by Rose, Louise
“My mother wasn’t weak,” I say through gritted teeth. “She got away from you, didn’t she?”
“Only because I let her.” My father shrugs nonchalantly. “Believe me, if I hadn’t wanted her gone, she’d have spent the rest of her days with me. Nobody walks out on me without my permission.”
Oh, dear father. If only you knew what I have planned for you. You wouldn’t be anywhere near so cocky.
My father picks up a large chunk of cheese and takes a bite, closing his eyes to savour the taste. “Oh my, but that’s good. Would you like to try some?” He holds it out to me, but when I hesitantly reach for it, he snatches it away. “Of course, you wouldn’t. You’re watching your figure, remember?”
“Yes, father.”
After that, there is nothing left to say, so I sit there, watching my father take his time to enjoy every single bite of cheese. Part of me wishes he’d choke on it, but then that would take away the fun of shooting him.
“Right, my child. How much of a tip shall we leave?” asks my father, when he is all done and the waiter brings the bill.
“At least 20%,” I reply. “We can afford it, after all, and the food was amazing.”
“It was all right,” my father says. “But the service was slow and not of the standard I would expect from a place like this. I think a couple of pounds is fair. It’s more than they deserve really, but leaving nothing would suggest we’d forgotten. This way, they understand their worth and will do better next time.”
“Two pounds?” I shake my head. “You can’t do that. The bill’s over a hundred pounds. That’s like a slap in the face.”
“Like I say. More than they deserve.”
My father scribbles his signature on the credit card slip. I peer across the table and see that he really did only tip a couple of pounds, but when the waiter sees the amount, he is as professional as ever, merely thanking my father for his generosity.
“Thank you for a delightful evening,” my father says as we walk out to his waiting car. “We must do it more often. I’ve thoroughly enjoyed myself.”
“Me too,” I lie as the driver opens the door for us to climb in. “Maybe we can make it a regular Friday night event?”
“If it means you start to become more of an Archaic, then I think it would be a very good idea,” my father agrees. “Who knows? If I start seeing an improvement in your behaviour, I might even take you with me to Italy one day. There are some wonderful designer shops in Milan. If you maintain your slim figure, I’d be more than happy to let you loose with my credit card.”
“Thanks, Dad.”
When we are settled in our seats, the driver pulls away for the short journey home. My heart starts pounding. There are three possible routes he can take back, and one of my lovers is supervising each of them. We agreed on a suitable ambush site and whichever way we went, my father was going to find himself caught up in a roadblock. Once the car had stopped, guards from the other Houses were going to capture my father and hold him until the other two Houses had a chance to reach us. Then I was going to make my father pay for his countless crimes.
The moment of justice is almost here.
Chapter Sixty-Seven
“What’s wrong, my dear?” asks my father, as we pull up outside his mansion. “You seem a little agitated.”
“N-no, I’m fine,” I say.
What the hell happened? Why weren’t we ambushed?
“That’s funny, because I could have sworn you looked like you were expecting something to happen.”
“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” I say. “I am just missing Lucas and want to get home to him. In fact, if you don’t mind, I’m going to head straight up to our suite and show him how much I missed him.”
“How sweet of you,” my father says, “but you’re going to have to put your plans on hold, just for a little while. I’ve got a surprise for you.”
“A surprise? For me?” I don’t like the sound of this.
“Oh yes. And I think you’re going to love it.”
Confused, I follow my father into the house and through to the dining room.
“Oh no!”
Tightly tied to the chairs are Romy, Declan, Archer, and Milly along with all their parents, gags around their mouths.
“I thought we would bring your wedding reception forward a day,” my father explains. “You see, after I discovered word of a plot to assassinate me, I realised I needed to accelerate some of my plans. I’m afraid I can’t have anyone getting in my way, not when I’m so close to achieving everything I’ve dreamed of. I’d been willing to overlook your little dalliances as long as you were discrete, Ivy. But when you actively conspire to kill me? I’m afraid lessons need to be learned.”
“I don’t understand. How did you find out? Nobody knew except us and none of us would have said a word. Archer? Romy? Declan?”
The three boys all violently shake their heads, desperately trying to speak through their gags to let me know they weren’t the ones who betrayed us.
“Much as I’d love to let you think that one of your sweethearts had turned against you, unlike some, I cannot tell a lie.”
“Oh, please.” All pretence of caring about my father is gone now that our plan has been exposed. “Just tell us already.”
“Very well. Since very few will be leaving this room alive, I see no harm in letting you know where you slipped up. Young Archer there did well in finding the bugs in your clothing, and you did a good job of trying to feed me falsehoods by writing down your conversations. However, what you didn’t realise was that I’d planted another bug inside your pen, one which came with a camera as well as a microphone. I anticipated your attempts to circumvent my surveillance. I saw every single word you wrote. I knew you wouldn’t be able to resist making a move against me. All Archaics rebel at around this stage in their life. I myself took over the House by killing my father with my own bare hands, although I had the guts to do it in his study without running to the other Houses for help. So, I forgive you, Ivy. You couldn’t help yourself. But now the time has come to put aside childish things, and since I can’t kill your lovers without incurring the wrath of their parents, now’s the time to eliminate all the competition and take over the whole town once and for all. Michael-–go and fetch Lucas. He needs to be here for this.”
