Inheriting a SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 7) (4 page)

Brayden

I can’t believe Darcy
left me on the sidewalk last night. But then again, I can. I was a
total asshole, and if I was her, I wouldn’t have gone home with me,
either. I expected her to call me today after she cooled off. She
hasn’t though, and I don’t know how long I have until my mother
finds out what happened. I told her Darcy needed some time alone, but
if she’s not back today, I know she’ll want to call the people
Darcy works for. That could go pretty badly for me. Which is why I’ve
been trying to keep calm about her leaving. I’m not calm, though. I
need her, and not just for the jewels.

The doorbell rings and
I practically run down the stairs. Security wouldn’t let anyone
through the gates unless they knew who they were. I’m expecting
Darcy, but what I get is one pissed off couple. America’s Couple,
in fact. Matt and Reina Corrigan. They don’t look like the couple
their country thinks of as royalty right now. They’re both looking
at me like they want to kill me, and I’m honestly not sure who I’m
more scared of.

“Reina? What are you
doing here?” my mother asks as she comes into the hall.

My mother doesn’t
wither under the look that comes her way, which makes me respect her
even more than I already do. “I made some things
very
clear to you when you came to me for help. You assured me that Darcy
would be safe with your son.”

Holy shit. The
Corrigans are part of the group my mother is using for help? And not
just part of the group. Reina Corrigan is in charge. I may not make
it through this day alive.

“Darcy’s safe. She
needed some time to herself, so Brayden dropped her off at a hotel.”

“The cab I sent for
dropped her off at a hotel after she called me because he threatened
her.”

“No. That’s not
right. Brayden?”

I close my eyes and
take a deep breath. “What Reina said is true.”

“I didn’t give you
permission to call me by my first name.”

“You didn’t bow
when you came into my home.”

“My wife isn’t
bowing to you, asshole.”

I back up a step as
Corrigan advances on me. I may be cocky, but I’m not stupid. I hold
up my hands in a show of surrender. A fake show, but hopefully enough
for now. “I just meant that if she’s going to be familiar with
me, I will be familiar back with her.”

“I don’t really
care what any of you call each other. I just want to know what could
possibly have made you threaten Darcy,” my mother tells me.

“That’s between
us.”

“No. This engagement
is about more than the two of you. You’ve been raised to know what
you must do. Emotions cannot be involved.”

“I
will
marry for my country when it’s time, Mother. You know I don’t
believe in love. We can’t all be the Corrigans.”

I see Reina wince, and
it piques my interest. Not enough to take me off course, but I’ll
file that reaction away for later. I’m pretty sure that I’ll need
everything I can get when this all blows up. I’m not letting Darcy
go without the answers I need, even if that means things become more
unpleasant for both of us than I’d like.

“I will not allow
this to continue if Darcy isn’t comfortable with the situation.”

“Please, Reina. We
can’t just replace her with someone else. That would negate
everything all of us have worked for,” my mother reminds her.

“If you think I care
about that, you’ve obviously been misinformed about me, and my
organization. The women who work for me come before any assignment.
No exceptions.”

“She told me her army
could rival mine. I guess I should’ve taken her more seriously.”

“I still don’t
understand why you would threaten her,” my mother says.

I know I have to give
them something. “She has some information I need, and she won’t
give it to me.”

“What information
could she possibly have? You just met yesterday.”

“It really is between
the two of us, Mother.”

“Not if it
jeopardizes everything.”

There’s
nothing
if I don’t get the jewels, but no one except for me and Noah are
aware that Darcy holds the key to my future. I need to keep it that
way. “I’m sorry, but I need to have the information she’s
withholding. It’s not an option for her to keep it from me.”

My mother nods. “Fine.
Reina, I’ll need for you to make this happen.”

“What part of me
putting my women first did you not understand? I agreed to help you,
not the other way around. I need nothing from you, so I suggest that
you refrain from trying to boss me around. That really won’t end
well for you. Either of you.”

“I am a queen, and
while I have let you ignore that until now, I must insist that you
check your insolence at the door.”

