Inheriting a SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 7) (16 page)

Scott’s name is
flashing on my Bluetooth before I’ve even gone a block. “Did you
have to scare the shit out of me? Two times? And that roll off the
car? Christ, Darcy. I have a family now. You can’t go making me
have a heart attack.”

“I didn’t intend to
almost fall. I was terrified there for a few seconds, too. I mean, I
know I had a harness, but it’s not a Society issued one, so who
knows if it would’ve held.”

“Not helping my heart
rate.”

“I’m on the ground.
You know I can’t fall now, right?”

“I’ve learned to
never underestimate any of the women in my life.”

“Thank you for
helping me, Scott.”

“I don’t know
what’s going on with my mom and her friends, but I can’t believe
they would’ve ever set out to hurt you. That’s not how they work.
Just try to hang in there until we can all figure this out. I’ll
help all of you out as much as I can.”

“I appreciate it more
than you know. If I don’t see you again, I need you to know that
your friendship has meant so much to me over the years.”

“We’re going to see
each other again, but you should know that I feel the same way. Be
careful, Darce, and know that I’ve got your back.”

Tears are running down
my face as I hang up. When I was younger, I wanted to be on my own,
not depending on anyone. I realize that since I joined the Society,
I’ve become so comfortable leaning on everyone else, that I just
took it for granted that we’d always have each other. I’m also
realizing that this mission may be the last one where we’re all
together, and it hurts almost as much as the thought of losing
Brayden does.

* * *

Brayden

Breakfast is a strained
affair since Reina is back. She’s not speaking to the Society
founders—or her husband—but she’s here. That gives me even more
hope that things will be okay for Darcy. Until she takes out her cell
phone.

“What phone is that?”
Matt asks her.

“It’s my personal
one,” she answers, not looking up from it.

“Since when?”

“Since your
grandmother had my access revoked.”

“Gram?”

“She’s either with
us, or against us.”

Reina looks up then. “I
can’t believe I ever looked up to you.”

“If she’s not with
you, why is she here? Maybe I should have her put in the dungeon with
the other traitors,” Derrick says.

“I didn’t know you
had a death wish,” Matt tells him.

“She can’t be that
formidable,” Derrick scoffs at him.

“Oh, she is. But I’m
the one who’s going to kill you if anyone puts their hands on my
wife.”

“It’s nice to know
you care,” Reina says, getting up from the table.

“Come on, Rei.”

“I’d rather go.”

“I’ll understand if
you need to side with her, Matt,” Jane Corrigan tells him.

“Family comes first.
Always. When it didn’t, you know what happened. She’ll get over
it.”

I can see that Alex
wants to say something, but she knows she needs to help us later, and
so she can’t publicly side with Reina. I’m with her, though. I
don’t think Reina’s just going to get over this. But that’s not
my problem to worry about. I have enough on my plate.

I manage to get through
all of my official duties for the day, without looking too nervous. I
figure being a jilted fiancé should give me a little leeway. I see
Jessica and Alex approach my mother, uncle, and Derrick, which is my
cue to get downstairs.

I’m the last to
arrive outside the dungeon, and I join the others as we watch the
show unfold. Stella and Jen look like they’ve stepped off the pages
of Playboy, only with clothes on. Scandalous clothes, but the
important parts are mostly covered. The guards don’t stand a
chance.

Within minutes, they’ve
convinced the guards that nothing could possibly happen if they step
away for a few minutes for some fun. As soon as they round the
corner, we run down the stairs. Matt places the devices on the doors
of the two cells, and they open within seconds. Noah and Zack run
into the one with the girls, who are both lying down unchained. I
guess the guards didn’t see them as much of a threat since they’ve
been underfeeding them.

The guys are chained to
the wall, but Matt quickly frees them. True to what Stella said, they
seem to be doing fine, and run from their cell. Aiden and Nate offer
to take Ellie and Jade from the other guys, but they tell them to
just go behind us, along with Jake. We get up the steps, but the
guards are back, looking pissed and holding onto Stella and Jen. Once
the girls see us, they spring into action, knocking both guys
unconscious. I knew my cousin was a badass, but damn.

