Page 74 of Broken Truths

He hands it to me. “Look at pages three, five, and twelve. You’ll find your father’s initials and handwriting. It supersedes his death and your mother’s contract with Jarvis. I’m afraid you’ll be a Forbes yet, Eden.”

Reluctantly, I take the papers and flip through the pages. He’s right. My father’s signature is on all three pages. Who needs a marriage contract that’s twelve pages long? I have no idea.

Turning to the first page, I start to read. It’s about marrying Keegan, sure, but there’s more here, too. With our union, most of the businesses will also merge, bringing a hefty sum of power and money to both parties.

It’s clear that Father signed it—I can see that in black and white—but I wonder when he did. Was this after we had the argument at the restaurant? Or maybe right before someone else pulled the trigger to kill him? Somewhere in between?

Somehow, Leon Forbes got to him.

I swallow the sudden dryness in my throat. The last thing I want to do is marry Keegan. Not only was he the love of my sister’s life, but his family disgusts me. Leon Forbes is a pervert, and I wouldn’t be surprised if he wanted to pull the same shit Franklin Jarvis does to the women in his family.

I peer over at him, finding him staring at the slope of my neck.

I have to get out of here, and I have to do it soon.

27

Alaric

Judging by the way Leo is driving, he’s as worried as I am. It could be nothing…

Or we could live in a world where people give up their children because they’re not the right sex.

Leo steps on the gas as if our thoughts are in sync. I keep telling myself that it’s nothing. Maybe the Mini got a flat, and Eden’s just waiting for us to go looking for her. She didn’t have her phone after all.

“This is probably the best time to say I’m glad you’re so fucking paranoid.”

Leo grunts in response. I look forward to a day when we don’t have to worry about tracking cars and cell phones, but when you’re in a game with the Knights, you have to play on their level, otherwise you’ll get run over with a bulldozer with the Knights shield emblazoned on it.

Leo fishes his phone out of his pocket and hands it to me. “Guide me.”

I tell him when to turn and then alert him that the car’s coming up soon. When I peer up from the screen, I spot the Mini, and my heart thumps wildly in my chest.

Leo bangs on the steering wheel. “Fuck!”

The windshield is splintered. The front end smashed into a tree trunk.

Leo pulls up alongside the damaged car, his tires locked up, making us skid a few feet in the gravel. There aren’t any tire marks behind the Mini. It just drove straight into the tree. I jump out of Leo’s car, immediately checking inside the other vehicle while my heart is in my throat.

There’s no one there.

It’s completely empty except for the blood smeared on the deployed airbag and the car door.

Leo’s face pulls taut, chest heaving. I’m sure I match him as I study the interior of the car for any clues. If it was a car accident, then there’d be evidence of an ambulance here or a tow truck would’ve hauled the car away. They wouldn’t just leave it like this.

In the front passenger seat, there are several coffee cups overturned onto the ground. A white paper bag accompanies it. “So she did go for coffee,” I say numbly.

Leo moves to the other side of the car. It takes him several tries to open the door, but it finally gives. I really only think it budges because of sheer will. He sticks his fingers in the remnants of the coffee that are now puddled on the floor mats. “Cold,” he informs me. “This happened a while ago.” He straightens and peers both ways down the road. “And we don’t know which way she’s gone.”

“Or who has her,” I say, thinking back to the time the Knights kidnapped her and tied her up in Leo’s old house. “It doesn’t make any sense…”

Leo slams the door and stalks around the Mini. The cars are small, but they appear even smaller next to his imposing form. He doesn’t answer me as he gets back into his car.

I slip inside before he can drive away without me, and I have to yank the door closed as the gravel speeds by. My insides twist. “She’s not pledging the Knights anymore…”

“Which means this is an outside job.”

“Unless your grandfather told you one thing and did another.”

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