Hers To Keep (Servite Academy #2)

Chapter 43

Chapter

Forty-Three

ACE

O ne Week Later

It’s been three weeks since the last time I saw Scarlett—since the last time anyone has seen her. I’ve been MIA hiding out here in Pleasant Hills with Maxwell, while Scarlett’s been staying at my family’s house, with my uncle Wesley.

According to Bass, she hasn’t been in school for three weeks. Her sister or friends have not seen her for three fucking weeks. Rage boils in my stomach, igniting everything within me. He’s fucking done what he always wanted—isolated her from everyone in her life, including me. It infuriates me that I can’t do anything about it yet. I am sitting here on my ass with my hands tied behind my back as she’s there with him, no doubt scared and losing her fucking mind.

The only reason I know she’s safe is because Remi and her sister Lexi, my allies on the inside of The Gallows, have assured me she is okay. They say she’s been holed up at Servite Manor, doing homeschool in the morning, then she’s taken to The Gallows for her shift every night of the week. Although The Gallows is only open Thursday to Sunday, they host private events the rest of the week. Her official position as the new madam, or Mistress of the Night, is keeping her busy.

Apparently, she’s been acting weird the last few days, seemingly on edge, more than usual. Remi swears she’s gotten comfortable in her position, but I know it’s only meant to seem that way. Luke’s been on her ass, following her every move, and to top things off today I found out something I am reluctant to believe, but I know it has to be true.

We’ve been betrayed. I’ve been betrayed. By my friend, my chosen brother—Aleksander Smoak.

“Betrayal from Wesley I would have expected. Honestly, I’d have seen it coming from anyone except one of my brothers.” Alek stands across from me, in the middle of the living room of the house Maxwell and I are staying at in Pleasant Hills. I asked him to meet me here when I found out from Remi what he’d done. She’d overheard Luke telling another one of my uncle’s parasites what Alek had done.

I’m surprised he actually showed up. It’s the least he could do after betraying me the way he did. Alek, my brother, one of my best friends, my fellow Horseman, warned my Uncle Wesley that my breakup with Scarlett was just a ploy, a distraction. He told him I was still obsessed with her like I’ve always been, and that Scarlett was infiltrating The Gallows, while I looked for a way to destroy it and him. I wouldn’t have cared if he’d thrown me under the bus the way he did, but that her life may now be in even more danger because of him, I don’t think I can ever forgive.

“I didn’t do it to betray you, Ace,” he says, the fear of what I might do to him is obvious on his face. “I did it because she doesn’t deserve to have your unconditional loyalty. She’s a fraud, a con just like her mother. She’s the one that betrayed you, repeatedly, using you for her own gain, can’t you see that.”

Fury rises within me at his words. That he’s trying to justify what he’s done is just irking me further. He has no idea what he’s talking about, has no fucking clue the shit she’s been through, the amount of threats that my uncle has spewed against her. How could he know if I never confided in him either? Though it was for fear of this exact thing happening.

“I don’t give a fuck what she’s done!” I shout, slamming my hands down on the table between us. Alek flinches at my action, and I know the only way he’d possibly understand is if I come clean and admit to him what I admitted to the others. “I love her, Alek. I fucking love her with every inch of my being, with every part of my heart and soul.” His face flashes with shock before being masked by fury at my words, his rage now matching mine.

I’ve always known Alek to be a classist. The beliefs his grandfather and father instilled in him, that those not of our equal social status are worthless, but this is so much more than her being poor or an orphan from the slums. This is jealousy, envy, resentment. Scarlett came from nothing and is receiving everything—admittance into our prestigious academy, a place at my side on my throne, but most of all, a prominent place in my Uncle Wesley’s empire.

He doesn’t understand what she’s had to go through, the trials and tribulations she’s had to endure in her past and since she’s arrived here. The evil she’s had to overcome. We’ve all had a fucked upbringing. Raised by adults who saw us only as soldiers, as robots not children. Yet Scarlett was completely alone, just her and Jade, until she found a family that we again took away. The only thing worse than never having a family, is to have one and lose them. And she’s lost them more than once at our hand.

He laughs sporadically as he paces the floor. “You can’t love her, don’t be fucking stupid, Ace. Do you want her? Yeah, sure I’ll believe that. I mean, why not, she’s hot, you’d be an idiot to not see it, but she doesn’t belong here. She’s not one of us!” His eyes turn glossy, covered in fury as he restlessly tugs at his long blond hair.

