Hers To Keep (Servite Academy #2)

Chapter 29

Chapter

Twenty-Nine

SCARLETT

D ark skies wake from their deep slumber above me, thick clouds hovering like a heavy blanket warding off the sunlight as it fiercely fights to be seen in the sky, all the while a thick haze shields everything else in sight making the mood unnervingly ominous. As if the thick fog wasn’t a bad enough omen, a flock of black crows storms out of the tree ahead of me scaring the shit out of me as they caw loudly and aimlessly take flight. Like a frightening nightmare, their squawking heeds a warning of what’s coming.

The brief moment between night and day, haunting me as I head to what could be my impending doom. Grave and unfamiliar sights appear before me as I head toward the back of the property at The Smoak’s Estate, where Wesley Servite has ordered I meet him.

I snuck out of bed this morning before Ace woke up, but I’m sure I have no less than an hour head start on him. Last night we agreed we’d come together, but once again Servite’s threat plays endlessly on a loop in my mind. He’s like a parasite I can’t get rid of, relentlessly imbedding himself into my life, his threats tirelessly reverberating in my subconscious, my consciousness, and every other plausible thought. He’s in my dreams, in my nightmares, and in my reality all the same. He’s sick and perverse, a cruel monster whose maliciousness knows no bounds. It was one thing to threaten my friends and me, but to threaten his own nephew, his own blood. It’s beyond anything I thought him capable of.

Then again, he now has my mother at his side, and she is capable of anything.

The little charade we played out in front of everyone last night was just that, an act. I told Ace that Wesley wanted me to come out to meet him, that he had been watching me and I suspected Alek was the one who was feeding him information about what I was doing, what we were doing. It was Ace’s idea to stage a fight between us in front of Alek in case he was to go with the gossip to Servite.

So that’s what we did. Staged a fallout, but in the end, the fear of his looming threat on Ace brings me here to meet him alone.

The driver Wesley sent for me dropped me off at the back gate of this ominous estate just moments ago. I continue my walk down the cobblestone path leading to the woods behind the Smoak’s Estate. I’ve never set foot here, which is why Ace practically begged to come with me.

Even though our charade last night was just for show and things have gotten better between us, a small part of me still feels wary.

What if what I heard him and Carrington speak of is true, and he’s once again lied to me? Once again tricked me into believing this connection between us is true. He practically told me he loved me. Worst of all, I feel like I almost said it back, but he told her another thing. He told Carrington it was all part of this master plan, and even though at this point I know not to believe everything I hear, since in this place not all is as it seems, it still hurts. I couldn’t deal with another one of his pitiful explanations.

I’m here to find out for myself what Servite wants.

The property is unnervingly quiet, only sounds heard are those of the wind gusting through the trees and small animals rustling around in the woods. The Smoaks literally live in the middle of the woods. Nothing but tall trees with scarce leaves, and overgrown grass and shrubs lie before me. My body trembles as my footsteps heave me toward a large metal shed with no windows, just a door in the middle of the front wall. The fear of what’s coming is overpowering my senses. I reach the front door, my fingers shakily grasping the knob, when I feel a presence behind me. The hairs on the back of my neck rise, my skin instantly covered in goosebumps as I feel a hot breath against my neck.

“Hello, angel,” he hisses against the skin of my nape. I close my eyes, biting my tongue to stop myself from turning and running away, or worse, turning and punching him across the jaw. It’s not like I’d even get a hit in. I’m sure he’s prepared, expecting it even. “Go on, open the door, we’ve been expecting you.”

I hastily move to turn the knob, pushing the door open and finding the other half of this unruly pair standing in the middle of the dimly lit room waiting. She’s once again impeccably dressed in a black low-cut jumpsuit, her dark hair slick straight and ending just above her shoulders. Looks nothing like the woman I thought I knew. Her skin flawless, her eyes full of life. Unlike me. I know I must look like a mess as her eyes roam over me dressed in jeans and an oversized hoodie. I tried my best to look unattractive, knowing Wesley would be here. Although he’s never tried anything with me, and swears he wants nothing to do with me, I’m now eighteen, and no longer forbidden. Although I’m not sure it would have mattered to him.

Yes, I’m now eighteen. How ironically fitting that they’d call me here, the morning of my eighteenth birthday. The same day four years ago I saw him for the first time, and her for the last .

“So glad you could join us, daughter,” my mother says as I approach her. I make it halfway to her before stopping at a metal chair on my right, refusing to go any closer. “I must say I doubted you’d show, but Wesley assured me he’d threatened you wisely, given you’re quite fond of his nephew. Rightfully so, the boy is a vision,” she adds, walking closer to me.

