Broken Legacy: Dark Legacy Book Three

by Eve, Jaymin

  “Cute. You’re lucky Beck takes his coffee the same as me.” I snickered, taking a long sip of the coffee and groaning. “This is definitely not hospital coffee.”

  Jasper grinned. “It is when you own the hospital.”

  I gasped and almost choked on a mouthful of my black coffee. “Holy shit, I’m so sorry. Your dads...”

  Jasper’s comment about owning the hospital had reminded me that there were a shit load of casualties from Catherine’s desperate attempt at a coup. Casualties which left my friends sitting on the board of the world’s most powerful company.

  What I wouldn’t give for a “normal” company structure where crap like blood heirs didn’t play a part in who held power.

  “No need to be sorry,” Evan told me. “The world is better off without those miserable bastards.”

  Still, now that I looked closer, Jasper held a thin air of sadness about him that suggested he wasn’t entirely glad to see his father in the ground.

  “Is Eddy okay? They didn’t hurt her, did they?” Fear rose back up in me, and my eyes darted to the door as though I expected my sassy girl friend to come waltzing in at any second. If she was okay, that was.

  Jasper nodded. “Yeah, we sent Dante a warning, and he got her out just before Graeme’s goons showed up. He’s keeping her safe until the media circus dies down a bit.”

  Evan piped up. “Thankfully my sister was away at her fancy mountain yoga retreat when Catherine’s hired guns showed up at the dorms.”

  Thank, fuck.

  All of this was a lot to wrap my brain around, so I took another sip of coffee while I processed. “So you guys are Delta now. Like, for real. How does it feel?”

  Jasper and Evan exchanged another one of those infuriating looks, but didn’t get a chance to answer me when the door burst open and Dylan staggered in with Beck close behind him.

  “Hey, you,” I greeted him, mustering up a warm smile. It wasn’t too hard given how much those few sips of coffee had cheered me up already. Oh, and the fact that they were all alive seemed to help too.

  “Riles,” he breathed, his voice pained and his face drawn. “I thought...” he trailed off, shaking his head and dropping his gaze to the floor. Straight up, Dylan looked like shit. As far as I could tell, he hadn’t slept in days, and his suit was still torn and stained with blood.

  “I’m fine,” I promised him. “Thanks to someone’s sneaky trick with invisible body armor.” I shot a look at Beck, who still looked totally unapologetic. “Same goes for you four.”

  Dylan sucked in a deep breath, his brow furrowing as he looked back up at me. He opened his mouth to speak, but no sound came out. I waved at him to come closer, and his feet practically dragged as he made his way across to me.

  “Hey, Dylan,” I said, my voice soft and private. “I’m okay. We’re all okay.” I reached out and took his hand with mine. In my peripheral, I noticed the other guys quietly leave the room. Even Beck.

  When Dylan didn’t respond, didn’t even look at me but squeezed my fingers tighter, I tugged on his hand.

  “Come here,” I ordered. “You look like you need a hug as badly as I need to give you one.”

  He let out a short, bitter laugh but perched on the edge of my bed and wrapped his arms around me. We stayed like that for a little while, until I wrinkled my nose and whispered in his ear. “Now that you know I’m okay, it’s probably time to shower. You smell like death.”

  Dylan started laughing then. A genuine laugh touched with an edge of hysteria and a healthy dose of relief. I laughed with him, until his turned into sobs, and then I just held him. He was Beck’s best friend, but he was quickly turning into one of mine too. I knew where he was at. The floodgates had opened, and he just needed to work through it. So I just held onto him and let him cry.

  Through the window to my room—the one looking out into the hospital ward—I met Beck’s eyes, and he gave me a short nod of approval.

  32

  Epilogue

  The engine in my brand new Butterfly purred beneath me as I rolled up to the starting line, her nose kissing the chalk mark. I caressed her sleek leather steering wheel before killing the engine and popping my door open to get out.

  “Riley Jameson, as I live and breathe. When I got the call to say you were racing tonight, I thought someone was pranking me.” Rabbit whooped with excitement, smiling from ear to ear as he held out a palm for me to slap.

