Hers To Keep (Servite Academy #2)

Chapter 37

Chapter

Thirty-Seven

SCARLETT

F ear is a strange emotion. It brings out the worst in some, yet others thrive off instilling it. The fast heartbeats, the unsteady breathing, the cold sweats, the aching chills, the hole it causes in your stomach that can only be filled by the soothing words of another. If you’re lucky.

It’s taunting, terrifying, and downright insulting.

It’s mocking, how the safety we may once have felt, the hope we may have just found, fools us into believing nothing will ever make us feel the wrath of all-consuming fear. That after the worst events we believed we could ever possibly face, there is still something much worse lurking around in the shadows, waiting to attack at the precise moment we feel a sense of peace.

Hope breeds eternal misery. Happiness breeds eternal discontent. But fear breeds eternal unease. The fear of the unknown, the fear of what’s to come, the fear of the truth.

I feel all of that right now. It floods my senses like nothing I’ve ever before experienced. The fear of once again hearing his voice, brings all the memories back to me. The horrendous feel of his hands on me, of his lips on mine.

“What, why are you here?” I stutter, standing and turning to face him. A wicked smirk appears on his face as I back away from him, hitting my back against Roman’s chest.

“Evangeline had a six-year-old daughter, Lilith, from a previous marriage,” he says, ignoring my question and jumping straight into Roman’s earlier statement. “My father had me and my sister Gianna, I was ten, my sister was five, and when he married Evangeline Steele, that’s when my father brought his family back to Hillcrest Hills. It had been almost seventy years since the Marchesi family set foot in Hillcrest. We were once again powerful. But our time here didn’t last long.” He moves to sit upon the chair I was on, as he continues to speak. “When I was thirteen, he sent me away. Now the head of the New York Branch of the Italian Mob on the West Coast, my father couldn’t deal with the fact that his eldest son was a psychopath. After all, you can’t have a psychopath as the head of a crime family. Like Roman said, when I came back after graduating, ready to prove to my father that I could take over his business, I realized they’d once again been sent away. What was worse, is what they had done to my baby sister, to my angel. The day I came back was the day my sister took her own life.”

A sense of dread fills me but not for him, but for Gianna. For whoever she was, and how she, like me, didn’t deserve the fate she was given. “You wanted revenge,” I say, understanding the meaning of his presence here.

“So, I created a new identity for myself and rejoined this world as someone else entirely. I became Professor Evan Macallan. Nobody here remembered me. They were all too young when I was sent away and those that would have remembered, never believed the prodigal son would return. I came to avenge my sister. Gianna was an innocent soul, a na?ve girl who fell for the wrong guy. But worst of all was betrayed by those she believed were her friends. You reminded me so much of her when you showed up that first day. As you walked into my class, with that lost look in your eyes. Your beauty took my breath away.”

His wanton gaze sends a frightful chill through me. “You infiltrated their kingdom, all the while plotting to destroy their world, the very world you became a part of.” His grin widens proving I guessed correctly.

“Sound familiar?” he asks, assuming that’s exactly what I’m doing. Infiltrating Ace’s world, all while planning its demise. My vengeance.

“What do you want from me?” I ask, standing and stepping toward him.

“I need you to help me bring down the Servites and all of those who have poisoned this town.”

I laugh, not because of his plan, which in a way sounds exactly like mine, but because he somehow thinks I’d be of help. “What could I possibly do to help?”

He stands, closing the space between us, my body shudders as he stops before me. “More than you’d think, Scarlett.”

“I won’t help you. You’re a mobster, you are no saint in all of this, you’re just as bad as he is, if not worse.” I back away but he moves to follow, crowding my space until I crash once again into Roman.