I march up to him, fuming at his insults toward her, as I grip his shirt by the neck, pulling him toward me. If only he knew she was more like him than any of us. “She belongs with us; she is more like us than your feeble mind could ever imagine.” The secret of her parentage hasn’t come out yet. Besides Scarlett, her father, mother, my uncle, Bass, and Jade, nobody else knows. Not Stella, not any of her other friends, not Beckett. I’m not even so sure Malcolm, his own father, knows Scarlett’s learned the truth of who she is. If he did, he would have already tried to get rid of her. She’s standing in the way of his son and daughter’s full inheritance.

What would have been split two ways, is now three. Silas knew, it’s why he put the clause in his will, and I believe it’s why he was killed.

I swore to myself I’d never spill that secret because not only is it not mine to share, and I know Scarlett wouldn’t want Alek to know. I’m sure she likes him as much as he likes her. Telling Bass and Jade was necessary because of their involvement in our plan, but Alek pissed me off. He needs to be put in his place, and that’s exactly what this truth bomb will do. Open his eyes to his idiotic beliefs. Beliefs we all had but must now get rid of.

“Please, because her mother used to live here once upon a time, because she’s your Uncle Wesley’s little plaything, because she now works for him,” he laughs mockingly and that’s when I finally decide I’ve had enough of his fucking narcissistic attitude.

I step forward and grip his shirt by the neck once again. “Because she’s a Smoak.” I tell him, releasing and shoving him back against the wall behind him. His eyes grow wide at my confession. They’re bloodshot, his body practically trembling in anger as he stares blankly at me, not moving, not speaking, completely and utterly stunned.

“What the fuck are you talking about?” he asks furiously, as he steps into me meeting my shrewd glare with one of his own. We now stand chest to chest. He’s shorter than me and definitely slimmer, but the way he’s staring at me, with a raging fury burning in his eyes, I know he’d probably get in a few good hits .

But I’m not here to fight him, that’s not why I told him.

“Scarlett Steele is, in reality, Scarlett Smoak. She’s your Uncle Maxwell’s daughter, she’s your cousin, Alek,” I state impassively, not giving further explanation.

“That’s fucking bullshit! My uncle Maxwell doesn’t have any children!” he shouts back, but the unease in his eyes makes me believe he knew his uncle had a child, just not that it was her.

“Not any he knew about, but your grandfather did. It’s why he put the clause in your inheritance, the clause your father’s been trying to find a way around for four years. That his three grandchildren wouldn’t get their inheritance till they turned eighteen or were all three reunited, whichever came first. It’s a long story and I won’t get into the gory details, not only because they aren’t mine to share but because it doesn’t change what’s true. Scarlett is the eldest of Silas Smoak’s grandchildren.”

He’s stunned and absolutely exasperated, not knowing where to turn, he drops onto the nearest couch beside us, his elbows resting on his knees, and his face buried desperately in his hands. “This can’t be true,” he mutters, under his breath.

“But it is,” Maxwell says, coming out of his office and walking over to where we stand. Alek lifts his head at the sound of his uncle’s voice. “Scarlett is my daughter, a daughter I didn’t know about until recently.”

Alek’s glare hardens as he stands and watches him approach us. “Wesley knows this?” he asks, his face now solemn instead of irate as he turns looking between the two of us. Like a little boy who just found out his favorite superhero isn’t real, or worse, that he’s the villain not the hero. I guess that’s exactly what has happened.

“He’s always known. Lilith is her mother and has worked for Wesley for years, they’ve known each other for longer. We all knew each other as kids, as teenagers. Wesley knew of Scarlett’s existence as it was their plan, after all, to make me father her child. Like Ace said, it’s a long story, but the point is Wesley and Lilith drugged me. Lilith was in love with me and hoped to tie me down with a child. Only I wanted nothing to do with her, and after a horrible tragedy occurred, her family was exiled from Hillcrest. She only came back years later to work for Wesley but hid in his club.”

I move to stand beside Alek, turning toward him. “He’s known this whole time, and never once did he tell you. We can’t trust him, Alek, we never should have. He’s a monster, this world we live in is sick and corrupt. His pretense of power he holds is nothing without us, his loyal soldiers, his devoted servants. We need to be the ones to put an end to this madness. To him and the corruption that flows through the streets of this city, our city.”

“I need to talk to him, to my father. I’m sure he has an explanation,” Alek says, moving and pacing frantically around the room.

Frustration is consuming my thoughts as Alek refuses to see this for what it is. “Can’t you see, Alek, what this world has done to us? I’m telling you he’s a vile monster, and you’re hoping to justify everything with an explanation. We’ve been his pawns this whole time. For someone who likes to be the one in charge, you sure are his most loyal puppet.”