  I grinned just as wide, unable to hide my excitement. “I wouldn’t miss this for the world, Rabbit. You know that. No punk ass bitch is stealing my Widowmaker crown just because I was too busy pushing papers around a desk.”

  Rabbit hooted a laugh and clapped me on the back before someone shouted his name from across the impromptu gathering of cars. “Gotta go schmooze the fans, girl. Gimme a sec.”

  He started to leave, and I grabbed his arm. “Wait, where are the other racers?” I arched a brow at the chalked line with only my car—my new Butterfly—sitting on it.

  Rabbit grinned broadly. “Only one other racer this time, Riley-girl. Everyone else bailed the fuck out when they heard you were racing.” He glanced at his expensive—probably stolen—watch and shrugged. “Dude’s got another five minutes to get here, otherwise I’ll have to take you on myself. And neither of us wants that.” He winked, and I laughed.

  “Yeah, because that’d be embarrassing as shit when I leave you for dead,” I commented, and he just shrugged with another laugh as he headed over to the guy who’d called out his name.

  For a quick moment, I was alone.

  All around me, people were chatting, music was playing, engines were revving, and the air smelled of that heady mixture of gasoline, exhaust and beer. It was my happy place.

  “What are you thinking about with that silly smile on your face, girl?” Eddy asked, slipping her arm around me in a hug as she arrived.

  I hugged her back then did the same to Dante as he reached out to me. “Just excited,” I told her honestly. “It’s been too long, and this girl needs a proper run.” I patted the hood of my shimmering lilac Aston Martin Valkyrie. It was the first real expensive thing I’d bought for myself after inheriting the majority shares in both Militant Delta Finances and Huntley Corp.

  Turned out that Graeme had left everything he owned to Catherine, and she’d died without a will at all. Typical fucking Catherine, thinking she was invincible.

  After Richard abdicated his seat on Delta board, it all passed to me. I was now stupid rich, stupid powerful, and stupid overprotected. It’d taken freaking weeks of planning to sneak out for this race without my bodyguards or the guys finding out.

  “You didn’t tell them anything, right?” I blurted out, giving Eddy a nervous look.

  She gasped. “Of course not. You know my loyalty lies only with you. It’s on them if they got outsmarted into losing you for a night.”

  Dante snickered a mean laugh, and I whacked him with the back of my hand. “Hey, don’t act superior. You’re only here because you know you can’t stop me.”

  “No,” he replied. “I’m here because I know you’re a badass that can handle this course and would never tell you what you can and can’t do. Unlike some.”

  I rolled my eyes at his not so subtle dig at Beck’s overprotective nature. The ten months of “peace” since the massacre in Delta’s office hadn’t really seen Dante and Beck getting along any better, but now that Eddy and Dante lived together things were reaching more of a truce.

  “Reckon this guy is going to show?” I asked them both, casting my eyes around the crowd and trying to work out if it was someone I already knew. It’d been a while since I’d raced, though, and new people were constantly popping up.

  “He’d be an idiot not to,” Dante commented with an odd tone, and I gave him a suspicious look. “I just mean, missing the chance to race against the legendary Butterfly herself? Who knows when you’ll next manage to escape your jailers long enough for a race. Right?”

  Something abo
ut the way he said it felt false, but I was too hyped up for the race to call him on it.

  “They’re not my jailers,” I muttered, unable to resist defending my guys. “We’ve just had a whole lot of shit going on, you know? Legitimizing Delta’s businesses without putting thousands of people out of work hasn’t been super easy.”

  “We know,” Eddy said, shooting Dante a warning glare and linking her arm back through mine. “Dante’s just got old habits that are dying hard. Aren’t they, love?”

  Dante just rolled his eyes and muttered something we couldn’t make out before heading over to talk to Rabbit.

  Eddy sighed as she watched him go, but it wasn’t a frustrated sigh. It was more of a hopelessly in love sort of sigh, and I smiled. It was nice to see the two of them so loved up with each other. God knew I had my work cut out trying to find girlfriends for Evan, Jasper and Dylan. If for nothing else but to give them something to do with their spare time, aside from stalk me.