“Yes, I guess it’s true. Our physical beauty is perfected with every incoming generation,” Wesley says, and her body stiffens at his comment. Wesley’s insinuating that I have outdone my mother’s beauty, just as Ace has to his father. The narcissistic bitch doesn’t seem so happy about that.

I step back slowly, wanting to retreat to the safety of Ace’s arms at the beach house where I should have stayed, but crash into Wesley’s chest behind me. I’m stuck between the devil and his mistress, the mother of demons, and the prince of darkness. Between the queen and the king of hell with no way out. Why did I come here alone?

I let my fear of Wesley’s threats against Ace get the best of me, and now I’m here in danger once again, all on my own.

He’s right, every day I’m even more fucking stupid.

“Why am I here?” I yell, looking between the two of them. “What do you want from me?”

Wesley, who is also impeccably dressed in his usual all black suit, his hair slightly longer around the edges, and scruff darkening his angular jaw, grins menacingly, surely sensing my unease. In any other circumstance his beauty would intimidate me, but the only thing I feel when I look at him is an unfathomable hatred and disgust.

“Please have a seat,” he says, motioning to the chair beside me.

“I’d rather stand,” I answer back, holding my ground. He walks towards me, placing his hands upon my shoulders, guiding me toward the chair.

“I said sit,” he demands, as I drop into the chair with a thud. He walks around me grabbing another chair placing it in front of me. He unfolds the metal chair, sitting and crossing his leg over the other, his eyes never once straying from mine, as I watch him intently. My mother stands behind him and places her hands upon his shoulders, but he is quick to shrug them off, leaving her scowling angrily at his bold movement.

“I want you to come work for me,” he says, cutting straight to the point. “To work for us.” My mother rolls her eyes at his remark, while I laugh hysterically at his demand. But his expression remains blank as he continues. “You’re eighteen now, Happy Birthday by the way, not that it would matter if you weren’t. You are, which means, it’s time for you to join your mother in her line of work.”

I look up at Lilith whose expression shows hints of jealousy and disdain. “Is she no longer bringing in the money you were hoping for? Has your prized madam passed her prime?”

His grin widens, a chuckle escaping him as she scoffs, turning away from us. “My, this girl has a spine, Lil. If you were anything like her in your youth, things might have ended differently for you.” She walks back over to us a glass of liquor in her hand, drinking it and disregarding his comment. “But no, you see Lilith has graduated from her prior position and is now working elsewhere, as you’ve discovered. Good work by the way.”

“I guess you should be careful who you tell your secrets to. You trust so easily Wesley,” I say, only amusing him further.

“This is why I like her,” he says, talking to my mother, his stare remaining on me. “I need you to come work with me at The Gallows.”

“Why would I ever work for you in a place like that? It’s sickening, disgusting, the depravity of what you do.”

“That’s exactly why I want you to come work for me. You see The Gallows allows our guests to give in to their darkest, forbidden desires. It feeds the beast within all of us, allowing it to come out to play in a healthy manner. I can assure you my girls are all there by their own free will, highly compensated, and none are more than six months shy of eighteen. Not to mention I ensure they’re never physically touched. It is strictly forbidden that our guests put so much as a finger on our younger girls,” I scoff, rolling my eyes at the indignity of the lies he spews.

“Please, don’t try to fool me with your lies. I’ve been there, seen it with my own eyes, and witnessed it first-hand.”

“Trust me, he will be dealt with for disobeying the rules of The Gallows and laying a hand on you,” he adds, referring to Professor Macallan. “Had I known that would happen I never would have sent you, but this is why I want you to come and work alongside the girls. Working for me, you’d be in charge of their wellbeing.”

“Their madam?”

“Think of it as the head of human resources, in charge of the employees and speaking for their needs on their behalf.”

“You genuinely believe what you’re doing is not immoral?”

“Darling,” my mother says, moving to sit on Wesley’s lap. Her fingers caress his chin, as she places a soft kiss upon his lips. I cringe internally at the sight of them before me. “Wesley is no saint, and he is well aware of his wickedness, but the world is overcome with sin, sinners drowning in their endless depravity, so you either curse it or revel in its privileges.”

“This is where you’d come, isn’t it?” I ask, looking up at her. “When you’d disappear for days at a time, you’d come to Hillcrest, to The Gallows?”

“I had a job to do,” she says, not adding any further explanation.

“You see, your mother actually found herself in a predicament quite like yours. She also fell in love with a boy who was no good for her. He didn’t feel the same way about her and that made her furious.”

“Enough, Wesley!” my mother shouts, standing up abruptly.

“Oh no, please don’t end story time now. I can only imagine we’re getting to the good part,” I mutter sarcastically.