“If we destroy this world, our world, what will we be left with, Ace? You think I don’t know that the shit he does is wrong, I’m not a fucking idiot. I’m not made to live a mediocre life. My sister would rather die than be without her luxurious way of life. I’m only looking out for our future. If I turn my back on him, on my father, it’s over for me. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

For the first time tonight, Alek’s solemn gaze is genuine. He fears for what his life holds once this world of ours crumbles away. His loyalty is because of fear, not because he believes in what my uncle does, but because he’s afraid of what will happen if he doesn’t. I get it, I’ve thought about it too. Who will we be after all of this is gone, where will we go? But the matter at hand will be much graver if we stand around and do nothing.

“We will ensure you keep your money, Alek. It’s not about losing everything. It’s about destroying what he built, what our parents, grandparents, our ancestors built. The depraved empire they’ve created. The inheritance your grandfather left is legit. He was a businessman—his mother’s family came from money. It’s just the blood money of our father’s that needs to be destroyed.”

Alek falls back onto the couch again, shaking his head in disbelief. He wants to believe me, to trust me. I can tell, but something holds him back. “What are we going to do against him, Ace? Be real here for a moment.”

I sit down beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Bass and Beckett are already on board. We have Maxwell on our side, and another accomplice who will help us take down Wesley. The only problem is once he helps us, we must also take him down.”

Maxwell moves to sit on the chair to our left as Alek reluctantly watches his uncle who I’m sure he hasn’t seen in years. Although Maxwell left Hillcrest and moved away leaving his place in this world behind, as children, Alek and Drea would vacation with him for the summer, a ploy by their grandfather Silas to lure him back to the family.

“Your grandfather made his fortune separate from this world, Alek. Silas was a part of all of this, but he wanted an out. That's why he was murdered.”

“What?” Alek asks, bewildered by Maxwell’s insinuation. Alek adored his grandfather and looked up to him in so many ways. I remember he was devastated after Silas murder, he didn’t speak for nearly a year.

I sit straighter, Alek’s gaze meeting mine. “Maxwell and I discovered it was Wesley who had him killed, and it was Lilith who pulled the trigger.”

One Week Later

Telling Alek that my Uncle Wesley was the one who devised the murder of his beloved grandfather was enough to get him to see things our way. He’s always known the extent of his corruption but seeing how he single-handedly went against a member of his own group of elitists was crossing the line. Wesley is a deadly disease that’s spread like a virus amongst all of Hillcrest and its surrounding towns. He must be stopped before there is no turning back.

Which brings us to today. It’s been about a month now since I last saw Scarlett. I’ve taken a leave of absence from school, and my duties as a Horseman. Let’s face it, I have far more important things I need to take care of. I’ve done my best to give her the space she thinks she needs to keep her safe and keep my Uncle Wesley’s suspicions at bay, all the while I figure out how to free her from all of this, and what exactly it was that made her run to him.

Maxwell has reached out to her a few times but has had no luck. She’s closed herself off from everyone, leaving the academy, holding up residence at my family’s home, avoiding anyone and everyone she ever cared for.

Jade’s gone ballistic, calling me every day, and coming down with Bass every weekend. She’s even gone as far as getting the damn dragon boy involved. He’s obviously furious that we let things get this bad but relieved she threw me to the curb.

Bottom line is that it’s too damn dangerous for us to be near her right now, especially after Alek told my uncle that Scarlett and I were still working together to bring him down. Wesley’s on high alert and if either of us steps foot in Hillcrest right now, we will be ambushed upon entry.

The guys and I sit in Maxwell’s living room which has turned into our new hangout spot on the weekends when they drive out to Pleasant Hills. According to them I’ve been insufferable the last month, sulking around, throwing, and breaking things right and left, and just snapping at any and everyone.

What the fuck do they expect? My girlfriend is in enemy territory, figuratively sleeping with the enemy, while another fucker is forcing her hand. All the while I sit here helpless and no closer to discovering a way to get her out of it.

“Where are we with tracking Marchesi's phone records?” I ask the guys, pouring myself another glass of bourbon. The cabin we’ve been staying in is nothing compared to our usual luxury dwellings, but we’ve managed. A fully loaded bar is one way we’ve kept sane. Have I mentioned I’ve adopted somewhat of a drinking problem now?

