Page 13 of Midnight Salvation

This was not a place where ancient families met to create their own laws. No, Lucas had created something entirely different. This was his own museum hidden in plain sight where he ruled his empire that spanned the globe.

There were rooms filled with modern equipment, and others filled with display cases of ancient treasures. It wouldn’t surprise me if I walked past a room and found an ancient vampire lurking inside hidden from the world with massive red velvet curtains.

I followed Lucas up the staircase. A ballroom in the middle of the wide first floor landing opposite the top of the staircase had been converted into a conference room with a massive circular table in the middle. A golden sword was embedded in the centre. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Most of us had heard the tales of Camelot, and this room looked like it was straight from the pages of a story about Excalibur. Lucas always did have a taste for theatrics. Golden symbols instead of names were engraved around the table the same as they were in the images I’d seen of the round table in mythology. Each position to signify where a knight would sit.

“Come, sit,” Lucas said, indicating a seat as he moved across the room. I was sitting at his right hand and the irony wasn’t lost on me that he had a God complex.

Monitors around the room came online one by one. Some of the men I recognised, others I didn’t.

“Gentlemen,” Lucas said in his authoritative voice. “Thank you for joining me tonight. The time that we have often discussed has now arrived. The Council has overstepped the boundaries of decency for the last time.”

A shiver silently rippled down my spine as I slowly took in the sea of faces staring at us. Just because we had the same enemy didn’t mean that any of these men were my friend.

“Is there a reason you have a Blackwood sitting beside you?” I recognised the face as belonging to an old enemy of Dad’s. There was no doubt in my head that Dad had fucked Sean over, but it had been before I took an interest in the family business. I had enough fires to put out to begin to worry about ones that were nothing more than charred remains.

A vicious smile played on Lucas’ lips. “Consider Ashton as my heir. He sits at my right hand and is a member of my family.”

He said in all but words that I was married to one of his daughters. I would fucking strangle him later for putting Lucrezia at risk.

“I don’t trust a Blackwood,” Sean persisted.

I fixed my dark gaze on him. “Quite frankly, I don’t give a fuck who you trust, Sean. I have spent a lifetime doing what others demand. There is only one person in this world that means anything to me.”

He looked pissed, but I no longer cared. Lucas brought me here for a reason and I had my suspicions that it was because he wanted to test me.

“Over the past few years, I’ve watched everything I believed in crumble. The men I admired turned out to be perverts trading in souls to finance their own lavish lifestyles. Once upon forever ago, I thought I belonged to an organisation with morals and ambitions, but instead it was a stagnant, rancid pond filled with sycophants all trying to line their own pockets. I don’t care who you are or what you believe in. Let me assure you, that if you are in my way, I will send you to meet whatever god you believe in.” I pushed my chair back and went to go and stand to stare out of the window at the world outside.

Lucas chuckled behind me. “As you can see, I choose those at my side carefully.”

Sean’s voice replied. “We always wondered who would have the balls to steal one of your precious daughters. The three who took those positions at your side would either be incredibly brave or fucking psychopaths.”

My lips twitched. I definitely fell into the second category and had no apologies to make. Mum sent me to therapy in my late teens and the therapist called her in distress with her diagnosis of me. Some people claimed to be a psychopath, but I had the official diagnosis. There was very little in this world I cared about, but those who fell into that category had my undivided attention, and everyone else meant nothing to me.

“And which of your daughters is no longer available?” another voice asked.

“None of your concern,” I replied in a low voice, and turned to face them. “From this point, consider all of Lucas’ daughters under my protection. Most of you know who I am, for those who don’t, I’m Ash Blackwood. My father is Matteus Blackwood and even he won’t stand against me because he lost control of my leash a long time ago.”

A wall of silence met me.

“The world is changing,” I continued. “We are moving into a digital age where those who rule the financial world are king. I formed the Plutus Guild with Caleb a few years ago. There isn’t much going on in the business world we don’t have access to.”

Not even Lucas knew that I was one of the founding members of Plutus. Caleb and I had named it after the Greek god of wealth as it amused us.

“That’s an impressive portfolio, even for a daughter of Lucas Black,” another man commented.

“I never handed my portfolio over,” I replied. It was true. Lucrezia was mine and I didn’t give a single fuck who protested. I may not have fully appreciated her when she was a cute teenager, but she got my attention when she walked into that restaurant as a woman.

Lucas sat back and smiled like the Cheshire Cat. “Ashton is one of the few men I would allow near one of my babies. I have seen him defend her and know she is in safe hands.” He turned his attention back to those gathered. “The time has come to activate our endgame. My nephew Xavier and his associates are players on the final board. We all need to give them our help. I will send out a correspondence to each of you today to inform you of your role.”

“How do we know if we can trust him?” Sean asked again.

I wore many hats, but I was my father’s heir. He had spent years beating me into submission in an attempt to create someone worthy of accepting the Blackwood crown. To combat him, I embraced my inner demons. My lips curved in the smile that made most men run in the opposite direction. “I would be happy to discuss my allegiances with anyone in person,” I replied. “If someone doesn’t trust me, then I have no problem getting rid of the problem.”

In other words, I would send them straight to the gates of Hell without remorse.

Since most of them were staring at me as if I was insane, I returned to my resting bored expression that I used while I contemplated situations. The meeting continued with Lucas fielding questions. From listening to them, it seemed that most of the men had been fucked over by the Council. They should get in line, there was a bigger queue than them, and a lot of people not alive to tell their tale of woe and misery.

I texted Lucrezia since I’d lost interest.

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