“Yes, sir.” One of the guards nods and leaves the room.
“I’m so sorry,” I whisper, tears running down my face. “This wasn’t supposed to happen.”
“Of course it was,” my father says. “Why do you think Isabella had you handwrite all those invitation cards? After I had my men gather up all your friends, it was a simple matter to contact all their parents and inform them we’d made a mistake with the date, hoping they’d be able to come out this evening. Fortunately for everyone, they were available. I’d hate to have had to use brute force to get them here for this special occasion.”
“No!” I gasp.
“Yes, Ivy. This is your wedding reception. All these people came here in good faith, expecting to celebrate your nuptials. And in a way, we still are. I’m doing this for you, Ivy, for our House. Their deaths are my wedding gift to you, that you and Lucas will be able to enjoy the fruits of my ambition.”
“You’re a monster!”
“You think that now, but in time you’ll be able to see that what I’ve done was for the best.”
I want to slap him, but I am distracted by Lucas coming in.
“So you’ve started the party without me?”
“You knew?” I may be reluctant to attack my father, but I have no such qualms when it comes to my so-called husband. I throw myself at him, wanting to scratch his eyes out.
Out of the corner of my eye, I see my father make a gesture to one of his guards, who steps forward and grabs my arms. He pulls them behind my back, restraining me tightly.
“Now, now, Ivy,” my father says. “Don’t blame poor Lucas here. He was only following orders. He knows what it tak
es to be a true Archaic.”
“What’s Milly doing here?” Lucas asks.
“I decided that eliminating your competition wasn’t enough to send a strong signal to my darling daughter,” my father explains. “Ivy needs to learn that the only true friends she has in this world are her family. So now all that remains is for Ivy to make her choice. Who dies first? Friend or lover?”
“I’m not going to choose.” I shake my head, desperately struggling to break free but the guard is too strong. “If you force me to pick someone, then I pick me. Kill me, dammit!”
“Your time will come no doubt, daughter,” my father says. “But you are far too useful to me alive right now, although believe me, I will make sure to punish you for your insolence. No, I will be shooting every single one of our guests, the children first so the parents can watch.” He turns to face the watching parents. “I bet you wish you’d accepted my offer to buy your businesses now, huh?”
To give them credit, not a single one of them rises to his bait, staring impassively at him.
My father turns to one of his guards and nods. The guard takes a gun out of his holster and passes it to my father.
“So, who dies first?” He walks slowly along behind each of my lovers. “Romy? Archer? Declan?” Such pretty faces. It’ll be a shame to spoil them with a bullet, but that’s how it goes. No open casket funerals for any of you. But no. I think it should be ladies first.”
He stops next to Milly and holds the gun to the back of her head. My best friend screams through her gag, her desperate cries muffled by the cloth. She shakes her head, tears streaming down her face.
“Any last words, Milly?” my father asks. “Oh wait. You can’t speak. Never mind. From what I hear, you never had anything worth listening to anyway.”
He cocks the gun.
“Nooo!” Lucas launches himself at my father, who is so surprised, he doesn’t resist.
Seeing my opportunity, I stamp on the foot of the guy holding me. The heel of my boot digs deep into his foot and his grip on me loosens enough for me to be able to elbow him in the stomach. As he doubles over, I spin round and kick him hard in the balls. As he collapses to the floor, I pull his gun out of his holster.
“Don’t move!” I warn, keeping the gun trained on him, as I hurry over to set free the captives. The table had been laid out for dinner, so I grab a knife and quickly saw through Archer’s bonds. Lucas keeps his gun pointed at my father as Archer starts to work on the others, and soon everyone is free.
“So what do we do now?” I ask, looking to Archer, Romy, and Declan for guidance.
“You leave.” It is Ben Navarre who answers me. “None of you need be involved in this. This is a job we should have done years ago when Solomon married your mother and didn’t look after her.”
I open my mouth to argue that I have earned the right to take care of my father, but Romy subtly shakes his head.
“Fine.” I hand my gun to Ben, while Lucas gives his to Claude.
The boys, Lucas, Milly, and I all walk out, going out of the house and into the grounds. None of us say a word. There isn’t anything to say.
A few minutes later, a gunshot breaks the silence.
Epilogue
Three months later
A peculiar mix of emotions washes over me as I watch the bulldozers flattening the site where my father’s house once stood. After everything that happened there, all the tears and blood that had been shed, I can’t live there anymore, and I can’t stand the idea of anyone else living there, either.
Besides, it isn’t like I don’t have more than enough money to build my dream home in its stead.
“Hey, Ivy. Ed’s made the changes to the plans you requested. Want to take a look?”
I turn to see Declan walking towards me, a large blueprint in his hands. He kisses me lightly as he passes it to me, and I roll it out to check it.
