The Wife Legacy_Huxley
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The Wife Legacy
Six Men of Alaska
Charlie Hart
Chantel Seabrook
Contents
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Epilogue
Epilogue II
About the Author
Also by Chantel Seabrook
About the Author
Also by Charlie Hart
Blurb
The Wife Legacy
Huxley
Six Men of Alaska
By Charlie Hart and Chantel Seabrook
The world, at large, is in crisis but so is the marriage between Tia and her husbands. She thought she could trust them all but when one man betrays her, the cracks in the relationship are revealed.
In a desperate, emotional finale to the Six Men of Alaska saga, Tia is faced with her worst enemy one last time.
A gun is placed in someone’s hands and the trigger is pulled.
No one is safe and time is running out.
When you play the lottery, you enter a deadly game. At least, you do when Christina Thorne is your wife.
Love is a gamble, but this is one legacy worth betting on.
The Wife Legacy is the final book in a six-book dystopian romance series, which must be read in order. The passion is high but the stakes are even higher. Tia and her rugged husbands are in the wilds of Alaska fighting for their lives - and for their love.
Chapter 1
Tia
“What is this?” My words sound distant even to me as I reread the words on the paper I’m holding. My fingers tremble as I scan the note a third time. It can’t be. Huxley wouldn’t betray me like this. And yet the evidence is right here in my hands. A letter from my father to my husband.
Huxley,
Your information has once again, proven to be most valuable.
We will be picking up our asset in two days.
This wouldn’t be possible without your help in locating patient C65.
Please ensure our patient is at the specified coordinates as have been discussed.
As our contract agrees, you will receive payment upon pick-up.
-Warren Thorne
My other five husbands surround me, but it’s only Huxley I see, fear and betrayal strangling me and making his face blurry.
“What have you done?” I can barely force the words out.
I hand the note to someone, I don’t know who, because I can’t see anything but the guilt in Hux’s eyes.
“Tell me this isn’t what it looks like,” I beg, needing it to not be true.
He doesn’t say anything, just holds my gaze.
I grab the bottle of whiskey from his hand and fling it aside, watching him flinch when it shatters. But still, he says nothing.
“Tell me you haven’t betrayed me. Betrayed all of us!” Each word hurts to say as if there’s sandpaper in my throat.
I beg him with my eyes to tell me some version of the truth other than the words I’d just read. To give me some excuse other than that he’s been working with my father this whole time.
Huxley swallows hard, then he says with the distance I felt from him the second he walked in the room, “I can’t tell you that, Tia.”
With his admission, my knees give out, and someone catches me, pulling me back against a strong, hard body. But I can’t take the strength. I feel the betrayal in the deepest part of my soul.
Tears blur my vision, and I say on a sob, “ Do you know what you’ve done? He’s a monster, Huxley. A monster.”
“I know,” he says blue eyes finally filling with regret. Or maybe it was there all along, I just hadn’t been able to see it through the shield he’s placed around himself. Yet, when he speaks again, I know I’m wrong. There’s no remorse in him. “But I figured by now you’d realize that I’m a monster too.”
Fallon is on him, and the screaming begins as my husbands finally realize what Huxley has done. He told my father where I am. Gave me and our children up, for what? Money?
The room spins and I feel like the floor falls out from under me.
“Get her upstairs,” Fallon growls out to Emerson, who I now realize is holding me. “She won’t want to see what I’m about to do to this lying bastard.”
Huxley doesn’t fight back, his expression has gone distant like he’s willing to take whatever punishment the others intend to inflict.
It’s Salinger who gets the first blow, which surprises me since the two have been friends for years. But it settles something inside me, knowing Salinger had no idea that Huxley was in touch with my father. That he’s been working with him all along.
Emerson tries to steer me away from the fight, but I shake him off.
“No.” I pull at Salinger’s arm stopping him from taking another shot. “I need to know why.”
“Does it matter?” Fallon barks out. “He betrayed you.”
I know it’s the truth. Huxley already admitted it. But it doesn’t make sense. I’d given my heart to the man, and I thought he cared about me as well. I need to know why he’d do this.
“It matters,” I whisper, studying Huxley, who won’t look at me now. “Tell me why.”
He drags his fingers through his dark hair and gives a rough shake of his head. “I can’t.”
“You’re giving me over to my father, giving our children up to the man who has tortured and killed women in the name of science, and you won’t tell me why?” I’m shaking, every muscle in my body vibrating with anger.
“Not won’t, Tia.” There’s something in his eyes now like he’s begging for me to understand, to not push him, to know that he does have a reason. And yet his words are cold, distant, hard. “Can’t.”
