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We’ve showered, and my father’s wounds have been treated. He’s getting IV fluids and resting. Solomon got us out of the forest by showing the guard Artemis’s gun and telling them what Artemis did. We were allowed out, under guard, to wait for an emergency family council to be convened.
Fortunately, my father, Solomon, and I were allowed to wait in Solomon’s room, where he had a computer. I take the opportunity to reach Simon with new instructions. I still haven’t been allowed to see Camille, which fills me with rage, but I bottle it up to uncork at a time when it will be more useful.
And then, clean and dressed, we head to the meeting room. The room stinks of blood; I smell it even before we enter.
The three of us are led over to the table to face the family council. Solomon has been permitted to bring his laptop with him. My father’s pushing an IV pole beside him, and it looks all wrong.
Oswald Franklin, a council member, kneels on the far end of the table. Or should I say, former council member. He’s naked, hands behind his back, with a red ball gag in his mouth and an enormous dildo protruding from his ass. His face is bruised and bloodied and his head lolls. So he was the traitor who helped Artemis, and who oversaw my father being ushered into the forest for the challenge. There are four decapitated heads on platters, facing us. I assume those guards worked with Artemis to help him cheat.
Damion sits in the place formerly occupied by Artemis. There’s a wireless keyboard in front of him. He looks us all over grimly.
“We have never, in the history of the charter, faced such treachery.” He sounds aggrieved, and his gaze flicks at me as if it’s somehow my fault.
“That you know of,” I scoff, and his face flushes with anger.
“I am the senior council member now, and we currently do not have a patriarch. I am going to kill you right now, and after that, the things I’m going to do to your little bitch...” His finger hovers over the keyboard and a nasty, bullying grin twists his lips. The other men mutter and look at each other uneasily.
A tornado of fury swirls inside me.Nobody touches Camille.
“No, you won’t,” Solomon barks at him. “Because it’s not in the charter, and we’ve had enough betrayal of our family traditions already. You’d be killing him out of petty spite for killing your son, and that’s not how we do things.”
Damion’s hand shoots out and he tries to push buttons on the keyboard, but Thomas Franklin, sitting to his left, grabs his wrist and quickly shoves the keyboard away from him. Closer to me. He and Damion have a brief wrestling match, but the other men at the table shout at them, and they both settle back in their seats.
“We follow the damn charter,” Thomas growls at Damion.
“He’s not one of us!” Damion raises his voice, looking around him for support. Some of the men look sympathetic, and some are scowling and shaking their heads. A family divided. Perfect.
“Bastien came out on top,” Solomon says. “By right, he is now the patriarch.”
“Never!” Damion shouts. “Not while I have breath in my body!” And he stabs the keyboard, punching in several numbers. He flashes me a fierce grin. I hold my breath. Will it work? Everything rides on this.
“I’ll take your little whore up the ass so hard she splits in two,” he screams at me. “You’re a traitor, and you…” He gasps in pain, his face reddening. “You…” He claws at his gut, and his voice goes high and shrill. “What have you done?”
Everyone jumps up from the table, shouting. In the chaos, I lunge across the table and grab the keyboard.
Several of the Franklin men move toward me. I yell, “I’ve reprogrammed all the codes.” My fingers hover over the keyboard as a warning not to move.
They freeze and slowly back off.
Damion falls to the floor, spasming and uttering horrible, gurgling screams. The other members of the council mutter among themselves and glare at me, but they all know nothing can be done. Damion was a dead man as soon as the poison entered his system.
“Move him out of the way,” I say. The men look at me with hatred. “I have to punch in codes in the next couple of minutes, or every last one of you dies,” I bark.
Thomas and a man named Geoffrey drag Damion’s spasming body to the end of the room. They dump him there and return to the table.
Senator Franklin looks at me with deadly hatred. “You have no idea what kind of enemies you’ve just made.”
“Oh, I have every idea. I’ve been researching the family for weeks as if my life depended on it.” My fingers rest lightly on the keys. “So you’re going to sit back and listen to me.”
Their eyes bore into me, the air thick with hatred and a threat of vengeance.
“I hacked into your system, and I lied about Troy,” I say calmly. “I did kill him remotely, and I can kill any of you, any time, anywhere, and all of the guards on the system.”
“But the chef,” Orion Franklin protests. “He fled with his family.”
“Yes, because I told him he could run or die.” I smile at them.
“We have systems in place,” Senator Franklin speaks up, his voice dripping with menace. “Men who have worked for our family for generations. They are well rewarded and well trained and fiercely loyal. They will kill everyone that you love, horribly, slowly, over the course of months or years. Your family members will lose their minds long before they die. There will be nowhere they can hide.”
