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Still picking wax out of her hair, I released a sigh. “I don’t know why. I really don’t.” I reached for a bottle of conditioner hoping it would help ease the candle wax out of her hair. “We don’t have to do this,” I repeated. “We can leave right now.”
“No,” she said firmly. “After what I’ve just been through tonight and yesterday… No way can I simply walk out of the manor and act like nothing has happened.” She picked at a piece of wax on her chest as she added, “I have VanDoren Enterprises to think of.”
“Montgomery and I will do whatever we can to help you take control of your family’s company. You don’t need—”
“You know it’s not that simple,” she interrupted, placing the piece of wax on the edge of the tub. “They’ve seen me naked. I’ve seen their dicks. They’ve made me their personal porn star. I mean… how do we just act like that never happened? I deserve a big payday when this is all over.”
I couldn’t resist smirking as I agreed, “You deserve VanDoren Enterprises handed to you on a silver platter. You deserve the fucking world.”
Jasmine grimaced when I tugged a little too hard on the wax in her hair, so I started massaging her scalp instead.
“I’m going to make sure you get everything you want in the end. I promise you.” I kissed her forehead as if it was the period in the sentence and it would somehow make it true.
“What about you? What do you get in all this?” she asked.
“Membership to the Order.”
“That’s it? You go through all this just so you can become a member?” She turned her head to look up at me. “You all willingly want to be part of this sick show?”
Nodding slowly, I answered, “I know it doesn’t make sense. But every man in Darlington and the surrounding areas who has wealth, power, lineage, and plans to keep it that way, must be a member of the Order of the Silver Ghost. You have to be part of it. It’s a must.”
“But why?”
“Generational decay.” I released a deep breath as if it somehow would rid me of my toxic upbringing. “Family roots that strangle.” Working more conditioner into Jasmine’s hair, I continued on. “Trust me, you aren’t asking me something I haven’t asked myself. But when you’ve been raised a certain way, groomed to be another version of your father and his father… you realize that there isn’t an easy way to just resist.”
“I get that,” she said softly as she closed her eyes and leaned back as I continued washing her hair. “I do. I have my own generational decay. Sully got to break free, but that only left me with his share to hold. I hate it so much, but you’re right… you can’t simply resist. The pull is too strong.”
“Have you ever considered leaving like your brother did? Maybe it’s the right thing for you too.”
She shook her head. “I could never do that to my mother. As annoying as she can be, I do love her. And she needs me.” She ran her fingertips over the tops of the bubbles, pausing and taking a deep breath. “We’re about to lose everything. The house, the land, the reputation, everything. She’s taught me how to hide it. And we do a damn good job at it. But the truth of the matter is that I have to marry rich. She knows it, and so do I. Even if VanDoren Enterprises is handed over to me, I’m not sure there is enough capital to keep it going. We sure as hell don’t have the money to sink into it.”
I had heard rumors of this but wasn’t going to tell Jasmine. There was most definitely talk that the VanDorens had fallen on hard times. Montgomery hadn’t said anything, but I got the feeling he was using a lot of his own money keeping the business afloat.
“It would kill my mother to lose everything. And it would kill me to see that happen to her. Like you said… generational decay. My family line is rotten to the core at this point.”
“Mine is too. Just in different ways. Politics has polluted our family plot for sure. I never grew up thinking I’d be an astronaut or a fireman like other little boys did. I was bred to be a politician from inside my mother’s womb. There was never a question that I’d be shaking hands and kissing babies for the rest of my life. I was to follow in my father’s footsteps no matter how much mud he trudged through. And sadly, that also includes forever being tied to the Oleander and the ghosts who haunt these hallways.”
“And yet, we both refuse to walk away,” Jasmine stated simply.