“Let’s go,”
Stella says, not even breaking a sweat.

We hear music and
screaming as soon as we get outside. The girls say they can walk,
because they know we need them to, and we all blend into the crowd
that’s enjoying the impromptu Storyside concert. I force myself to
look at the band, and not at the people I just helped escape. I can’t
draw any attention to them as they get away from the castle. I look
at Noah, and he smirks back at me. Who knew we’d be so good at
assisting in a prison break?

Darcy

Sneaking back onto the
island wasn’t as hard as I expected. Then again, who would ever
think I’d want to come back? Jenysis is letting us stay in her
house, which she rarely uses, since she usually stays with Brayden
when she visits. It’s on a secluded part of the island, and has
huge privacy walls. Ainsley and Aiden built a sophisticated security
system for the property in less than an hour, so none of us are
worried about being found. We’re just worried about how everything
is going to play out.

“So what? We just
have to wait here and see if ‘certain events’ happen?” Nate
asks me in annoyance.

“Pretty much.”

“How do we even know
something will happen?”

“Not everyone wants
Brayden to be crowned. Something will happen. I don’t know what,
but something.”

“Will it be enough to
satisfy your oath?” Faith asks me.

“I hope so. If not,
the jewels go back with me.”

“Can we see them? Are
they like the ones at the Tower of London?”

“No, and kind of,”
I tell Stella with a smile.

“Ugh. I have to
protect pretty things, and I can’t even see them. How is that
fair?”

“You’re not
protecting them, I am.”

“We’re with you.
Have you not realized that by now?”

“You can go back to
the Society. Tell them you made a mistake. I hate that you’ve been
thrown out because you want to help me.”

“We’re not going
back without you,” Reina says, entering the room.

“What are you doing
here, Rei?”

“I can’t be around
Matt right now. His family loyalty bullshit is making me want to
punch him. Hard.”

“You know why,
Reina,” Nate tells her. “The last time he didn’t put his family
first, Miles was physically abused by their father. He still feels
guilty about that.”

“But what about us?
Not just me, but you guys, too. You’re his family. The one he
chose. How can he put all of us aside like we’re nothing to him?”

“He helped rescue
us.”

“Yeah, but he’s
going to fight you if it comes to it.”

“Then let’s pray it
doesn’t.”

“How were things at
the castle when you left?” I ask her, trying to change the subject.

“Everything seems to
be on track for the coronation. Derrick was acting a little
strange—on edge—but everyone else is just acting like it’s
business as usual.”

Derrick’s cracking. I
knew he would. I need him to in order for this to end. I just wish I
knew what he was going to do. He’s such a wild card that it could
be anything, because he’ll do
anything
to stop Brayden from being crowned.

“There’s still two
weeks before Brayden is crowned. We should be there as security. I
don’t trust the palace guards.”

“The ones Jen and I
distracted were pretty smarmy. That’s why we couldn’t keep them
away any longer,” Stella says.

“You did great. We
got out,” Aiden reminds her.

“They must be
Derrick’s. I know there are those who are loyal to Brayden’s
family, but the ones who are loyal to Derrick are the ones I’m
worried about,” I tell them,

“What would Derrick
have to gain by keeping Brayden from becoming king?”

“Everything,” Reina
answers for me. “Well, if he could get rid of Steven, too, that is.
I looked through quite a few books in the library while I was
ignoring Matt. I read all about their crazy laws and traditions. If
Brayden and Steven are out of the picture, Derrick could be named
king.”

“Son of a bitch. I
knew I didn’t like that guy,” Wayne says.

“Can you still hack
into the security system, Ainsley?”

“Sure.”

“Please do. If we can
at least have eyes on everyone, we’ll know if anything goes down.”

“I’ll start right
now,” she says, pulling out her new tablet.

Everything we had that
was given to us by the Society is useless now. They’ve cut us off
from most of our resources, but we still have each other, and I
wouldn’t count us out. We’re definitely a force to be reckoned
with.