“Andre hacked into her prepaid cell phone using the chip you asked Remi to sneak onto her new phone,” Beck says, as he walks over to join me where I’m standing. Andre is the guy we use for all our tech shit. He’s a genius and certified underground hacker who’s a year behind us at the academy, but we keep him on our payroll for instances like this. He’s done everything for us from hacking into the phones we got Scarlett and her friends when they first arrived at the academy, to sending the fake blackmail message out to my uncle’s phone. “I told him to send the signal directly to your phone, so as soon as she gets any messages or calls, we’ll know.”

“According to Remi, Wesley hasn’t been around much, which is good news. If he’s not around her, at least things aren’t as dangerous for her,” Bass says, as he moves to grab a slice of pizza we just ordered for dinner. The living room of the cabin looks like what our dorm rooms first looked like when we started at the academy. Boxes of pizza and beer cans are lying around, and the intense smell of weed floats in the air.

But he’s right about what Remi says. She’s been my inside man, well in this case woman, for the last month. I’ve hired her to watch over Scarlett and report back any suspicious activity and/or problems she encounters with my uncle or any of the other patrons of The Gallows.

Seemingly, Wesley hasn’t been as eagerly pursuant of her in the last few weeks, and with her mother permanently gone from The Gallows, she’s been mostly alone. She’s made somewhat of an unlikely friendship with Remi and her sister Lexi and has been focusing mainly on making sure the girls are not being taken advantage of. Remi says she’s trying to convince them they deserve better, and they need to leave. She doesn’t have any official role there other than being his new Mistress of the Night, which is just a title for his latest madam. She’s just his arm candy, the trophy he has hung up on his wall behind a glass window.

But at least the bright side to that is she’s untouchable.

I nod my head relieved that I’ll at least have some answers soon, but not where they are needed. “Yeah, well, we’re no closer to cracking down on Marchesi, so that means nothing to me,” I groan as Maxwell enters the room to join us at the same time someone pushes the front door open.

Jade, Kai, and the damn Dragon himself come barging inside like it’s no fucking problem. Jade waltzes in like she owns the place, her usual fuck you attitude, and loathing glares directed at us as she settles down on the couch beside Bass wiggling her ass and making herself comfortable. However, it’s the Dragon who comes straight for me with Kai closely behind him. Glaring daggers in my direction, he steps eagerly toward me but doesn’t make it far before Beck and Alek move to stand guard before me.

“What the fuck are you doing here?” I shout, my anger directed at Jade who sits on the couch helping herself to the pizza we just ordered, still sitting warm on the coffee table. She’s the only one that knew where the safe house was, meaning she led them here. “I knew we should have placed a bag over your head so you wouldn’t know where you were going,” I groan, as she flips me off, ignoring me and biting into the slice of pepperoni.

“You’re lucky we haven’t come here sooner. Jade said we had to sit back and wait, apparently you had things handled,” Drake says, as he steps in closer pushing through Alek and Beck but not getting any closer to me. Fury rages in his eyes as he watches me, a look of disgust visible in his stare. “Well, I’m done fucking waiting around. It’s been a month since Scarlett’s gone missing, and you fucking dumb fuckers have yet to get her back!”

“You watch your fucking tone, Dragon,” Alek sneers, stepping toward him, grabbing him by the neck of his shirt. Drake doesn’t cower down or even flinch at Alek’s feeble grip on him, dude’s a fearless fighter. I’ve heard from a few of our guys he’s been coming down to Pleasant Hills weekly and is back in their underground cage fighting scene, where apparently he’s undefeated.

“Back off, bitch, if I’m not mistaken, you’re the one who should watch your back. You’re the traitor, right?” Alek’s body stiffens at Drake’s comment. I mean he’s not wrong, but I’ve put Alek’s indiscretion behind us as long as he swears from here on out, he’s done with Wesley.

“Enough, both of you,” I demand, pouring another glass of bourbon and handing it to Drake. He stares down at my hand reluctantly. “Take it, you fucking need it.”

I move around them, sitting back on the couch beside a very uneasy Maxwell, who’s been watching this unfold before him.

“Maxwell, this is Damon Drake and Malachi Saint, your daughter’s foster brothers. Boys, this is Maxwell Smoak.” Both Drake and Kai look to Maxwell but not with a look of surprise or shock at my admission. “Evidently Jade’s informed them of your relationship to Scarlett,” I say, glaring at her.

“What, they needed to know,” she scoffs, rolling her eyes. “You try not telling these possessive fuck heads anything about where she’s been for a fucking month. They’re relentless.”

“It doesn’t matter what she told us, what I want to know is why the fuck haven’t you gotten her out,” Drake snarls, and I’ve just about had it with him.

