Shattered Legacy : A Dark Bully Romance (Gravestone Elite Book 1) by Caitlyn Dare (red seas under red skies TXT) 📕

Blinking a few times, I allow my eyes to adjust, and when they finally do, I find a figure sitting with his back against the wall and his arms wrapped around his legs that are pulled up against his chest.

"A-Alex?" My voice is so rough, it sounds like I've been asleep for a week.

Maybe I have.

"Yeah," he replies. His own sounds hollow, broken.

"What did… Are we really… Fuck,” I breathe through the pain burning every inch of me. “What the fuck was that?”

"Our worst fucking nightmare," he sighs.

“Did you know that was going to happen?” I ask. Whatever that was.

"Does it sound like I fucking knew?" he hisses, and I don’t know if it’s from the pain, frustration, or both.

“You’re a Rexford? How is that even possible?”

“You tell me. I thought my dad was dead." His defeated tone speaks to me, and I fight to sit up so I can support him. My body screams as I attempt to move. After what feels like an hour, I finally manage to push from the cold, solid concrete floor beneath me so I'm on my hands and knees.

I crawl over to him, hating that Cade Kingsley has reduced me to this, before lowering my ass back to the ground beside him. "I'm sorry,” I croak.

"It's not your fault."

"At least we're in this together though, eh?"

"Oh yeah,” Alex lets out a strained chuckle, “that really makes it all better." He stiffens, sucking in a sharp breath. “Motherfucker…”

“What is it?”

“He wouldn’t… no way…” he murmurs to himself, and for a second, I’m worried he has a head injury, because he’s not making any sense.

“Alex,” I bark, “will you tell me what the fuck is going on?”

“There’s something you should know.” His words come out strained as he meets my bleary stare.

“Go on…” My throat is dry, because somehow I know I’m not going to like whatever he says next.

“Your uncle… I mean, your grandfather… well, he… fuck.” He hesitates, and I drill holes into the side of his face. “He asked me to befriend you all those months ago.”

“What the actual fuck?”

“Yeah, he checks in on my mom occasionally. One day he was over for dinner and collared me. Said he had a nephew coming to live with him and that he’d need a friend—”

“He pay you or something?” I grit out, anger skittering up my spine as I try to process what he’s saying.

“What? No! It wasn’t like that, I swear, man.”

“So what the fuck was it like?”

“He said I’d be doing him a big favor, and he’s always helped me and Mom out, so I thought, why not? Besides, it only took one look at you to know you needed a friend.”

“Fuck you, Rexford,” I sneer.

Alex flinches. “Guess I deserve that. But you know it’s true.” The faintest of smiles tugs at his mouth. “I had no idea you were his grandson or the Easton heir, Bex, I swear. He pulled the wool over both our eyes there.”

“Why, though? Why go to all those lengths?”

None of this makes any sense.

“Maybe he knew about my dad all along. Maybe he knew this day would come and wanted us to be in it together.”

The fight leaves my body on a pained sigh. He’s right. Somewhere deep inside, I know Alex is right. My uncle… no, my grandfather orchestrated this to make sure we had each other going into this thing.

But to what end?

Silence settles between us, and I rest my head back against the wall and close my eyes, willing the pain to subside. "How much do you know about… about all of this?"

"Not enough to fully understand, but enough to know that our lives have just turned to shit,” Alex replies.

"This Initium thing, is it serious?"

"As far as I know, yeah. There are stories… I heard one guy died way back…"

"Fuck."

"This isn't just some rich pricks playing games, man."

"We can say no though, right?"

Alex laughs, and for a minute he sounds like his old self, but then it turns manic and I start to wonder if the drugs they plied us with are having a lasting effect on him.

"No, Bex. We can't get out of this. It's our blood right. The only way out is to… is to die."

"We could leave," I suggest.

"They'd find us. The Easton name is on the verge of extinction. Without us, they don’t have a firstborn heir for our family lines."

"But Channing is a…"

"He's not a firstborn heir. Now I exist…” he trails off, clearly not ready to go there. “You’re the only Easton heir. Marcus’ son, your… your dad, he died…" I raise a brow, wondering how true that is, seeing as he thought his own father was dead until tonight. "It’s true, man. I’m sorry."

"My dad is a Danforth," I say, more to myself than him, because I know it’s a lie.

"You might need to talk to your mom about that." He lets out a weary sigh.

"Right. Fucking hell."

"We need to get out of here.”

"You fucking think?" I deadpan. “First, we need to figure out where the hell we are.”

He makes a nondescript noise in the back of his throat. "I think we're in Cade's basement. If you really listen, you can just about hear the music from the party."

"How long have we been down here?"

"A long time."

"And the party’s still going?"

"It's the night of the new moon. They'll party until sunrise and then some."

I have no intention of hanging around and waiting for Cade and his gang of loyal followers to find us and do whatever the fuck else they've got planned for us.

"There's only one door." Alex nods toward a set of stairs. "There's no fucking way they'll allow us just to walk out through it."

"Maybe not, but we've at least got to try."

And then when we’re free, I’m going straight to my uncle to get answers.

12

Mia

I wake with someone pressed up against my back. Fear steals my breath as I lie there, frozen in place. My bleary eyes strain against the