Page 13 of Legacy

It made no sense.

No, what made no sense was that I had no problem with it.

Then, while we were in the garden, his dominance and no-nonsense tone made me feel alive and charged. I’d argued with him.

The last thing I expected was this sudden awareness, this unexplainable need to be near him. Something about him made me want to push every one of his buttons, to challenge him, and see how he handled someone who took none of his shit.

The physical attraction to Elias Xenos was one thing. Still, the temptation of learning about the beast I saw lurking in those eyes was another.

“I did some digging on him,” Vik said, snapping me from my thoughts.

“On Ozias?”Obviously.

“Elias.”

That was news to me. “I thought we already had everything possible on the Xenos family.”

“There is always more to find out. Once word of your marriage offer spread, people talked.”

“And? What did you find?”

I needed to go into this marriage with all the information possible. I couldn’t go in unprepared if he could unsettle me with one evening.

“Elias is extremely private.”

Great. Then he can keep to himself and not bother me.

“He doesn’t like his father.”

Elias’s comment about not living with Ozias at that house had helped me figure this out.

“He also has a lover who won’t like that he’s off the market. So you should be ready for that as well.”

I smirked. “For what? A scorned lover? I’m not some weak woman who can’t stand my ground with others.”

“I’d think not. Get prepared for the next part of tonight’s adventure.” He turned the car, heading away from the house I shared with him and my sisters for now.

I’d be moving again in a month. Tonight, though, I had another stop to make.

I nodded. “I wonder if she’ll remember me.”

Vik and I had made the preparations for this crucial step in my grand plan, but now that the moment was here, I wondered if I could pull off this next part. Offering myself as a “sacrificial lamb in marriage” had been easy. Facing Ozias and Elias at dinner was difficult. But this?

“She’ll remember as soon as she gets a good look at you.”

I licked my lips, envisioning the last time I saw my aunt. She’d pushed me through the tunnels under the estate, urgent and desperate for me to flee without giving me a chance to return to my mother’s lifeless body and tell her goodbye. I was the one who’d found her there on the ground.

Theia Cloe insisted vehemently that I take my sisters and leave. She practically pushed Laya and Cali into the stairwell. I felt obligated to follow them, aware of the darkness surrounding us and that I was their only support.

I clenched my fist as the memory returned in full force. Cali had only been five at the time, crying as she clutched me tight. I’d held her as we hurried through the tunnels, pushed to run from the sheer terror Theia Cloe instilled in us. Cali had reached her hand back as I carried her away, and I would never forget her pleas and tears, sobbing for our parents.

Reminded of that hellish night, I knew I was ready. I was more than ready.

“Here.” Vik handed me a duffel bag, and I took it without question.

I crawled into the back of the car and changed into the clothes we’d set aside in there. Layering a shirt over my dress, then pants beneath it, I pulled off an entirely new outfit without revealing anything indecent. I’d learned the trick under Vik’s training when he’d coached all three of us girls on how to manage a swift disguise on the go, should we ever need it.

As I shifted in my seat, ensuring everything fit, Vik pulled up to the curb a few streets from Theia Cloe’s home.

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