“My father is a mobster, my half-brother is at the helm of his corrupt empire, not me. My father had another son soon after sending me away. That is who will one day take his place at the front of the outfit. We are just a small branch on the West Coast. The main famiglia, The New York Marchesis are the ones in charge. My psychotic cousin Enzo will soon be at the helm of that empire, but that’s a story for another day. They want nothing from me, as I want nothing from them. My vengeance is here. I will bring down Wesley Servite and Lilith Steele and anyone else who stands in my way, including your little toy.” I freeze at the mention of Ace, my body stiffening with a mixture of dread and fear.

“Why would I ever help you? Especially after what you did to me. You drugged me, put your hands and mouth on me without my lucid consent. Took advantage of me while I was still a minor. Why the hell would I ever help you or believe anything you say?” Bile threatens to rise in my throat, the memory of what he did still so fresh in my mind. My anger threatens to erupt violently.

“You did what?” Roman shouts furiously. I’m not sure why, but I reach my arm out to grab him, holding him back, not allowing him to step toward Macallan. The last thing I need is for Roman to end up dead tonight.

“You’ll help me because you wouldn’t want anything to happen to your lover boy Ace,” Macallan sneers, but it only causes me to laugh, obviously irking him more.

“Nice try. Wesley has already threatened anyone and everyone who means something to me, you’ll have to try harder than that, Macallan, or should I call you by your birth name, Marchesi.”

“Only if I may call you by yours, Smoak.” I’m stunned that he knows about my father, but it doesn’t surprise me. Of course he knows. “But I don’t mean your friends any harm, my dear. Besides, I made a deal with Roman when he came to work for me, when he became a double agent of sorts, that his sisters would always remain unharmed.”

“Then why threaten Ace? What has he ever done to you?” I ask, but it comes out sounding more like a plea.

“I know about Wesley’s threat to hurt Ace were you to not comply with his demands. Personally, I don’t want to hurt Ace, not physically at least. But in order to bring down this corrupt kingdom, I need to make sure nobody will be here to take over once Wesley and his group of goons is gone, once this town is mine.”

His demeanor instantly changes, he’s now smugly grinning as if he’s won here. I won’t be easily convinced. I’ve been dealt a hell of a lot these past few weeks, I won’t be so easily coerced.

“How is Ace a threat to that? Ace hates his uncle, hates his father, and everything about this place. He’d never want to sit on the throne. ”

“Oh but I disagree, my dear. You see, something you may not know about your sweet Wallace is that he would do anything to see this town, his home, cleaned up and rid of all the evil that threatens to consume it. It is, of course, why he and his friends were created. They were all conceived to become the Four Horsemen. To rid the town of all the dangers that would threaten to destroy it, destroy them. But what they weren’t planning on was that he’d one day see right through their facade. After all, he’s not the monster he believes he was bred to be, he is the savior they mistakenly created.”

Macallan moves to a table located to his right where a decanter of sorts filled with what can only be red wine sits. He pours two glasses of the wine, turning and handing me one, which I reluctantly take.

“Ace would do anything to save me, to make sure I am not harmed,” I say, holding the glass of wine out, not daring to take a drink of the surely drug laced liquor.

“I’m counting on that, and on the fact that you’d do the same. You see, there is something you don’t know about the Servites. All first-born sons of the four families, previously five, are to be the next generation of leaders. Stephan Silver is at the head of the drug cartel along with Wesley Servite. Mayor Malcolm Smoak leads The Citadel, aiding the corruption flowing through the government officials. My father, Gabriel Marchesi, was in charge of organized crime while Prescott dealt with international alliances, other syndicates, and organizations worldwide that do business with Hillcrest, and Wesley, well although he thrives off of the drugs, his true pleasure is in The Gallows, prostitution. As you now know he has Lilith to help with that. The seven sins live inside the homes of Hillcrest’s Elite. They are the evil that must be destroyed.” He takes a drink of his wine motioning for me to do the same, but I refuse.

“I still don’t understand where Ace fits in all of that. When he discovered what really goes on at The Gallows, after that night you took advantage of me, he realized he wanted nothing to do with this world.”

