeting room, not stopping until we’re in my rental. We flew back to Portland so we wouldn’t have to deal with the long drive, and now we finally breathe a sigh of relief.

“Call them,” I grunt as Jared pulls out his com unit and turns it off. He does that as I drive to the airport. I don’t want to dawdle here. Portland and I are done as far as I’m concerned.

I’ll be back for business occasionally, but that’s all.

Goodbye Oregon. California is calling.