“If you weren’t in
more trouble than me, you could apply for my job,” Reina tells me
with a laugh.

“Not hardly. No one
can do as good a job as you, and Jane knows it.”

“I’m not sure I
could work for them again, even if they did come to their senses.
What they did to you—it’s just wrong. So wrong. They’re not the
people I thought they were.”

“I feel the same,”
Faith says, and all of the other women agree as well.

“Thank you all for
the support, but we’ve done so much good. I want you to go back if
you get the chance. You don’t have to socialize with them, or even
be friends, but you can continue to do great things and save people.
That’s more important than me.”

“We’ll cross that
bridge when we come to it, but thank
you
for giving us the option to take an offer with a clear conscience if
we’re given one.”

“Of course.”

We work out a schedule
to monitor the security feeds of the castle once Ainsley is in the
system. I’m on late night duty, so I should take a nap. Instead,
I’m curled up on a lounge chair, staring out at the ocean, trying
to organize my thoughts.

“What can I do for
you, Darce?” Jade asks, coming to sit next to me.

“You don’t have to
do anything.”

“You stopped the man
I love from killing himself. I will be indebted to you for the rest
of my life.”

“When Nate finally
admitted that he loved you, I thought there might be hope for me to
find love, too.”

“And you did. It was
great to see you so happy with Brayden.”

“I wouldn’t call
falling in love with a man I can never have ‘great.’ I mean, it
was for the short time we had together, but I’m not sure I’ll
ever recover from it.”

“So what you’re
saying is that I need to get you lots of ice cream once we get back
home.”

“Do we have a home?”

“I honestly don’t
know, but we’ll still be friends no matter what. All of us will.”

“I think so, too.”

“Go take a nap and
stop worrying. We’ll see if something happens at the castle, and
we’ll all swoop in to save your prince.”

“He’s not mine.”

“Yes, he is. In every
way that matters, that man is yours. No matter what happens in the
future.”

I feel the tears coming
again, and I turn away. Jade moves over to my lounger, and hugs me as
I cry for the man I love, but can never have. I know she understands,
because she never thought she’d have Nate. Too bad I won’t get
the happy ending they did or even just the happy right now that I was
hoping for.

* * *

Brayden

I had to get out of the
palace. The walls were starting to close in on me. Noah offered to
walk with me, but I told him I just need to be alone. That’s not
true—what I need is to be with Darcy. We knew we didn’t have
forever, but we were supposed to have this time until my coronation.
Until everything fell apart.

“Brayden,” I hear
through the trees as I walk along the shore near Jen’s house.

I turn to see Jade
motioning me into the forest. I look around, and seeing no one near,
I follow her inside. “What are you doing here” I ask her.

“I saw you on the
security feeds, and came out to get you.”

“Security feeds? Are
you staying at Jen’s house?”

“Yes. We are.”

“Darcy?”

“She needs you.”

“I need her too. Take
me to her, please.”

“That’s the plan.
Just stick close to me in case we run into anyone.”

I follow her to the
side gate of Jen’s property. She uses some complicated hand, eye,
and fingerprint combination to open it, and then we walk into the
garden. Nate sees us, and immediately stands up. “What the fuck,
Angel?”

“She needs him,
Soldier.”

“You just show up
here and think it’s okay? Who else knows you’re here” he asks
me.

“I was actually just
walking on the beach when Jade found me, but you should know I can be
trusted. I helped break you out of the dungeon, for fuck’s sake.”

“You really didn’t
know we were here?”

“No. And my cousin’s
going to get an earful when I see her again. Now can I please go to
Darcy?”

“This isn’t a good
idea. She needs to get over you.”

“I know. But I don’t
think I’ll ever get over her, so I want to have as many memories as
I can to hold onto.”

Nate sighs with some
understanding, “She’s in the second door to the right when you
get to the top of the stairs.”

“Thanks.”

I practically run up
the stairs, waving at the other people I see. I don’t stop to look,
but I’m sure they’re shocked to see me. No one expected me to be
here. I didn’t expect to see them, either, but I’m not
complaining. Not when the woman I love is only a few feet away.