“Oh, I will. On my
way
out
your door.
We’re done.”

“Wait, no,” I say,
moving toward her.

“Take another step
towards my wife, and see what happens.”

If I thought angry Matt
Corrigan was scary, smirking Matt Corrigan is even worse. I have no
doubt that he’s going to lay me flat, but I need to fix this.
Somehow.

“Please, Re-Mrs.
Corrigan. I promise that Darcy is safe with me. I shouldn’t have
threatened her. I’ll behave. Give me another chance to do the right
thing for my country.”

She sighs, like I’m a
complete annoyance to her. I probably am, but I’m also desperate.
“It will be up to her. I’ll let her know what you’ve said, and
then I’ll stand behind whatever she decides.”

She locks eyes with my
mother one more time, and I’m not surprised when Reina’s not the
one to look away first. Royalty or not, we’re at the mercy of these
people. We know it, and so do they. If we were on our own soil,
things might be different, but I really don’t think it would have
too much of an impact.

There’s power from
royal bloodlines, money, and brute force. And then there’s the
power that’s earned. Reina Corrigan may have married money, and she
definitely has the force to back it up, but her power comes from
within. Being in the same room with her, I can almost feel it as a
tangible thing. I get the impression that she doesn’t like having
to flaunt it—and I also feel like she was actually holding back
with us, but she definitely earned it. And God help those who feel
the full force if she ever has to unleash it all.

* * *

Darcy

This hotel is nice, but
I feel like the walls are closing in on me, along with my secret. I’m
going to have to tell Reina and Mallory something; although, I really
just want to tell them everything. I made a promise to never do that,
and I’ve kept it all these years later. I can’t break it just
because I want help. Nate knows some of it because it didn’t feel
right to have him bare his soul to me and not give him something
back. I wanted to unburden myself with all of it, but I couldn’t
even fully let go with the man I think of as my brother.

The knock on my door
pulls me from my worries, but replaces them with a few more. I grab
the small gun I had in my clutch last night, and go to the door. Only
a few people know I’m here, and I wasn’t expecting them so soon.
I sigh, in relief
and
nervousness, as I see Mallory on the other side of the door.

“Hi,” I say a
little sheepishly as I open it wide for my mentor and surrogate
mother.

She quickly pulls me to
her, hugging me tight. “I came as soon as I could. He didn’t hurt
you, did he? Reina said he didn’t, but she also said she hadn’t
seen you yet.”

“He didn’t hurt
me,” I assure her. “You didn’t need to come all the way to
Paris, Mal.”

“Yes, I did. I need
to know that you’re safe.”

“I’m almost never
safe on a mission. You know that. You did recruit me after all.”

“Sassy as ever, I
see. Which tells me you’re okay. And yes, while I know our work
places you in danger, I didn’t think that posing as the fiancée of
a prince would.”

“Can you tell me any
more about why we even took on this mission? As far as I can tell,
Brayden isn’t in danger. I mean, I wanted to hurt him and I’m
sure others feel the same way, but I’m not aware of any specific
threats.”

“Let’s sit down.”

Okay. That can’t be
good. I sit on the bed, and gesture to the desk chair. Mallory sits
down, and looks conflicted for a moment before speaking.

“Ten years ago, one
of our first initial missions was to protect Brayden’s cousin,
Jenysis. She was being stalked by a particularly nasty older man who
wouldn’t take no for an answer. We were able to keep him from her,
but he retaliated.”

“Is she okay?” I
think she is, because I’ve heard her name, but maybe she’s been
hurt in some way.

“She’s fine. But
while we were concentrating all of our energy on keeping her safe, he
stole some important pieces of jewelry belonging to the royal
family.”

No. No, no, no, no, no.
Oh God, no. I interfered with a Society mission. I use every ounce of
training I’ve had to keep my face neutral. “That sucks, but I
still don’t see what it has to do with this mission.”

“We failed, Darcy. We
rarely fail.”

“So this is out of
guilt?”

“Partly yes.”