“You two might want to sit down for this.” They reluctantly agree while Beck and Alek move out of the way, heading over to the bar behind us, letting Drake and Kai sit on the couch across from me. They want to know what’s been going on, well then, they’re about to find out everything .

They watch me with deep hooded eyes, confusion clear on their faces as I tell them the same fucked up story I told Bass and Jade. The long history between Lilith, Wesley, and Franco Marchesi. Who Marchesi was pretending to be, and of course why he’s blackmailing Wesley. A look of shock and disbelief flickers across their eyes.

“So, what does all of this have to do with Scarlett now working at The Gallows?” Drake asks, confused.

“Bottom line is that Wesley and Lilith are responsible for the death of Marchesi’s sister Gianna.” Drake’s eyes show no reaction after what I’ve mentioned.

But beside him, I can tell Kai has caught on to what I’m saying. “That’s the secret he’s afraid will come to light. Because of them, a woman took her life,” Kai mutters, not sounding so convinced.

“Not just any woman. A sixteen-year-old girl, daughter of Gabriel Marchesi, the head of a branch in the Italian Mob here on the west coast. Because this secret was the one the blackmailer was threatening to expose, my uncle first believed that Lilith was the one who was behind it. Then he moved on to suspect Maxwell, because of his parentage of Scarlett and the fact that he was also involved in the tragedy that led to her death. It’s when he brought Scarlett to Hillcrest Hills, more specifically to Servite Academy—to keep her close in case he needed her as leverage over his blackmailer.”

“But how did he know where to find her?” Drake asks, after gulping down the bourbon I poured him. I told him he’d need it.

I sit forward, my elbows resting above my knees as I watch them try to take in all the information I’ve thus far presented. “He’s always known. Lilith has always worked for my uncle, and when she was being chased down for killing the Mayor of Hillcrest, Silas Smoak, which Wesley sent her, and Jade’s father to do, he found Scarlett. He then coerced Beckett’s Aunt Elena, who was his ex-girlfriend, to transfer the girls to a foster house nearby where he could monitor them, in case they ever turned against him. Then years later when the blackmailing started, he brought her to the academy to keep her as leverage. But his obsession soon turned dark, and I don’t know what his endgame is now.”

Drake stands, slamming his empty glass on the coffee table before us. “But this still makes no sense, why is Scarlett there at that filthy fucking place?”

I stand to meet him and his angry stare. “Marchesi ambushed her the night my uncle blew up our cabin hoping to take us down with it. He somehow convinced her to work for him and infiltrate The Gallows in order to find the evidence needed to bring Wesley down. You may be surprised to find out my uncle has an array of illicit businesses and activities he needs to pay for.”

“No shit, this shit goes way deeper than we could have ever fucking imagined,” Kai says, worriedly rubbing his hand over his jaw.

“So Scarlett is supposed to find this evidence? Isn’t that fucking dangerous?” Drake growls.

“This ledger contains all Wesley’s client’s names that would surely burn this world to the ground. But she hasn’t found it yet, or he hasn’t asked her to. We have to wait till she gets her hands on it. Without it we don’t have a way to stop my uncle. I have a girl on the inside of The Gallows who’s keeping an eye on her and reporting everything back to us. Soon we’ll know what comes next.”

Drake laughs nervously pacing around us. “How can you just sit around and wait? I thought you loved her. What if Wesley finds out what she’s up to?”

I rush him, taking a fistful of his shirt in my hands and dragging him toward the wall behind him. I only slam his back against it because of the element of surprise, but the asshole is quick to recover.

“Don’t ever fucking question my love for her, Dragon.”

The phone suddenly rings, startling us all and I quickly let go of him, rushing over to answer it pulling it to my ear. My hands fist at my sides as I hear Marchesi’s voice come through, as he asks her to find the ledger hidden in my uncle’s office at The Gallows.

After a few minutes I hang up, every glare in the room directed at me, a mixture of anger, worry, and frustration coming across.

“He’s asking her to get it tonight, that means we need to act fast. Once it’s in her hands I’m breaking her out of there. I don’t care who I have to go through, she’s coming home with me.” I shoot Remi a quick text letting her know what’s about to go down.

Me: I need her watched at all times, and I need you to tell me as soon as the ledger is in her possession.

I look up at the group before me, every one of them here to make sure this ends. To save our Scarlett from the devil’s clutches.

“This ends tonight!” I shout as I turn and look up to them. “I’m going to The Gallows, and I’m coming home with my girl. But I need to go alone.”