By the time my parents and grandparents had screamed and shouted and petitioned the courts to get the will overturned it was too late. The entire world, or at least the world we live in, the world of the filthy rich, all knew that eventually I’d be worth billions. In the blink of an eye I went from being Carrigan Archibald, new girl. To Carrigan Archibald, heir to a fortune.
I’d like to say I handled the new notoriety well, that I didn’t let it change me, that my family laughed it off. That they loved me more than the money. But none of that is true.
My parents lost their minds, I lost mine, and somehow everything I’ve done in the last three and a half years, the way I’ve lived my life to adhere to that old man’s rules, has led me here.
It’s my sister’s engagement party tonight. She’s marrying the boy my parents wanted to be mine. I don’t know if I ever really wanted him, or if I was just told I wanted him so many times that I started to believe it.
Arlo Lexington is from the right kind of family. My great-grandfather was a real peach when it came to picking my future husband. With that letter that damned me, he also provided a list of names of suitable husbands for me. They range from twenty years older than me all the way down to five years younger.
I’ve met them all, flirted with the ones my parents asked me to flirt with, ignored the ones they thought were beneath us. Everything I’ve done, every thought I’ve had for the last few years, has been about securing me a husband.
Another slightly crazed laugh falls from my lips and I’m glad that the room is empty, because right now I don’t know if I should be laughing or crying or screaming. My life went to shit the day that will was read, but it imploded when I watched my parents beat the hell out of my sister. Physically attack her, punch her, and slap her until she was cowering on the floor at their feet.
That was the moment I knew this was all wrong. That the person I’d allowed the money to make me was evil. That I was evil, that they were evil. But what do you do when you realize that about yourself? It’s not like you can just take it back. If I could I’d like to think I would. Or maybe I wouldn’t because despite it all, despite all the truly despicable things I’ve done since I first read that will, I still want the money.
I want the power that comes with it. I want to be wanted, envied, desired, and without that billion dollar pay out I’m just another rich girl.
Now I’m here, planning my own judgement, ruining my future, changing my whole life because I am a terrible person and bad people have to pay a penance for their actions. Today is my penance, my day of reckoning so to speak, and it all started at five o’clock this morning.
Carson
Seven hours earlier
“Hey.”
I’m jolted to the side as someone shoves me in the shoulder. My eyes snap open and I act on instinct, grabbing the arm of my attacker and throwing them to the side as I jump out of bed and block any further attempts at violence with my forearm across their throat.
My Dad is a survivalist, so me and my brother have been trained in multiple martial arts and forms of both attack and self-defense. We’ve done survival training in all environments and some pretty heavy-duty war scenario training. My dad is a lovable whack job, but if someone comes at me at least I know I can defend myself.
Blinking past the haze of sleep, I realize that my attacker is a tiny blonde teenage girl. At first I think it’s Tally, but the long pink nails clawing at my arm show me that it’s not my friend, it’s her evil doppelganger.
Releasing my hold on her throat I step back, narrowing my eyes at her. “What the fuck are you doing Crueligan?”
“Really you psycho, what am I doing?” she shrieks.
“You’re in my room in the middle of the fucking night, but I’m the psycho,” I snarl back.
“It’s five am, it’s hardly the middle of the night and I was trying to wake you up.”
“Why?” I demand, taking another step back and crossing my arms across my chest, not caring that I’m completely naked.
Like she’s just realized I’m not wearing any clothes, her gaze drops to my dick hanging between my legs. I’m well endowed, I’m not boasting, just stating a fact. I have a big dick and even completely uninterested like he is now, he’s still pretty impressive.
“Oh my god, can you put some clothes on?”
“No,” I say, pursing my lips.
Her eyes lift comically high, like she’s never seen a dick before, and I swear if it wasn’t dark in here she’d be bright red with embarrassment. “Look I need your help, okay?”
“What do you want me to help you with?” I ask, suspiciously.
Her sigh is audible as she twists her head to the side, her eyes still focused on the ceiling. “Can we go somewhere away from here to talk, where you have clothes on?”
“Look at me,” I demand.
“Why?”
“Because I don’t trust a single word out of your mouth, so if you’re asking me for something, I want you to be looking me in the face while you do it,” I snarl, shocked when she instantly complies.
“I just, I just need your help. Can we please just go somewhere away from my sister so we can talk in private?” she asks, her eyes full of something I don’t expect to see. Honesty and fear.
Assessing her for a long moment I nod. “Okay, give me five minutes to get dressed.”
Without saying a word, she rushes from my room and I can’t help the smile that spreads across my lips.