“Nice to know I’ve
been pawned off on an asshole to assuage Jane’s guilt.”

“You’re treading a
fine line, my dear. Jane is not the only one with guilt, and my
presence here should let you know that we’re not just ‘pawning’
you off.”

“Sorry.” And I am.
For causing them to fail, and for being a bitch now because of my own
guilt. “What’s the other part?”

“Your engagement may
finally flush out the jewels.”

I need the floor to
open up all the way to the Earth’s core, and take me down there.
“Are they that important?” I know the answer to that, but I need
to play dumb, especially now.

“Yes, and no. They
were the first jewels of the monarchy, and it’s expected that when
Brayden ascends the throne, he’ll have possession of them. It’s
more of a superstition than anything, but it’s still important to
them.”

“So you’re hoping
to rectify the mission failure—which wasn’t exactly a failure
since you kept Jenysis safe—by getting the jewels back now?”

“Yes. We should have
disclosed this to you sooner, but we didn’t think it would become
an issue. Brayden seemed like he was finally ready to be king, and he
knows he can’t do that by sleeping his way around the world.”

“Does that really
matter in this day and age?”

“You can’t walk
into a supermarket without seeing a picture of Kate and William. Now
imagine being a royal in a very small country where many of the
streets still have cobblestones, and no one moves there ‘just
because.’”

I’d move to Cyndryann
in a minute. I was only there for a short time, with a job to do, but
I’ve never forgotten how beautiful it is. I’ll admit that I was
happy to have a chance to go back when I was assigned to this
mission. That was before I knew why Brayden chose me, and that he’d
be happy to have me spend my time there in his dungeon. If he has a
dungeon. Of course he has a dungeon. Wait, why am I thinking about
that when my entire life is about to fall apart. I’m not only
attracted to the man who saw me steal from his family, but I just
found out that I once betrayed the family I’ve created for myself.
At least I look good in orange.

“Darcy?”

“Huh? Oh yeah, I
guess they
would
want
someone respectable running the country. Or pretending to. Don’t
they have a Parliament or something?”

“You were given all
of this information, Darcy.”

“I was also made to
change my clothes, eating habits, and free time entertainment.
There’s only so much I can retain.”

“You have an eidetic
memory.”

I forget that playing
dumb doesn’t work with people who know your skillset. “Okay,
fine. I know how it all works.”

“Let’s address the
elephant in the room.”

Oh God. Does she know?
No. She would’ve said something. Wouldn’t she? Yes. She’s
family. “Elephant?”

“You ran from Brayden
last night. I’d say that’s pretty big.”

“Oh yeah. That.”

“May I ask where you
got the clothes you’re wearing? The pictures from last night show
you in a dress, and I’m told you never made it back to the royal
house here.”

“I went next door to
the mall. It was easy to sneak over right when they opened and grab
some stuff.”

“And of course you
grabbed leather pants and a t-shirt,” she says with a smile.

“Of course.”

“Back to Brayden.
What did he threaten you with?”

This is where it gets
tricky. How much do I tell? How much
can
I tell? Not much. “Brayden thinks I have some information he wants.
He said he’d use the force of his army to torture it out of me if
necessary.”

“What information?”

“I don’t want to
talk about it.”

“We can’t help and
protect you if we don’t know the truth. You can trust us—me—you
should know that by now.”

I really wish I could,
but it’s not just me I’m protecting. “I can’t. I’m sorry.”

I see that she wants to
argue, but she doesn’t. Instead, she leans over to take my hand in
hers. “One day, I hope you’ll be ready. When that day comes, you
call me and I’ll come. No matter what.”

“Thank you,” I tell
her squeezing her hand.

She nods, and gives me
a sad smile. I know I’ve hurt her by not telling her my secrets,
but I have no choice. “Let’s try and figure out how to keep you
protected since you’re going to have to go back. We made a
commitment, and we have to keep it.”

“I know.”

“If that young man
thinks he or his people are going to harm you in any way, though,
he’s horribly mistaken. Once Reina gets here we can talk more about
what we can do.”