Page 6 of Cruel Love
I shrugged, pulling out my phone.“Which faction do they belong to?I’ll call the faction head and inform them of my wishes. After all, unless she has been claimed by one of the board, I out-rank other members.”
I waited for his reply, holding in my urge to grin triumphantly atcalling his bluff.
Welch knew how Legion worked. The society was spread acrossAmerica, with States falling under different factions. Each faction had a rank structure and reported to the head of their faction, who in turn reported up the chain.
In a way, it was like a police force. The board were the chiefs, theirheirs were their deputies once they reached the age of fourteen, andthenappointed members were the faction leaders who chose their own members to support the running.
But the beauty was, the higher up the rankings you were, the moreprivileges you had. Sadly for Welch,evenif it wasn’t against the rules to claim a girl for himself, he was a low-level ranking member, so Willow would have been mine anyway.
Didn’tthatmake me feel all kinds of smug?
“I…I,”he faltered, before closing his eyes, his body sagging. “What Imean is, Willow isn’t part of the program. She’s-”
“Whythen, is she here? If she isn’t part of the program, tell me whymine and the board’s money is funding her keep?”I snapped, enjoying the knots the idiot was tying himself in. Until something occurred to me.“Would I be right in thinkingthatif she isn’t part of the program,thenshe hasn’t been trained like all the other girls have?”
I glared at him, waiting for him to confirm what I suspected.
He sighed.“She is untouched, yes.”
Why did the thought of me breaking her in make me want her allthe more?
“Thenyou’ve failed in your job. Perhaps I need to inform the boardthatit’s time to replace you.”
Welch’s face turned beetroot red, an angry vein bulging in his neck.“You’re not being serious!”he roared, slamming his hands down on the table.“You know I’ve done an excellent job with this program over the last twenty years, James!”
“I know the bullshit updatesthatare fed back to us,”I replied,keeping my cool, whenreally, I wanted to plant a bullet in his brain for the way he’djustspoken to me.“But from what I’ve seen with my own eyes, the girls you and your staff are producing are not meeting expectations. And now I find outthatthere is a girl living here for free without any use. Why shouldn’t I reportthatback to the board? Maybe a fresh set of eyes on the program might not be a bad idea. Shake things up a bit.”
Steam practically billowed from his ears.“Why her?”he gritted outafter glaring at me for several seconds.
I finally let an accomplished smile take over my face, ready to admitthatI knew his dirty little secret.“I could ask you the same thing. I assume you remember the contract you signed when you took the job? You know the part where you agreedthatyou would never touch any of the assets or claim a girl for yourself?”
His face turned anevendeeper shade of red, storm cloudsgathering in his gray eyes.“I remember it vividly!”he roared.“But you try living here forthatlength of time with all those promiscuous girls flaunting themselves around the house. I challenge any red-blooded man to go as long as I did without touching a few.”
He clamped his mouth shut, realizing he’d let slip a secretthatcould be his undoing, notjustfrom his current role, but from the society. Legion had strict rules, and if they weren’t adhered to, the consequences could be severe. Of course, rules were broken all the time, and faction leadersalways had a way of finding out dirt on their members which was fed back to the board, and kept under wraps in case there was ever a time we needed ammunition to remove a member.
Welch sighed again before pulling out a tumbler and a bottle ofJack from his desk drawer and pouring himself a generous amount, resignation written all over his face.“She was ten when I first met her. I knew straight away she was different from the rest.”
Disgust curled in my gut at the thought he’d been fantasizing abouther since she was ten years old. For all of Legion’s dirty dealings, pedophilia and underage sex was not one of them. It was why we had the rulethatno girl could be claimed until she had reached the age of eighteen.
“She’s eighteen in two weeks,”he mumbled, wincing as he downedhis drink.“I’ve waited all this time. I was going to keep her, it was why I was waiting until she came of age.”
“You had plenty of other girls to tide you over though, didn’t you?”Igrowled, my fingers twitching to reach behind my back and pull my gun out from where it was tucked under my jacket.
He poured himself another shot of whiskey and downed it.“I knowwhat the punishment will be.”
Death.
“Not necessarily. I could make the board aware of all of your sins,or you can give me what I want and we’ll forget this conversation ever happened.”
I wouldn’t. I’d bide my time, gather the evidence, andthendish outhis punishment. After all,thatwas my goal when I took over Legion, to weed out those who were rotten to the core. Welch was one of thosewithouthisveryrecent admissions.
He held my gaze, debating if I was telling the truth. Eventually,he squeezed his eyes shut and nodded his head once.
My triumphant grin grew wider.
The mouse was mine.
Chapter 4