“Yes, Lilith, don’t interrupt. You see this boy loved another. A sweet, angelic, and innocent soul. She was perfect in every sense of the word. Lilith hated her. She was everything she wasn’t, and Lilith wanted everything she had. She was willing to get it no matter the costs.” My mind is reeling at his words.

“How long have you known my mother?” I ask, afraid of the answer.

“Oh, we go way back, but don’t interrupt my story, I’m only getting to the good part. You see, Lilith wanted this man more than she’d ever wanted anything, and she knew there would be only one way she’d trap him for good,” he pauses, the anticipation and fear, making me tremble in my seat. “A child,” he says, and my heart nearly stops.

A child. As in a daughter. As in me.

“What do you mean?” My gaze quickly moves from Servite to my mother. “You told me you didn’t know my father. That he was just some addict you fucked in a college bar.”

“Lilith, I must say your imagination is ever so extreme.”

She rolls her eyes moving to stand between us. “Your father is alive and well, and according to Wesley, he’s been blackmailing him.”

My father is alive.

The news hits me like an ice-cold bucket of water, my body now fully shivering uncontrollably, but the fear of what I so deeply wished wasn’t true calms me slightly.

“For a moment there I was afraid you were going to tell me this monster was my father,” I say pointing at Wesley. They both start laughing hysterically, finding my assumption hilarious.

“Oh God, no! Can you imagine us having a daughter?” he asks, as my mother once again sits upon his lap.

“You could have fooled me, look at you two,” I say motioning between them, as he places a chaste kiss upon my mother’s bare shoulder.

“No, Lilith and I, we’re nothing but old friends. Please, my darling, I am a sick man, I am corrupt, and cruel. A devil, a monster, whatever it is you call me. I’ll admit I am a hot-blooded man, I might have fantasized about you, once or twice. I’m not ashamed to say the least. I mean look at you—you, my dear, are a true vision. But if I were your father, if I even for a second suspected it could be true, I’d never lay a finger on you let alone a wanton glance.” I exhale the breath I was holding in, grateful this monster is nothing of mine, but sickened by their interaction and his admission.

“Wait, but what do you mean he’s blackmailing you?” I ask confused, referring to my mother’s earlier comment.

“You were right to assume that your being here was no coincidence. You, my darling Scarlett, were brought here for a reason. And no, not for whatever sick and twisted reason you’ve concocted in your mind. I brought you here because someone was, is, blackmailing me. It might come as a surprise that I’ve done some questionable things. I run some illicit businesses and am a part of some less than legal affairs, but this person knows of something only two others know.”

“Three.”

“Well, yes, but the third person is no longer with us,” he says, looking up and blessing himself with the sign of the cross. “Bless her soul,” he says, and I laugh at the irony of the devil blessing himself with the holy trinity. I guess it isn’t at all ironic. He scowls at my laugh, but continues speaking, ignoring me. “Because of this I believed it was your mother who was blackmailing me, given the fact she was on the run and probably in need of money—which is why I took you out of that peasant home and brought you here. Although, I believed you’d be more susceptible to orders, knowing you were Lilith’s daughter, I should have expected no less.”

“It clearly wasn’t, isn’t, her who’s blackmailing you or I doubt she’d be standing here beside you looking so put together.”

“I was using you to lure her out, but when I realized it wasn’t her, I knew it could only be one other person. That and Lilith confessed to me that Silas Smoak, who as you know your stepfather murdered in cold blood, was planning on ousting us as well. I knew it had to be him though. How is your stepfather by the way?” he asks mockingly.

“Who is blackmailing you?”

“Your father.” I sit stunned by his response, having only now found out he’s still alive.

“Yes, I lied about how you were conceived,” my mother says. “I actually knew your father very well. I loved him. He was everything I wanted. He was gorgeous and smart, from one of the five prominent families of Hillcrest Hills. He was the perfect man.”

Wesley laughs. “Except he wanted nothing to do with you.”

“Semantics.”

“Who is he?” I ask now, furious at their avoidance. But they enjoy the game they’re playing.

“So eager, young one. Get comfortable, you’re in for a treat. When we were younger, we were all part of the same group of friends, your mother, your father, his girlfriend, me, and a few others you already know. But you see, just as Lilith was in love with him, I was in love with his girlfriend, Gianna. She was the perfect girl I was telling you about. Gianna was pure and beautiful, an angel who graced this world.”

“She was a stuck up, goody two shoes bitch,” sneers my mother.

“Semantics,” he answers back. “So we played a little game to get them to see they were no good for one another.”

“We used a little Devil’s Kiss, which was only in its early stages of production to make your father more susceptible to suggestion.”

“Who is my father?”

“Smoak. Maxwell Smoak. Silas Smoak’s youngest son. Malcolm Smoak’s younger brother. Alek and Drea’s Uncle Max. You, my dear, are a Smoak.”