Inheriting a SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 7) (14 page)

“If a woman says no,
you should really listen.”

“Darcy,” he says
with a sneer.

“Angelo. I’d say
it’s a pleasure to see you, but we both know that would be a lie.”

“Stay out of my
business for once.”

“No.”

“You two know each
other?” Jen asks me.

“Unfortunately. Go
back to the party. I’ll handle him.”

“You can’t ‘handle’
me. Haven’t you learned that by now?”

“Darcy?” Jen asks,
looking unsure about leaving.

“It’s fine. Go.”

Once she’s gone, I
face off with the man who I’ve been outsmarting for the past ten
years. “What are you doing here?”

“Wondering what the
thief is doing here, back at the scene of her biggest crime.”

“I’m marrying
Brayden.”

“That’s never going
to happen, so try again.”

“Still trying to
figure out my next move, huh? How’s that worked out for you in the
past?”

“You bitch,” he
says, moving towards me.

“Not yet, Angelo. We
still need her.”

I turn to glare at
Derrick. “You might as well kill me now. I’ll never give you the
jewels.”

“Oh yes, you will,”
he says. “I may have to make a trip to Tucson, Arizona otherwise.”

No. Oh God, no. I force
myself to remain calm. “Tucson?”

“You’ve hidden your
mother well, but it was only a matter of time before she slipped up.”

“I’ll kill you
before I let you hurt another one of my family members.”

“It’s so cute how
you think you have any power here. I think it’s time to tell your
bosses just who they hired all those years ago. You think they’ll
protect you, but I’m pretty sure you’re wrong. Why don’t we
just find out who is right after all?”

He steps out of the
room, and I hurry after him. Angelo stays in the room because no
one’s supposed to know that he and Derrick are working together.
They’d both have a lot of explaining to do if that happened. I
follow Derrick into one of the larger sitting rooms to find all of
the mentors, as well as the rest of my friends, already inside, along
with the Queen, Steven, Brayden, Noah, and Jen.

“I’m sorry to keep
you waiting, but it took a little time to find Darcy. She
was…entertaining a very handsome man.”

“She wasn’t
‘entertaining’ him, she was saving me from him when he wouldn’t
take no for an answer,” Jen says.

“Maybe that’s what
she told you, but she’s actually been working with Angelo for
years.”

“That’s a lie, and
you know it.”

“You worked with him
to steal the family’s jewels all those years ago. I wonder what
you’re planning now.”

He knows damn well that
I stole the jewels right out from under Angelo—and him. I can’t
say that without giving away everything else, so I’m forced to keep
quiet. At least about the dynamics of what went down. “I have
never
worked with Angelo, and I never would.”

“You don’t deny
stealing the jewels, though, do you? Your bosses need to know who
they’re hiring.”

“We know,” Jane
says. “We’ve known it was Darcy all along. Why do you think we
recruited her?”

“What?” I step back
like she physically struck me, because it feels like she did.

“You need to give up
the jewels, Darcy. This has gone on too long.”

Jane is looking like
the fierce leader she once was, and my heart is breaking. “Mallory?”
I ask, looking to my mentor, the woman who brought me in, promising
that she would save me.

“We’ve given you
seven years to tell us the truth, but you’ve continued to lie. Your
time with us is over. If you want to save yourself from jail—or
worse—you need to tell us where the jewels are.”

“No. You said you
were saving me.”

“I lied. We all did.
You interfered with us all of those years ago, and we don’t accept
failure. It’s time to make things right.”

“I-I thought you
cared for me. That you accepted me. I’ve been working with you for
seven years.”

“As I said, we’ve
waited patiently, but our patience has worn thin.”

“My mother has been
threatened. I have to go to her. I need your help.”

Jane gives me another
hard look. “Have we not just made it clear to you that there is no
help for you from the Society? You are on your own. If you give us
the jewels, we will spare you. If not, well, you know what happens to
our enemies.”

I need to get out of
here. I look around, and see Reina looking at Jane like she’s an
alien. She didn’t know. That gives me some comfort. I meet Nate’s
eyes, and he nods twice, using our own special code to tell me the
patio doors to my right will be my best bet. I just have to make it
to them.

