Page 160 of Poison Aches

“Yes, Ivy,” Governor Hughes says. “You will fulfill our agreement with the Easton Family. So your wedding will be in five days.”

I stare at him, then suddenly, I giggle.

“Y-you must be joking,” I say, giggling louder as I stare at him.

The giggling fit turns into laughter.

And before I can try to stop it, the laughter is now full-blown hysterical.

CHAPTER 21

Emmett

Aclusterfuck.

Clusterfucks happen all the time.

They happen when you least expect them.

They happen when you have a million contingencies.

They even happen when you are disinterested in the world and don’t care at all about them, but there will always be one that rocks your entire foundation and cracks it into uneven pieces.

I stare at Angel, as tears flood her eyes while she laughs so heartbreakingly, the thing in my chest tugs and twists torturously.

If she continues, she’ll laugh her way into another attack. She has to stop.

But I can feel Grandfather’s gaze on me.

I don’t bother looking in his direction, because I already know what he wants.

It’s too bad that desperation fuels other men into becoming puppets.

“Sir, what does this mean?” Vaughn questions as I knew he would.

Grandfather smirks a bit. This is the question he wanted to hear.

“Well, it’s obvious, isn’t it?” Grandfather says. “Since it’s been agreed that the girl, Ivy, has been offered, I have simply decided that whoever the girl marries will be the new boss of the Family.”

And just like that, the last bomb explodes with a blast radius that stuns even Grandfather’s friend.

This time, I can’t look away.

I stare at Grandfather, realizing then that I played into his hand.

He wanted to see if I have weaknesses.

He wants to see what I’m going to do.

Which means he has done his research and found out about Angel.

He knew I had a secret weapon all along against Governor Hughes to bring him down.

He knew I was going to use Governor Hughes’ dirty secret hidden child as his demise, which is why he rushed all the way to New York City and made a new deal with the head of the Hughes family, Theodore the Second.

I notice all eyes are now on Angel.

She now holds all the power here.

---