“Yes, my dear, but that is not why I want to end him. Ace will soon realize the only way to rid this town of the evil here, will be to save it himself. I won’t allow that. I will be the one to save it, therefore the hero Hillcrest never knew they needed. Ace will not give up until I am defeated as well.” It all makes sense, but I refuse to believe Ace would want anything to do with this place.

“He’ll stay away if I ask, we’ll leave this place, never come back,” I say, practically begging for him to stand down and not hurt Ace.

“If it were only that easy.”

Rage rises in me, I’m tired of the grown ass fuckheads dictating what happens in my life. A life they have no fucking control over. “I won’t help you. I’m tired of cowering down to bullies who think they’re all powerful. To cowards hiding behind their influence and status. You don’t scare me, Marchesi.”

“I might not scare you, but I know something that will.” He walks over to me, dipping a finger into his wine and running it over my bottom lip. The wine is bitter as I close my lips over his finger, trying hard not to bite him. “There is a reason Warren Servite is not sitting on the devil’s throne, but it’s his much younger brother. The coward that is Warren Servite, is incapable of being in charge. Did your curious mind ever wonder why that is?” he asks, clearly not expecting an answer.

“No, but I’m sure you are dying to enlighten me.” I sneer.

He smiles, shifting his gaze to Roman who still stands speechless behind me. Fucking coward. “You’re funny, she’s funny,” he says to him. “I think I just might keep you at my side after all is done. Warren Servite was not man enough to be at the head of this corrupt empire, and I mean that literally. The first-born sons, who are chosen to lead, are also made to bear an heir to follow in their footsteps. To do their dirty work, while they keep their hands clean.” My eyes pale at his words. No, it can’t be. Panic threatens to consume me as I dread what is to come out of his mouth next .

“Ahh you are very smart, my dear. I see it in your eyes, you’ve figured it out. Warren Servite is sterile, incapable of having children, of producing an heir. Instead of having someone who was not of the original bloodline take over, therefore tainting the bloodline, Wren Servite, Warren and Wesley’s even more neurotic father, took matters into his own hands. He went and made a deal with the devil. He ordered his younger son to conceive a child with Warren’s wife Willa.”

There it is, the cold, ugly truth. The reason behind Wesley Servite’s blatant hatred toward Ace, his son.

“No, it can’t be true!” I shout, crushing the wine glass in my hand. The glass shards embedded in my palm sting horribly as the blood drips down on the floor mixing in with the red tint of the wine.

“Wallace and his twin sister Wynter are, in reality, Wesley Servite’s children. Children his brother raised as his own. After that Wren couldn’t have his eldest son lead, he was incapable of being the king his empire deserved. So instead he found a way to put Wesley in charge.”

“Ace doesn’t know?” I ask, but it sounds more like a statement. Of course he doesn’t know, he could never keep something like that from me.

“He won’t find out as long as you comply.” The ultimate threat. His assurance of my compliance.

Though I can't allow myself to keep falling victim to these blatant threats. If I do, then when will this end? “I can’t. I won’t,” I cry out, pushing him back as I try to rush toward the door, but Roman is quick to grab me tugging at me as I pound my bloody fist on his chest. He grips my arms forcing my back to his chest as he holds me toward Marchesi.

Marchesi runs his finger over my cheek, down my neck, and through the crease between my breasts. I stiffen against Roman, the ire in me halting as the fear of this man’s filthy touch paralyzes me. “What do you think would happen to Ace were he to find out that he's the son of the man he despises most in this world? How do you think he'd react? Would that be the last straw? The final push over the edge of the cliff, the final pull on his way down to hell?” His hot breath engulfs me as he whispers against my cheek. The deep rasp of his voice sends haunting shivers through me as the scruff of his chin rubs against mine. He places a soft kiss upon my cheek, my eyes closing, tears spilling out at the contact of his lips on me. “The devil is only as strong as his most loyal servant, but an angel betrayed by one, is destined to fall. Do you want to be the cause of his fall?"