I grab my skirt in my
hands and turn. “Stop her,” Derrick yells.

“Go,” Nate tells
me, jumping in to stop the two palace guards who were coming for me.

I look back only once,
seeing Aiden, Jake, Ellie, and Jade stepping in to keep the rest at
bay. I meet Brayden’s eyes and know it’s probably the last time
I’ll see him. I mouth “I love you” and he returns the
sentiment. I don’t look back again as I join the crowd outside and
hurry to the fence. There’s no way I’ll make it out the front
gates, which is why it’s a good thing I’ve been practicing with
the walls. I’m over and blocks away when I hear the first of the
men who are looking for me. I make it up to the roof of the building
where I’ve stored some supplies before they see me and lie flat on
my stomach as they run past.

I quickly disable my
tracker and change into black clothes, boots, and a beanie I had
stored in my messenger bag. There is also a good amount of money, a
fake passport that’s mine—not one that the Society gave me—and
two guns. I wait until I hear no one below and then slip into the
night, making my way to the hiding place I made sure was secure when
I got here. It’ll be like hiding in plain sight, but I hope it will
be safe for the couple of days it will take me to arrange for
transport off the island. That’s all I have left now—hope.

Darcy

I made it to the
apartment I’ve owned for years under a fake name without being
spotted. I secure everything and then collapse onto the bed, falling
into a fitful sleep. I wake up, knowing that I’m not alone in the
apartment. Old instincts die hard, and I reach for my guns. I slowly
open the bedroom door to see Reina, Faith, Audrey, Stella, and
Ainsley lounging around my living room.

“I’m not going
quietly,” I say as I enter the room, guns drawn.

“If I was here to
take you in, I wouldn’t expect it to be easy,” Reina says.

“If?”

“Would we really be
hanging out on your couches if we wanted to grab you?”

I look at the women
I’ve come to call friends. They’re all smiling at me, and no one
has a weapon out. “Jane said I was the enemy.”

“Yes, well, Jane is
no longer in charge, so she can say what she wants, but that doesn’t
mean we’ll listen.”

“We can’t function
without the mentors and their money.”

“No, but we also
can’t abandon our friend—our sister. You are my priority right
now. As is your mother.”

“Matt?”

Reina looks away, pain
clear on her face. “He won’t go against his grandmother.”

“Thank you, Reina. It
means a lot that I have at least one Corrigan on my side.”

“You have three. I’m
not sure what we can do to help, but we’ll do anything we can.”

I turn to see Alex and
Jessica Corrigan walking into the room. Alex is Matt’s
sister-in-law, and the receptionist at the Foundation. Jessica is
Matt’s stepmother; although, technically, she’s been divorced
from his dad for years. He still loves her like a mother, though.

“Matt and Miles are
not going to like you helping me.”

“You let me worry
about my sons,” Jessica tells me.

“And Reina and I will
worry about our husbands.”

“Now that we’re all
here, let’s talk about what we’re going to do,” Reina says.

“I need to get to my
mom.”

“No. They’ll expect
that. You know Isa is still at home, dying to help out. Tegan is also
at home right now since Ethan was getting an award at school, and she
didn’t want to miss it. I’ve already been in touch with them, and
they’re ready to go wherever you need them.”

“Tucson. My mom is in
Tucson.”

I give them the info,
and Ainsley uses a secure channel to pass along the information. It’s
decided that Faith and Audrey will meet them there as well. They hug
me goodbye, before rushing off to take one of the Corrigan jets while
Reina still has control of them. We all know it’s only a matter of
time before Jane realizes she’s helping me, and cuts her off.

“This is going to be
bad for you, for all of you. I’m an enemy of the Society, but
you’re helping me.”

“You’re not our
enemy, Darce. I don’t care what Jane says, you’re still one of
us. We’ll do everything we can to protect you, even if we can’t
do it officially. I promise you that.”

“Thank you,” I say,
and then realize something. “Where are Nate, Aiden, Jake, Ellie,
and Jade? Are they…are they…” I can’t finish. If my best
friends are against me, I don’t think I want to know.