  “Ooooh, shit,” Eddy breathed, looking over my shoulder. The sexy, thrumming purr of a sports car engine told me that my competitor had just arrived, so I turned to see who it was.

  “Wow,” I blurted. “Is that a Koenigsegg CCXR Trevita?”

  Eddy snorted. “Like I’d know. But it’s gorgeous, whatever it is.”

  My eyes scanned over the sleek black sports car with fully tinted glass and edgy design, and I let out a little groan. “Oh my god, it is. Eddy, those things cost twice what I paid for Butterfly 2.0. I didn’t even know they were available.”

  “Who is it, do you think?” My friend replied, squinting to try and see the driver.

  Just then, one of Rabbit’s girls strutted out in hot pants and high heels, flipping a flag back and forth between her hands.

  “Guess we’ll find out at the finish line.” I shrugged. “Doesn’t matter anyway, he’ll be coming in second.” I shot Eddy a cocky wink and slid back behind the wheel of my car, clicking on my racing harness—a feature I was all too happy to include in the custom specs, thanks to my recent accidents—and hit the ignition.

  I flicked a glance over at my competition, but couldn’t make out much more than a silhouette. Not that it mattered. It was probably some rich kid who’d just gained access to a trust fund and went out looking for a thrill ride.

  A camera flashed somewhere on the sidelines and lit up his car just enough that I saw his head turn toward me, like he was eyeing me up the same as I was to him.

  Good. Because the second the flag fell, he’d only be seeing my tail lights.

  The girl in hot pants raised her flag in the air then paused and gave us both a long look to make sure we were paying attention and ready. Just for fun, I revved my engine. The Koenigsegg revved back, and I grinned. Maybe he’d be good enough to make it a fun race.

  No time like the present to find out. The flag dropped, and we both shot off across the starting line like bullets from a gun.

  It only took a few minutes for me to work out that not only was my competition serious about winning this race, he was also good. Really fucking good.

  Excitement ran through me, fueling my every move, every gear shift and every intercept as he tried to pass me on wide patches of road. But shit if he was making me work for my tiny lead.

  Either I was rustier than I’d given myself credit for, or this asshole was the best driver I’d faced yet.

  Taking another tight corner, he laid on the accelerator harder than I’d ever consider safe or sane but it saw him pulling level with me, then inching ahead.

  “Oh no,” I muttered under my breath as I held tight to the inside lane and pushed my Butterfly harder, faster. “Not today, motherfucker. Not. Fucking. Today.”

  But no matter how hard I tried, I simply couldn’t shake him. He stuck with me, either riding my bumper or edging up beside me the whole freaking course until we hit the long straight to the finish line. With barely a few feet separating us, and no corners to slow us down, this would be a clear test of speed.

  Heart pumping so hard it hurt, I slammed my foot down on the accelerator the second my wheel was straight. My shiny new baby shot forward like a rocket, but the sleek black Koenigsegg was sticking to us like glue.

  Seconds later, we blew past the finish line at way over double the speed limit, and for the first time in my racing career, I didn’t know who’d won.

  Careful not to harm my car, I reduced my speed calmly, shifting down through her gears and circling back around to where the huge crowd of cheering spectators were gathered with their own cars. One in particular jumped out at me. How could it not? It was bright canary yellow and had a handsome blond playboy perched on the hood with a drink in hand.

  “Crap,” I groaned, casting my eyes past Jasper for the other three. Yep, sure enough, there was Evan leaning against the door of a cherry red Mercedes with an anonymous girl pasted to his chest. On Jasper’s other side, approaching with his hands stuffed into the pockets of a designer hoody, Dylan looked like he always did these days. Angry and secretive. Every time I saw him, a pang of guilt rippled through me. It’d taken him a really long time to let go of the crush he’d been holding and now ... well shit just wasn’t the same with us. Hopefully time could heal things, though. I loved him too much to let his sulking go on much longer.

