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“Well I guess you better hope I don’t claim my birthright then, huh? ” I hiss, and he frowns at me before looking down at Blair. “Oh she didn’t tell you? Funny that the queen snake might hide things from you. Be careful who you get into bed with, Raleigh, because she is a black widow in the making.”
I walk away from them with Finley at my side. We re-enter the house and he takes my elbow, pulling me toward the main function room, but tucks me into a corner. “Hot as that was, it might not have been a great idea. We don’t know how this Regency thing is going to play out.”
“Yeah, but they don’t know that,” I say with a shrug, and he laughs softly.
The sound of a clinking glass draws my attention, so we move to the foyer and find Harrison, William, Lincoln, and Georgia standing on the stairs above us all. Lincoln looks thunderous, but when he catches my gaze I smile at him, trying to pretend that this is all okay. He doesn’t need me feeling like shit to add to his plate right now. He doesn’t smile back, he doesn’t do anything as Georgia takes his hand and it’s impossible to miss the rock sitting on her finger.
I try not to let it affect me, and Finn squeezes my hand as I look away. I spot my aunt and uncle on the other side of the room, standing with Blair, Raleigh, and his family—all smiles.
“Thank you all for joining us here tonight. It’s been a wonderful evening so far. We’d like to share some news and make this night even more special.” He pauses like he’s building anticipation and I think I’m going to be sick.
“I would like to announce—” He’s interrupted by the front doors crashing open and armed FBI agents flooding the room.
“What is the meaning of this?” Harrison roars, storming across the room, coming face-to-face with an agent who waves a piece of paper in his face.
“We’re here with a warrant for Nathaniel Royal’s arrest,” the officer announces as my uncle is torn from my screaming aunt and placed in cuffs.
What the actual fuck is happening right now?
* * *
The party ended swiftly with Nate’s arrest and my mind has been spinning since. Finley ushered me back to my place as soon as the FBI agents were done, and pretty much everyone else left at the same time. Way to bring down the mood of a party. Not that I’m complaining; my stomach hasn’t stopped rolling since I saw the four of them standing on the steps.
I’m not sure how we stop this.
The Knights are too powerful. They control too much.
I don’t even care about myself, I just want my guys to be free to live however they want to.
Finley left me here, with the alarm set, to head back to the madness over at the Saints’, with the promise to return with everyone as soon as he could. I hate that I can’t help more, that I can’t be there for Lincoln—or any of them—right now.
I head upstairs and peel this stupid dress off, scrubbing the makeup from my face, and pull my hair into a messy bun on the top of my head before slipping into Lincoln’s hoodie and a pair of leggings with some thick socks.
This charade is over. We need a plan. An actual plan, rather than just running in circles and hoping we’ll find a path out of the maze that is this society shit. The only thing I can think of is my dad’s journals, so I grab my phone and go down to the music room. The alarm is set, no one is getting in the house without me realizing, so I know I can read the journals in peace without worrying about being interrupted.
There have to be some answers in there.
I can’t imagine my dad would have left me this helpless against something he wanted me to be free and safe from. It might be putting a lot of trust in him, especially considering he isn’t here and he wasn’t exactly the most stable at the end, but he was always my dad. He always tried to protect me, even in his darkest moments.
And now there’s the rumor that he didn’t kill himself. If I let myself believe what Panda said—even if it was fueled by madness—then I have to think he was going to tell me something. His journals might not hold all the answers, but there has to be something.
I don’t even give myself time to think about why Nate could’ve been arrested—the possibilities are endless and I’m sure I’ll find out eventually. Besides, my family made me very aware that we were not family, that I wasn’t their problem, and so, heartless as it may seem, I just don’t care enough to worry about it.
I have bigger fish to fry.
Starting with Harrison Saint.
Once I’ve pulled the journals from the vent, I pore over the pages until my eyes sting. There’s so much here, but so little of it is useful information. At least not that I can discern. It’s almost like my dad had his own language some of the time and it is frustrating as fuck that I don’t understand it.
I guess I really didn’t know him as well as I thought.
My phone buzzes and I see Indi’s name on the screen, along with the time.
Wow, it got late.
I frown, realizing how long I’ve been down here and that I still haven’t heard from the guys. Finley said they’d come over once the storm died down, but I guess things must have gone off.
I have to trust that they’ll tell me when I see them, that me being there would make whatever it is worse, so I swipe my screen and check the message from Indi.