“Was it for money?” I know he has more cash than he needs, so that doesn’t make sense either. But then maybe he’s been ruled by greed all along.
His nostrils flare, but he doesn’t answer.
I shake my head at him, knowing I won’t get a straight answer from him.
With two more steps, I near him and start to pound my fists against his chest, and yell, “How could you?”
He doesn’t try to defend himself, and none of my other husbands try to restrain me. I know I could never do any real damage to him, but I strike out nonetheless. When I finally step back in exhaustion, Em’s arms wrap around me again, and I sob against him.
“There’s no way we’re going to be able to keep your condition out of the media now,” Banks says to me, scrubbing his hands over his face. “We’re going to have to use it to get out of this mess. But if they find out you hold the cure--”
“The cure?” Hux says, eyes widening. “What are you talking about?”
“Why do you want to know?” Banks grabs Hux by the scruff, nose to nose he spits out, “So you can run to Warren Thorne and betray us again?”
“I didn’t... I wasn’t...” Huxley seems to choke on whatever words he’s searching for. Finally, he stutters, “Y-y-you can save her?”
“Yes. I found a fucking way to save her,” Banks says harshly, letting go and pushing him away.
Huxley’s face goes pale, but a flicker of hope sparks in his eyes, confusing me.
“That’s why I’d been calling you. Why I asked for everyone
to meet me here.”
“Fuck.” Huxley staggers backward, reaching out for the couch to steady himself. “I... I didn’t know.”
“No fucking shit,” Banks yells.
More arguing begins, but it’s like their words are just a buzzing in my ears.
My father knows where I am. He’s coming for me. I don’t have much time. Running isn’t an option. I promised my husbands. And I won’t live a life on the run.
Plus, my chances of survival without Banks medical help, the drugs he can only get from his lab, are minimal at best. I may hold the cure within me, but I’m also carrying six babies.
And I know my husbands will fight to the death to keep me safe. There’s no happy ending here. No way out of this mess. Not even Miriam and the Director will be able to keep me safe from my father and his backing by the United States Government.
Unsteady, I take a few steps away from my husbands, needing space, ready to bolt, to run, to go anywhere but here. Once again, my world has been flipped on its axis. But this time I don’t see any way of righting it.
As the others continue to argue with Huxley, Giles moves beside me. Strong arms wrap around me, and he breathes out shakily. “We won’t let him take you, Tia. We found a way to ward off Lawson. We can deal with your father. You’re our wife. Trust us to keep you safe.”
I have to trust him. I promised them I would, no matter what. But with Huxley’s betrayal, it’s difficult.
“I’m calling my parents,” Salinger says, pulling out his phone and punching in the numbers. Before he disappears into the study, he says to me, “They won’t let him take you. I promise you that.”
“You don’t know my father,” I whisper, falling back against Giles' chest.
“This isn’t what I... shit,” Huxley rasps, face in his hands. “I’m sorry...”
Two meaningless words.
With the last amount of strength I can muster, I glare at the man who made a vow to protect me, the man I trusted with my heart, and whisper, “I’ll never forgive you.”
Shaking off Giles’ embrace, I turn on my heels and start towards the stairs, needing to be alone, but I hear Hux’s response above the other men’s arguing, “I never expected you would.”
Chapter 2
Huxley
I’m now the villain of this story.
I know it’s how Tia sees me. It’s how I see myself. I want her love, but I know I don’t deserve it. Hell, I never did to begin with. But shit, I did try to step up and be the good guy she wanted me to be. And I failed on such an enormous level, I know I’ll never be able to earn her trust again. But everything I did, I did to protect the people I love. My wife, my unborn children, my...
I shake my head, knowing if I try to explain why I did what I did, I’ll only jeopardize the plan I’ve been formulating since the day Emerson and I walked through Saint Augustine’s and saw the horrors of what Warren Thorne was really doing.
Until I saw them.
The children.
Abused. Neglected. Tortured. Nothing but stone walls and invasive medical experiments in their future.
I had to free them.
And I knew I had the one thing that could unbind their chains.
Warren Thorne’s daughter.
My wife. The woman carrying my children. My future.
God, I love her. I do. More than I ever thought possible.
Not that she or the other husbands will ever believe that now. But I have my reasons for what I’ve done. And I never had any intention of Tia ever knowing about it. At least, until it was all over and the innocent were freed. She thinks I used her for a bargaining chip, but I never intended for Warren Thorne to ever get his hands on her. In fact, he’ll never be able to hurt anyone again after I’m finished with him.
But if the men knew my plan, they’d never allow me to go through with it because yes, it’s dangerous, and it most likely ends with me behind bars, or worse... with a noose around my neck.
