Page 31 of Black Wedding

Desmond looks at his wife with a sneer. Clearly, there is no love between them. She quickly averts her eyes and looks as though she wishes she had never spoken. Liam obviously is not happy with the way Desmond treats Von. His fist has almost turned white from all the tight pressure, yet he doesn’t move, and when he speaks it is still emotionless. “You didn’t need to throw us a party or go to all that trouble for us.”

Desmond laughs, deep and insincere. He sounds like a stereotypical bond villain. “Oh, don’t be an eejit, boy. The party may have your name on it, but it is all for me. To show my business colleagues about our new alliance,” he sings, smiling sadistically at Liam.

“And what alliance would that be, father?” Liam asks. His voice almost remains neutral except for the slight growl he tries to hide as he says father.

“Well, from what I hear, your marriage means that you will inherit the London firm from Vernon. So that means the Doughty’s will finally have a stake in the English capital,” he jeers, looking very pleased with himself.

Liam starts to respond, but I cut him off. If I don’t assert my dominance now, I never will. “I’m sorry, Mr. Doughty, but I think you have the wrong information. I will be inheriting the London firm, and Liam will be ruling with me, but I will be the one in charge. Of course, if you wish to develop a working relationship with me and my people, we can look into that. But you are wrong to assume you will automatically get power because of my feelings for your son.”

As soon as the words leave my lips, chaos ensues. Von, standing right next to me, lets out a frightened cry as Desmond stands up in a roar. Evan copies his father but sounds a little more unsure of his actions before facing his family. Finn audibly groans but takes a step back in front of me, a move that is mirrored by Liam. Except Liam doesn’t make a sound and still looks just as hyper-focused as before, only now his gaze looks to have a little more light, and they are aimed straight at Desmond.

“How dare you come into my house and disrespect me?” he barks, and I notice Von shrinks back a little, as does Finn. On the other hand, Evan is wearing an evil grin, looking as though this is going exactly how he wanted it to.

“I didn’t cause you any disrespect. I merely stated that I will be taking over from my father. I am not asking for your respect as I believe respect is earned. You may not like this arrangement, but that’s how it is,” I say firmly.

Desmond slowly contemplates his reply, but instead, Liam addresses him. “We are here, like you asked, to announce our engagement. That is all. You can’t use me in a play for power because I am no longer part of this family, and that is well known. Bree will lead the London firm, and she will be fucking great at it.” Slowly with each word, I can hear my Liam coming back to me, and as soon as he swears and Desmond’s eyes narrow, I know he is fully back.

“Why don’t we all go and get freshened up? Then, we can meet for dinner at seven in the main dining hall,” Von whispers, her voice shaking. I may not know much about how Liam was raised, but I am starting to get the picture pretty fucking quickly.

We all part and agree to meet back up in a few hours. Finn leads us to the opposite west wing, up the grand stairs, and as we walk down the long corridor, I watch both boys transform before my eyes. They start to relax, slouching more as they talk to each other. The banter and laughter come easily between them. It quickly becomes clear Finn is much more like Liam than Evan, which is good because I’m still considering stabbing the eldest brother for his whore comment earlier.

Finn walks us to the very end of the corridor, pointing out a room opposite which he indicated was his, and the one next to him was Evan’s. Next to our room would be the room for his sisters when they get here tomorrow. I am excited to meet them; I know how important they are to Liam. As Finn shows us around the room, he opens a cupboard to reveal a secret fridge.

“I didn’t know what you would like, Bree, so I just stocked it with lots of chocolates, some cream cakes, a bottle of red, white, and rosé wine, some diet coke, and of course Liam’s favourite, beer. If you want anything that isn’t in there, I can get it for you,” Finn states, looking at me with a big, bright smile. As he hands me my favourite chocolate bar with a cocky smirk that matches Liam’s, I can’t help but smile. This one is definitely the charmer of the family.

“How are you doing, Finn?” I ask, unable to resist any longer.

When we first got here, and he was standing guard at the door, I thought my father had got to him and managed to corrupt him like he did Evan. But then he stood beside me to protect Bree, and I knew my big brother was still in there. The problem is that we all have to play a role here, pretend to be the person my father wants us to be and just hope the whole time that we can come out of it when the time is right.