The new Archaic mansion is laid out around a square garden which is in the centre of the building and is going to be planted up with thousands of sweet-smelling wildflowers to attract butterflies and bees. There are four wings, one for each of my boys so they can have their own space. They’ve each been allowed to consult with the architect to have it designed to their specifications. The remaining wing is set aside for me including a recording studio filled with state-of-the-art equipment so I can start recording my own material. Declan and I are planning on launching our own record label, and I needed the architect to make a few changes to our studio. It is the only room in my wing I really care about, and now it is larger with more space for us to work with other musicians.
“Happy?”
“Happy.” I roll up the blueprint as Declan stands behind me, putting his arms around my waist to hold me as we watch the wrecking team do their job. I lean into him, loving how well we fit together. Declan is my safe place, the one who makes me feel that I could do anything, as long as we were together.
“Have your parents come round to the idea of you being an Archaic?” I ask.
“They’re about as okay with it as Archer and Romy’s parents are,” Declan replies. “Which is to say, they’re not really okay with it at all. But it’s not like they have any choice in the matter. I want to be with you and the only way to make sure House politics don’t interfere in our relationship anymore is for me to be an Archaic with you. They’ve finally accepted I’m not going to change my mind, so they’ve named Nicola as the new heir. I think they’ve made the right choice. She’s always been ambitious and loyal to House Navarre. Even with your little girl gang, if she had to throw you under the bus for the sake of the House, she’d do it without even blinking. But you’ve been a good influence on her, Ivy. She’s realised that we can achieve more when we work together, and I think she’s going to take House Navarre to even greater heights.”
“No regrets then?”
“Never.” Declan squeezes me tightly. “I’d walk through fire for you. Walking away from my family is nothing in comparison. Anyway, I was always a musician at heart. I don’t have the ruthless streak needed to be the head of House. I’m much better suited as the chief of a record label.”
“I agree.”
There is a loud bang as one of the main walls from my father’s house comes crashing down. I hear a few whoops and cheers as Romy joins me and Declan.
“Sorry I’m late to the party,” Archer says. “My parents had to make a last-ditch attempt to persuade me to change my mind. When they heard we were all going to be living in a caravan in the Archaic grounds while the new house is being built, they were shocked. They begged me to change my mind, even offered to set me up with a supermodel, but I told them no supermodel was half as beautiful as my Ivy.”
He kisses me deeply, and I love the feel of being sandwiched between him and Declan, all safe and warm.
When we break apart, the boys move so that they are standing on either side of me, their arms around my waist while I put my arms around them. I put my head on Romy’s shoulder as another part of the mansion collapses into rubble.
“How are you feeling?” Romy asks. “It must be weird seeing your father’s legacy destroyed.”
“Not really.” I shrug. “It’s not like I grew up here, so I don’t have any positive associations with the place. A fresh start is what we all need. We’re going to create brand new memories here, build something new and beautiful. Besides, I always thought my father’s taste was tacky. Our home is going to be amazing. I can’t wait for them to dig out our pool in the basement. We’re going to have so much fun there.”
“Oh yes.” Declan and Romy exchange a grin as we imagine going skinny dipping together like promised.
“Special delivery!”
Milly walks up to join us. “I bumped into the postman, so I said I’d bring your post to you. Save him the walk.” Milly passes me a large envelope. I tear it open and smile when I see what’s in it.
I turn the paper round so everyone can see. “My marriage to Lucas has been annulled,” I an
nounce. “As far as the law’s concerned, we were never married in the first place.”
“Oh yay!” Milly squeals and throws her arms around my neck. We jump around together, hugging each other. “You’re free! You can marry whoever you like!”
“Hmmm.” We break apart and I look at my three lovers. “Something tells me I’m not going to be getting married any time soon, at least, not until the law changes and I can have more than one husband. There’s no way I could choose one of my guys over the others.” None of the men hide the look of relief that crosses their faces, but it is true. It would be impossible for me to pick one of them for the sake of having a ring on my finger. “Maybe we can do some kind of commitment ceremony for the four of us, combine it with everyone changing their name to Archaic.”
“So you’re really going ahead with it?” Milly asks Archer. “You won’t be a Knight anymore?”
“House Archaic all the way,” Archer replies. “Besides, you’re a much better heir than I could ever be. You’ve got the heart and compassion needed to lead the Knights to success. I know you’re going to be amazing.”
“You really think so?” Milly asks. “I don’t know. Everyone always told me I was stupid at school.”
“Because they were jealous of you,” I tell her. “You shouldn’t pay any attention to them. Archer’s right. You’re the perfect person to take over House Knight one day, and between the two of us, we’ll make sure our Houses form an unbeatable alliance that keeps the peace in this town. This is the dawn of a new era. Things are going to be very different from now on.”
“And it’s all thanks to you, Ivy,” Romy says. “You’re the one who made all this possible.”
He hugs me, the other two men coming in close for a group hug. It is still taking us a while to figure out the practicalities of our relationship. At the moment, if one guy has a hug or a kiss, the others need the same, and I don’t want anyone to feel left out. But I have a feeling over time, it will be okay for me to hold hands with just one of them, spend an evening with just one of them, and everyone will know that I still love and want all of them with all my heart.