“They’re in the
palace dungeon. That Derrick guy had them arrested.”

“We’ll get them
out,” Ainsley tells me. “I don’t know how yet, but I’m
working on it. Zack’s still there, doing intel for me.”

“Zack’s doing
intel?” I ask, trying not to laugh. I love the guy, but he’s not
really cut out to be a spy.

“He’s trying,”
she says with a smile.

“Let’s get down to
business and figure out how to untangle this mess. Tell us what you
can, and we’ll go from there,” Reina tells me.

I sit down and take a
deep breath. I can’t tell them everything, but I can tell them the
basics. “When I was fifteen, I was hired to steal some jewels from
the royal family. I was told that they weren’t the most important
of the jewels they have, but they held a sentimental value, and the
monarchy would do anything to get them back if they were stolen. It
was a challenge, and I’ve always loved a challenge, so I did it.
Angelo was also hired to steal them, but I got them before he did.”

“So you stole the
jewels and turned them over to the person who hired you?”

“No. I never turned
over the jewels.”

“Shit, Darce. You
still have the jewels? No wonder everyone’s after you,” Stella
says.

Reina’s more direct.
“Why do you still have them?”

“I can’t tell you
that.”

“How did I know you
were going to say that?”

“I’m sorry. I would
tell you if I could. Hell, I would give them to Brayden if I could.
But I took an oath, and I won’t break it.”

“Your boss made you
swear an oath?”

“He wasn’t exactly
my boss, but yes.”

“There’s no way to
break it? To just give them to Brayden? ”

“No. If certain
things happen, I’ll be free of it and can give them to him if I
choose, but until then I’m bound to keep it.”

“What are the
consequences to breaking it?” Ainsley asks.

“The loss of my honor
and the betrayal of people who believed in me and trusted that I
would keep my word.”

“Got it. How likely
is it that the things needed to free you will happen?” Reina asks.

“At this point, I
believe that they are very likely. A month ago, I would’ve said it
was still a long way off, but now I’m pretty sure we’re close.”

“In time for the
coronation?”

“That’s my hope.”

“I’m guessing that
you don’t have them here with you.”

“No. It would’ve
been too dangerous for me to bring them here.”

“Can someone else—one
of us—get them for you?”

“If it was a matter
of just getting them, I think Tegan could, but I can’t let anyone
else have possession of them.”

“Your oath?”

“Yes.”

“It’s not going to
be easy to get you off the island, and it’ll be even harder to get
you back here, but I think you need to go get them.”

“I do. I want to be
ready.”

“Then let’s get you
out of here.”

* * *

Brayden

“We have to do
something,” I tell Noah and Jen as I pace around my study.

“No shit, but what?
It’s not like we have the skills to break people out of prison, and
Faith, Ainsley, and Audrey have disappeared right along with Darcy,”
Noah says, getting up to pace as well.

“They wouldn’t have
gone far. I think they might be helping her.”

“Even though she was
thrown out of their Society thing?” Jen asks.

“Which is fucking
bullshit, by the way.”

“Calm down, Noah. I
don’t know why you’re so upset, anyway.”

“I just am. It’s
not right. You love her, and I think she’s awesome. They shouldn’t
be treating her like this.”

“She
is
a thief,” Jen reminds us.

“Shut it, Jen. Or
leave. I mean it. You’re either with us, or not, but you won’t be
bashing Darcy in front of me.”

“I’m with you.
Obviously. This whole thing’s just cocked up so badly, I’m not so
sure we can find a way to fix it.”

“We have to. Darcy
and her friends need us.”

There’s a knock at
the door, and I open it to find Stella, the guys from Storyside, and
Zack Taylor standing there. “Hi,” he says when I let him in.

“Hello. Is there
something I can help you with?”

No one answers until I
close the door. “Darcy says we can trust you,” Stella tells me.

“We?”

“I’m part of the
Society, or I guess currently, we’re the rogue Society.”

“Ainsley’s my
fiancé,” Zack says.

“And we’re, you
know, with the band,” Kace says with a smirk.

“You all came here
undercover to help keep her safe?” Noah asks.