Forbidden Legacy

by Mari Carr

  Forbidden Legacy

  The Trinity Masters, Book Four

  Mari Carr and Lila Dubois

  Published by:

  Farm Boy Press,

  Los Angeles,

  California,

  United States of America.

  First electronic edition May 2014

  Copyright © 2014 Mari Carr and Lila Dubois, all rights reserved

  Cover by Valerie Tibbs (www.tibbsdesign.com)

  Edited by Heidi Moore

  Proofread by Sharon Muha (www.sharonmuha.com)

  Book formatted by Farm Boy Press

  ISBN: 978-1-941641-04-0

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owners and the above publisher of this book.

  Publisher’s note:

  This book is a work of fiction. The names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the writer’s imagination or have been used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to persons, living or dead, actual events, locale or organizations is entirely coincidental.

  This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. It may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of these authors.

  Forbidden Legacy

  The Trinity Masters Book Four

  There’s power and passion in three

  An enigmatic leader…

  Harrison Adams has served as leader of the Trinity Masters for a decade. He’s always placed the group above his own needs—even when it comes to the one woman who calls to him. When a dangerous threat to the secret society surfaces, Harrison sets a plan in motion that could save the organization, but it comes with a price.

  A steadfast woman…

  Alexis turned down an invitation to join the Trinity Masters, afraid to relinquish control over her life, her future…her heart. That rejection means night after night of unrequited lust as she and Harrison are forced to ignore their desires. Her heart aching, she throws herself into her job and her difficult working relationship with her boss, Michael. He’s attractive and maddening, but Alexis has zero plans to give in to the crazy chemistry between them.

  An improper proposal she can’t refuse…

  Harrison asks Alexis to experiment in a ménage relationship with him and she agrees unable to take another moment of longing for him. Perhaps with a third around she’ll be able to keep her heart intact. She is completely unaware their third will be her infuriating boss, Michael. She couldn’t have known how giving herself to them would inflame her desires. Or how much she would enjoy submitting to them.

  But when an evil man looking for revenge sets his sights on Harrison, time is the one thing none of them have. And it soon becomes apparent Harrison’s forbidden legacy could destroy them all…

  Table of Contents

  Forbidden Legacy

  Cover

  Title Page

  Synopsis

  Table of Contents

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Epilogue

  Connect with Mari and Lila

  The Trinity Masters by Mari Carr and Lila Dubois

  Full Position by Mari Carr

  BDSM Checklist by L. Dubois

  Dungeon Games by Lexi Blake

  Hot Ride by Opal Carew

  About the Authors

  Additional Titles by Mari Carr

  Additional Titles by Lila Dubois

  Prologue

  The young man in the shadows stood a fair distance from the mourners, studying everyone who approached the widower. He lifted his camera and focused his long-range lens, zooming in until he had a clear shot of faces…and hands.

  Hands, he had come to discover, told him more than faces. One of the gentlemen reached out to the widower, lifting his left hand to place it in a consoling fashion on the grieving man’s shoulder.

  The young man snapped a picture and then looked in the viewfinder. A smile crossed his face. The ring. The symbol. It was there.

  “Gotcha.” Another piece to the puzzle. Another fly captured in the web. He had been studying the symbol for nearly a year, tying it to a slew of rich and powerful people from current day all the way back to the American Revolution. While its significance wasn’t quite clear to him yet, he was close to discovering the secret. And he knew it was big.

  He lifted the camera once more and snapped a few more shots of the dark-haired man. He’d upload the photos to his laptop at the hotel and run a facial-recognition scan using the hacker software he’d designed. By tonight, he’d have this man’s name and life story.

  He studied the other people around the two caskets. Everyone at the small ceremony had an air about them—of wealth, position, power. His mother used to warn him about these sorts of people, claiming they were the wolves in sheep’s clothing, the ones to look out for. She’d had a good reason to believe that. Two of the wolves at this funeral had destroyed her life—and his. He was going to ensure they paid for it. Dearly.

  Thoughts of his mother sent a surge of anger through him. He took a deep breath, finding a way to turn the heat to cool, the frustration to calculation. The villains were here in Boston and the means for their destruction were at hand. The first part of the punishment had already begun as he looked at the two caskets. His handiwork. The dead women were merely pawns in his game, and their deaths had certainly paid off.

  He glanced at the widower, taking in his hunched posture. The man’s pain was almost tangible. The young man grinned. He intended to exploit that grief, turn it to his advantage. The widower was devastated, weakened by the loss. It would take very little effort to push the man completely over the edge and finish him off. But before he did, he intended to get answers from him.

  Then he’d have the weapons needed to destroy the mastermind. Dr. Harrison Adams would suffer for his sins.

  Harrison moved in to offer his condolences to the widower. His face was as familiar to him as his own. No picture was necessary. He had a whole wall full of shots of this bastard.

