Page 86 of Midnight Legacy

“Tradition is important,” Lucas agreed with that smile he saved only for his family. “It keeps those we love alive while we journey this life without them.”

“So what does all this mean?” Megan asked, standing at the side of the table to stare at all the puzzle pieces assembled.

“We need to discover what is on this,” Jordan replied, touching the floppy disc. “Along with the tapes and cassettes since we have something to view them on now. But it looks as if the Council has had agendas we knew nothing about for years. Corruption has infected it and is eating away at the values that formed it centuries ago.”

“That is why Xavier took my seat,” Lucas intervened. “I could only do what needed to be done when I walked away. Now it looks as if the suspicions of some of the Council members were correct.”

The room around me felt charged with tension, all eyes turning to Lucas. “I knew your parents, Cassandra, just as I sat beside the fathers of the three men who stand around this table. Some of us saw the darkness, others opportunity. Some of those who feared what we’d become spoke out and their deaths are the only memory of them.” He took a deep breath before staring at every single person in the room. “I am too old to bury those I love. You either burn all of this and forget you ever saw it, or you burn the Council to ashes before they reach you first. I cannot tell you what to do, but I will support whatever decision you make.”

The only sound was the clock in the hallway gently ticking in the background.

Xavier stood rigid beside me, the only movement his thumb tracing over the top of my hand. I watched as Jordan and Ash both looked to Xavier for direction. He was the beating heart of this group.

His chest expanded before he let the breath go. His arm wrapped around me to rest over my stomach, as his chin propped up on top of my head. “I vote to destroy everyone who threatens any person in this room. You are all my family and I will not tolerate anyone who jeopardizes their safety. If that means that I take the fight to them, then so be it.”

“Fuck it! I was getting sick of their bullshit anyway.” Jordan grinned. “I’m happy to light the fuse to burn them all to the ground.”

Ash shrugged. “I haven’t been able to stomach them since my father happily signed Michael’s death warrant. He should have at least abstained to vote. Let them fucking rot.”

Lucas nodded solemnly. “Then I will take the women to Tuscany and return to join you.”

“No!” All eyes cut to me. “This is my home and I refuse to leave it. My parents died when they ran. Xavier has security everywhere in this house. No matter what happens, I will stand by his side.”

His arms tightened around me.

“I have clients who need to see me,” Megan added. “Work needs me and there’s only so much I can do via conference call.”

Lucrezia shrugged. “Sasha and I have been baking together, and Catarina and I want to go shopping in London while we are here for my business. I was hoping to travel up to Scotland to visit Sofia at university.”

Lucas groaned at his daughter’s reply and Ash’s jaw tightened.

“You’d be safer in Tuscany,” Xavier said into my ear, his breath fanning my neck and sending shivers of awareness down my spine, combined with fear from his tone.

I arched my back and turned into him. “Please don’t ask me to leave you,” I said for only him to hear.

Xavier stared at me as if he could change my mind by his will alone. There were times in the past that I’d submitted, but I’d made my mind up. He said he married me because I challenged him, and I would continue to do that. Finally, he nodded, and looked away.

“I’ll need more decoys and a security unit on them to protect them,” he instructed Jordan. “We’ll also need more eyes here if everyone is staying.”

“I need to get back to London,” Megan said.

“We’ll discuss it later,” Jordan snapped. For the first time ever, I saw rebellion in her eyes.

“I hope you know that you’ll be getting an attitude adjustment later,” Xavier said against the shell of my ear.

This time, my shiver contained only desire.

***

Chapter Twenty-Four

Cassandra

Weeks had passed since the day I visited my childhood home. My mother’s pictures sat in our library, the old Bible on the shelf ready to have another name inscribed in it. I now resembled a beach ball and there were times that I forgot what my feet looked like unless I lay down and stuck them up in the air.

Megan moved back to London since her clients needed her. Jordan’s mood had been beyond pissy, but as she pointed out, no one knew who she was or that she’d been involved with Jordan. She’d seen his true darkness, and only time would tell if she would be able to accept it. Since I was close to my due date, she was returning this weekend to be my official babysitter until Bubble arrived.

Lucrezia had become a little sister for me to love since Kimberley was no longer in my life. Operation Lovebug was in full swing, Megan and I orchestrating it from the background. Poor Ash looked bewildered some days, but the way he stared at Lucrezia reminded me of a man dying of thirst and she was the only water for miles around. It gave me hope for the future. His restraint could only be stretched so far before it snapped completely. The hidden romantic in me was secretly cheering for that day to happen soon because the tension was starting to make life incredibly uncomfortable.