Finn exhales loudly before plopping himself down on the bed. “It’s a fucking nightmare, Liam. I should have got out when you did,” he groans as I sit down next to him. I see Bree take a seat on the sofa in the corner near the fridge as she demolishes the chocolate bar Finn gave her. She looks a bit uncomfortable, like she wants to provide us with some privacy, so I smile at her. I love how she is so kind and caring to the people who matter to her, and it’s great that she now includes the people who mean something to me.

“Why didn’t you?” Bree blurts out before covering her hand and mumbling an apology for asking an invasive question.

“Don’t ever apologise for that. There’s too much censorship in this fucking house as it is. This wing has always been our safe space. And to answer your question, I’m ashamed to say I was afraid. I had no money, and Liam was using all he had to look after the girls. He didn’t need his big brother to be a burden either,” Finn admits, although he doesn’t make eye contact with either of us as he speaks.

“Fuck that. You would never have been a burden. What con has he got you doing now? It must be bad if it has you reevaluating the past,” I ask, and Bree looks very interested in the conversation now. She has been desperate to learn about my past, but some things are hard to explain.

“Don’t judge me for this, okay, Bree?” he says to her before turning back to me. “Do you remember Mrs. Windslow?” he asks, and I rack my brain for where I have heard that name before.

After a few seconds of thinking, it finally comes to me. “You mean the old secretary from St. Mary’s?” I ask for confirmation. If it’s the person I am thinking of, she was a lovely older lady at our junior school who used to work for the headteacher. She’s the person Mum would ring when one of us was sick. I haven’t seen her since we moved to secondary school-aged eleven, so that’s almost twelve years ago. No wonder it took me a while to think of the damn name.

“Yeah, that’s the one. Well, Dad found out she not only owns a considerable property but has a big retirement fund and life insurance payout. Plus, she has no relatives. Currently, her money is being split between the church and the Pug Welfare and Rescue Association. Apparently, she likes pugs and Jesus,” he explains, and I am trying really fucking hard to get five when I add up four and four. Because there aren’t many reasons he would need to know this information, but I hope it’s for a different reason than the one currently running about in my head.

“Please tell me you aren’t doing what I think you are?” I ask him, but he remains silent, just shaking his head. Further confirmation of what I already know.

Fuck! It’s times like this I really fucking hate my father and the power he wields over others.

“Sorry, I may be being stupid or naive, and you can tell me to sit quietly in the corner with my Cadbury’s, but I have no idea what you are talking about. I would love an explanation,” she says, looking sheepishly at the second chocolate bar she just started on.

I can’t help but smile at how cute she looks tucked up on the sofa, her knees crossed as she looks at her chocolate lovingly. Fuck, I’m actually jealous of a chocolate bar. What the hell is wrong with me? Finn catches me looking and gives me that knowing smirk. Asshole.

“Growing up, we were all given a role, a talent that we were told to foster. Liam was a fucking good shot, so assassination was his bag. Evan hasn’t always been how he is now, but my father has influenced him far too much. Desmond loves to cause pain and suffering. Evan has slowly been turning off his emotions more permanently and has become so fucking angry that it’s scary. Whereas my talent is that I’m a good liar and manipulator, and when you add in my looks and charm...well, ever since then my father has essentially been using me as a honeytrap scam,” he explains, and Bree looks stunned. Although he is fucking great at his job, I know my brother so well that I don’t ever have to worry about him lying to me. I know all his tells. I will have to let her in on Finn’s secret’s so she can feel safe in the knowledge he isn’t ever manipulating her. Not that he would, my brother hates his job.

She’s sitting on the sofa with a chocolate bar in her hand, raised as though she will put it in her mouth until something stops her. She literally sat open-mouthed like a fish, gobsmacked. I can’t help but chuckle at how fucking cute she looks. Finn joins in with the laughter too, and that’s all it takes to snap her out of it.

“Wait! So...so how old is this woman exactly?” she asks, and I see Finn grimace.

“She is a very young seventy-two,” he whispers, and now it’s my turn to look shocked. I hear Bree choking on her chocolate in the corner.

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