  He had studied Harrison’s face at length over the past year, and soon he would discover the means to obliterate him. An eye for an eye. Harrison would lose everything by the time the young man was finished.

  At long last, the wait was almost over.

  It was time to strike.

  Chapter One

  Harrison leaned back and sighed heavily, awaiting the inevitable meeting. He’d sat in the Grand Master’s chair for nearly a decade, inheriting the prominent position when his seventy-three-year-old father suffered a debilitating stroke. Harrison Adams, only thirty-five at the time, had stepped in. The eldest child in his family had served as Grand Master for six generations. It was his legacy.

  After all, the Trinity Masters was more than a fraternal society to him. More than a way of life. It was in his blood. The strictures and philosophies of the secret society were his religion. He believed in them, trusted that what the founding fathers had put in place over two centuries earlier was as vital to the success of the country
as the Constitution. The members had a responsibility to use their intelligence, their drive, their talents—even their fortunes—for good and progress. It was their God-given duty.

  His father had preached that to him from the time Harrison had been old enough to speak.

  For two hundred years, his family had preserved the society, protected its values, kept the organization safe and strong.

  And now, he was failing them all.

  Someone not within the Trinity Masters had uncovered their existence, and it was clear their motives were deadly. Exposure would bring the downfall of the society, reveal members’ identities and destroy them.

  It fell to Harrison to find the villain and bring him down. And he needed to do it quickly and quietly—without alerting the membership.

  Unfortunately, he was facing another problem, one of his own making.

  Price was on his way to his office, and Michael wouldn’t be far behind. Though he stood as the controlling force behind the secret society, no leader stood alone. Michael and Price were his conscience, his sounding boards. Sometimes they were his voice of reason.

  Today, however, they weren’t coming to guide him, but to issue an ultimatum.

  Not even the Grand Master was exempt from the Trinity Masters’ laws. And though he’d put this moment off as long as he could, time had finally run out.

  Michael and Price were here to tell Harrison he needed to choose his mates and marry. The next few weeks weren’t going to be easy. He took a deep breath as he considered his course. There was only one way forward, but it was going to be a damned difficult road to walk.

  There was a knock on the door.

  “Enter,” he called.

  “Grand Master?”

  “Hello, Price.”

  Price Bennett was a huge, imposing man. They’d met through the Trinity Masters and formed a solid relationship over the years. Price had recently been matched with his partners—a brilliant scientist and a sharp FBI agent. The trio had been instrumental in putting a stop to a dangerous religious zealot whose madness had led him to murder. Though Price had been resistant to the match initially, the nonstop smile he wore lately told Harrison things had worked out just fine.

  “Is the Corzo situation still under control?”

  Harrison was accustomed to Price’s straightforward manner. It actually appealed to Harrison and was one of the reasons he’d chosen Price as an adviser. There were times when life was simply too short to waste on niceties. This would be one such occasion. Michael was unaware of the threat to the Trinity Masters, and Harrison would prefer to keep it that way for as long as possible. If he figured it out too soon, Harrison’s plan would unravel before he had a chance to put the pieces in place.

  Harrison had confided in Price about a blackmail situation within the Trinity Masters nearly a year ago. Price, an expert in security, had wanted to take charge of the investigation, but Harrison had rejected his offer, opting instead to use another’s expertise. The woman he’d enlisted, Tasha, had done her job very well, protecting two of the Trinity Masters’ most high-profile members—Damon Corzo and Marco Polin. In order to keep their identities safe, Harrison had matched Tasha with Damon and Marco. It was a good triad—a strong one. However, though the photos the blackmailer used had been destroyed and the attempt to frame Damon and Marco for murder had been stopped, the blackmailer had not been caught, nor had his identity been discovered, a fact that didn’t sit easy with Price—or Harrison.

  “The problem seems to have been neutralized.” What Harrison didn’t bother to add was “for the moment.” It appeared the blackmailer’s plan to destroy Damon and Marco had simply been a way to flush out the bigger players. And it had worked, though Harrison hadn’t revealed as much to Price. Or to anyone for that matter.

  The villain’s desire to uncover the Trinity Masters’ secrets wasn’t based on hatred for the club. Instead, the blackmailer’s anger appeared to be focused exclusively on Harrison, on baiting him, on pushing him into making a mistake. Something that had been abundantly clear when Tasha had discovered a check written by the blackmailer with the words Hello, Harrison in the memo line.

  Harrison had told Price the blackmailer had disappeared. That wasn’t the truth, but it wasn’t Price’s concern. The next time the villain showed his face, Harrison would be the one to confront him, to stop him.

  This fight was personal.

  Price released a relieved sigh. “Very good. I’m happy to hear that problem has remained quiet. I spoke to Jonathan yesterday after the funeral.”