  I pulled my car up in the Winner’s Circle, still totally unsure who’d won the race, and hopped out. Eddy had played dress up on my outfit again, and I was feeling pretty badass in my low riding leather pants, flat soled Jimmy Choo boots, and sparkly white tank. The bright red lipstick was just icing on my tough-chick-designer-look, and I knew it made my sly grin all the more obvious as the Koenigsegg rolled up in front of me.

  “I fucking knew it,” I hissed as his door popped open and a familiar face smirked back at me. “Ugh, who else would risk a car like that in a race like this. You shithead!”

  “I think I actually beat you,” Beck remarked, wrapping his huge hands around my waist and boosting me up against the side of his car.

  I groaned, wrapping my legs around his waist. “No way, no one beats the Butterfly.”

  He chuckled, even as he sealed his lips to mine in a searing kiss. “This time, I think I might have.” His lips parted mine, and for a moment, I let him enjoy that brief glimmer of victory before pushing him back a tiny way and peering over his shoulder to Rabbit.

  “Who won?” I shouted at the gangster race coordinator.

  He grinned back at me, and I knew.

  “The queen keeps her crown for another year!” Rabbit announced in a booming voice, making sure everyone could hear him. Then sauntered over closer to where Beck held me pinned to the side of his stupidly expensive new sports car. “By a fucking inch, Butterfly. Lucky I had cameras ready, you almost got your ass beat.”

  He chuckled and left us to it. Or, left me to gloat my victory over Beck while in the background I could hear Jasper yelling some bullshit about Beck getting beaten by his girlfriend.

  “I win,” I informed Beck with a smug smile, using my thumb to wipe the smear of my red lipstick from his mouth.

  He smiled back at me and started dropping light, teasing kisses on my lips. “You can have this one, baby. I win every fucking day when I wake up with you in my arms.”

  Little baby butterflies erupted inside me, and I ground my hips into him with a groan. “I fucking love you, Sebastian Roman Beckett.”

  He kissed me again, taking his damn time and blocking out the jeering of our spectators. Fuck them all, we existed in our own damn bubble.

  “I love you, Butterfly.”

  And that was the start of our happily ever after...

  ...or happily for now, at least.

  * * *

  THANK YOU! Thank you all so much for embracing Riley, Beck, and the rest of this crazy crew. We’ve loved every second of writing in this world. It’s been one insane race, but we were lucky to have Riles behind the wheel. Girl can drive.

  If you’d love to see more dark romance from us, flip the
page for a sneak peek at our next story, Princess Ballot.

  xxx Jaymin and Tate

  Sneak peak of Princess Ballot - Royals of Arbon Academy

  Blurb

  You have been chosen.

  Those four words change Violet Spencer’s whole life, when against staggering odds, she's selected in the "princess ballot."

  Arbon Academy is affectionately known as the school for Royals. Only the rich, powerful, or heir to a throne gain entry ... except for the one scholarship student accepted every five years. It's a worldwide lottery, and one that Violet entered without giving it any serious thought.

  But the media got it wrong and Arbon Academy is much more than a simple college for future leaders.

  It’s a dark world of politics, intrigue, and dangerous guys who will stop at nothing to get their own way. Despite her best efforts at remaining off the radar, Violet finds herself a pawn between two of the most powerful monarchies in the world.

  Prince Rafe of the Switzerlands and Prince Alex of the Australasias are bitter enemies both on the soccer field and in the political arena. Monarchies rule the world now, and every waking breath is a competition for the princes.

  Control the ball.

  Control the world.

  Control Violet.

  Whether it's through love or hate, someone will ultimately win.

  *This is book one in a dark college romance. This is not a RH or traditional love triangle story, but it does include a-hole princes, nasty princesses, and one chick who will take none of their shit, all the while doing her best to make it out alive. HEA guaranteed. Eventually.

  Chapter One

  “Violet Rose Spencer.”

  My head jerked up as my name was called across the speaker on the main floor. The girl next to me snickered, mostly because she was a bitch, but also because it was a well-loved pastime to mock me for my “flowery” name.