As Giles follows Tia up the stairs, picking her up in his arms and carrying her the rest of the way, she clings to him like she needs his strength to deal with my betrayal and my stomach twists.
I’m so fucking sorry, I want to scream. I never intended for her, or anyone to find out what I was planning.
Yes, her father is coming.
Two days.
That’s all the time I have to make this whole situation right. But there’s more at stake than just how Tia sees me. That’s what I have to remind myself.
“What the fuck were you thinking?” Banks yells.
It’s time to lie. And I’m good at it. Hell, I’ve been doing it my whole life. But I never wanted to have to lie to these men. Men who have become my family.
“I know as well as anyone that Warren Thorne is a monster. But Tia is his daughter, our unborn babies his grandchildren,” I lie. “They have a better chance of survival with him.”
Better than the other women he has caged like animals in Saint Augustine’s.
Someone has to think about them.
Raking my fingers through my hair, I flinch at the way the others are looking at me as if I’m the devil himself.
Maybe I motherfucking am.
The things I plan to do are far from saintly. And while I have no doubt every single one of the men in this house has thought about it, I’m the only one who’ll actually do what needs to be done.
I continue my deceit, “He won’t hurt his daughter--”
“Bullshit.” Banks is on me again, but this time Emerson pulls him back.
“That’s really your excuse?” Fallon asks, his blue eyes icy as they pin me with a glare. I know he wants to kick me out of the compound, the only thing stopping him is Giles, who said they need to keep an eye on me in case I decide to run or do something else stupid.
Like, try to save our fucking wife.
To save hundreds of other innocent lives.
Salinger returns to the room, his call ended.
I run my hand over the base of my neck. They wouldn’t understand me even if I tried to explain. They’re just too... good. All that matters to them is their precious little fantasy world they’ve created. And maybe they can still have it. Maybe I could have had it. But I could never live with myself knowing the suffering that Warren Thorne is still inflicting.
Something has to be done. And I have to be the one to do it.
“Tell us what you did,” Fallon growls out.
I steel my shoulders and shove my hands in my pocket, meeting Fallon’s gaze. “You read the letter, you know what I did.”
“Yeah, we know what you did,” Giles says, walking down the stairs, this time without Tia in his arms. Restrained anger vibrates from him, making his words clipped. “We want to know why. Why turn her in? After everything we’ve been through, everything we’ve fought for.”
Blood is pumping through my veins, frustration brewing in my chest. Anger with myself. Anger over this whole situation. Anger that I had no other choice.
I did what I had to do.
Are you sure about that? A voice in the back of my head asks, which only makes my irritation grow.
“Tell us,” Emerson says, disgust making his lips pull back.
“Not everyone has choices like you’ve had Em. Fucking Navy Seal hero. Mama’s boy. Everyone loves Em--”
“Don’t do that,” Giles says, raising a hand as he approaches, always the fucking peacemaker. “Don’t turn your back on us. You fucked up. But I don’t believe you’d betray her, or us without reason. Talk to us. Tell us why.”
Fallon and Banks mutter comments that tell me they're not as sure about my motivation as Giles. They both want to crucify me. And with good reason.
“It’s too late,” I say, resigned, but not for the reason they think. “He’s coming. You can’t stop--”
“My father is contacting border control,” Salinger says, glaring at me with disdain.
It’s his distrust that hurts the most. But as close as we are, not even Salinge
r really knows me. I’ve kept things even from him.
Sal paces the floor. “If Warren Thorne steps foot on Alaskan soil, our special ops will be on him immediately. My parents--”
“Did you tell them I was to blame?” I ask my oldest friend. Hating the idea of his parents thinking even less of me that they do now. Hating the way everyone in this room sees me. Knowing soon the whole world will see me as the villain.
But I don’t care about the world, I only care what the people in this house think of me.
And yet, I can’t tell them the truth. Not unless I want them to stop me.
“You are to blame,” Sal says.” And I already punched you once over this. You ready to step up like a man and tell us your intentions, your motivations?”
I hate his tone, his demands. As if, somehow, he knows all about being a man after being coddled his entire life.
He’s never had to make hard choices. Never had to take real risks. He’s always had a safety net beneath him. Even now, he has a direct line to the goddamn Director. His mother is the most powerful woman in Alaska, and he’s being molded to take over the line of command like his pampered ass somehow deserves it.
Bullshit.
I’ve worked my ass off for everything I’ve ever had.
“You know nothing about me, Salinger.” My words slice through him, I see it. I see him wince, and I hate that I’m doing this. Hurting more people.
But it is all for one purpose.
To protect them. To protect everyone I care about. To protect the innocent.
They have no idea what Warren is capable of.