  Harrison leaned back in his chair and the same heaviness that weighed on his chest whenever he thought of Jonathan reappeared. Jonathan, a member of the Trinity Masters, had just lost both of his wives. “How is he doing?”

  Price’s shoulders drooped. “Not well.”

  “That’s understandable. He’s just suffered a devastating loss.”

  Price frowned. “It’s more than that. He seems almost disconnected from reality. Kept muttering about voices talking to him in the middle of the night and conspiracy theories.”

  Harrison tapped his fingers together. “Voices?”

  Price shrugged. “I questioned him about it, but he just kept muttering that God was seeking revenge, paying him back for his sins. None of it made any sense.”

  Harrison suspected Jonathan was running on empty, that his grief was mingling with exhaustion. Clearly that combination was lending itself to paranoia. Even so, given recent events, Harrison thought it might be best to err on the side of caution. “Can you and Gunner keep an eye on him?”

  Price appeared surprised by the request. “You think he poses a problem for us?”

  “Honestly? No. Jonathan is one of the kindest, most rational men I’ve ever met. I think he’s simply worn out and overwhelmed by sorrow. Once some time has passed, he’ll bounce back, but it wouldn’t hurt to stay close until he does.”

  “I’ll take care of it.”

  “Take care of what?” Michael appeared at the doorway.

  Harrison stalled a moment too long before lying to his best friend. “Price is checking into the arrangements for the quarterly meeting. It’s only three weeks away and we need to finalize the agenda and make sure everything is in place for the Winter Gala.” Four times a year, the senior members of the Trinity Masters gathered for a meeting that was followed immediately by a social soiree attended by everyone.

  Michael nodded, though Harrison suspected his friend wasn’t fooled. Too many times in the past year, Michael had picked up on Harrison’s anxiety, the fact he was distracted. Michael had stopped asking what was wrong because he was no doubt sick of Harrison’s standard response of, “Nothing.”

  Unlike Price, Harrison and Michael had been friends since childhood. Though Michael was a year younger, they’d been inseparable as boys. And even as adults. They’d attended the same schools from kindergarten through college. Most importantly, they’d always understood each other, recognizing what their lives meant. As legacies—children born of Trinity Masters—Michael and Harrison had embraced the philosophies and lifestyles of their parents. That shared heritage had solidified their bond, made them brothers in a way.

  Which was why it was so hard for Harrison to keep a secret from his friend. However, some lessons—once instilled—were impossible to ignore. Harrison’s father had begun training him for his role as Grand Master from a very young age, stressing the importance of keeping his own counsel. Unlike Harrison, his father hadn’t selected advisers, had refused to share information regarding the Trinity Masters with anyone—not even his own partners.

  Instead, Harrison had—in only a minute way—been his father’s counsel. Even then, his father had kept countless secrets, the majority of which resided in the file cabinet behind his desk. Distrustful of computers, his father had kept records the same way the founders of the Trinity Masters had—on paper.

  After his father’s debilitating stroke, it had taken Harrison the better part of a year to
work his way through the files and the secrets, bringing the organization up to speed in terms of technology—entering the most important information into a highly secure computer so that it wouldn’t be lost to future generations.

  One of the members, Carly Kenan, a programming genius, had created and installed firewalls and security software in the Trinity Masters headquarters that would take even the best hacker days to crack, and it was designed to destroy the records if anyone got close. With her expertise, Harrison felt comfortable putting two hundred years’ worth of secrets on a computer.

  His father had kept copious notes, so it was easy to transfer the information over. However, as he’d aged, his handwriting had become harder and harder to decipher. Harrison worried there were too many important details his father had forgotten to record or that had been lost in illegible scribbles.

  He glanced at a file folder on his desk. It contained at least two-dozen pages of indecipherable notes his father had left. Harrison had poured over them more hours than he cared to count as he tried to figure out the secrets they held. He vowed he wouldn’t make the same mistake his father had. Every vital bit of information he’d collected during his tenure as Grand Master was accounted for within the files of the computer and backed up in three other locations.

  For the past decade, Harrison had counted on Price and Michael to help him with the administrative duties required to run such a large organization, but he still played his cards close to his chest. His father’s admonitions, his warnings to trust only himself, had taken. With the current threat looming over his head, Harrison was glad he’d kept his silence. Too much was riding on his current plan, and one misstep could cause the entire foundation of the Trinity Masters to crumble.

  “I’m glad to hear the meeting is well-organized. I’ll make sure the reminders go out in a couple of days.” Then his friend gave him a crooked grin that basically said it all. Michael wasn’t happy to be here, wasn’t pleased with what he had to say, but his friend would do his duty, wouldn’t shirk the responsibility just because it made him uncomfortable.