"Ridiculous," his father mutters, shaking his head in disbelief.
"And mine." Easton joins us, making the crowd gasp in unison. Brantley votes in her favor. Three left.
"Mine too." Caspian's next, giving her the Jenkins vote.
"We only need two more," Pandora says. "A Hawkins, and an Oakes."
The crowd seems restless and uneasy. We've gone through the manual a thousand times. There's no way Pandora can use her own vote as an Oakes - she'll need to have her family vote in her favor. Her gaze is firmly fixed on her brother's now. Brazen stares back, unrelenting and cold. He's changed these past few weeks. He's a man now, but he's not a nice man. He's cruel, vindictive and too powerful for his own good. I've seen the way he's been acting in school. He's determined to make people suffer because Minnie hurt him. But Pandora's plan could stop him from hurting more innocent people.
Pandora's eyes scan the crowd. She stares at Araminta, the Hawkins Firstborn. There are others, Firstborns from other families, but she needs the founding members' votes. Araminta refuses to look at her former friend and Pandora sighs just as Araminta's younger brother stands up.
"Really?" his sister hisses at him, making him flush. "Ari, sit the fuck down."
"No," he shakes his head resolutely. "I'm tired of this. I'm with you, Pandora."
My toy beams at him with pride. "Thank you, Ari. I appreciate your support more than you know."
The Hawkins look like they're about to kill their son, but what's done is done. Pandora only needs one more vote - her family's.
They're all here.
Emilian Oakes, the proud patriarch of his family. He won't give her his vote. He'd probably rather die than see Pandora in a position of power.
Then there's Bryony, his wife. She seems like she doesn't give a shit about this, but she could prove to be an unlikely ally for Pandora.
And Brazen, their older child. By the way his mouth has set, and the hardness in his glare, I don't think we can count on him to take my toy's side. He's changed. He reminds me of myself before Pandora came into my life. He's become cruel, sadistic. He won't vote in her favor.
Finally, there's Tatianna, the spoiled brat of the family. The beautiful teenager who's as stubborn as she is determined, and is now watching the ceremony with alertness.
"Please." Pandora starts to plead on the stand where we're all standing. "Just one more vote. You could be the person that decides Eden Fall's fate."
Tianna glances fearfully between her father and her sister. She's too afraid to stand up. She knows her father will punish her viciously if she does.
Brazen is as stoic as he was before.
Bryony stares ahead, unaffected.
I grab the microphone and speak into it, addressing Pandora's family directly.
"Tianna," I start. "Think of the change you could make. You could be part of Eden Falls' new history. A history you'd be helping create. A history where we're all worth the same. No rankings. No differences."
She bites her lower lip. She wants to support Pandora, but she's afraid. My nails dig into my palms as I pray she'll stand up, offer her support.
She tries.
She lifts herself off her chair, but before she can stand up fully, her father has pulled her back down.
"Don't you fucking dare," Emilian hisses at his youngest. "Or I'll fucking kill you."
"This is what we're fighting against," Pandora speaks up from behind me. "Is this how you all want to live your lives? In fear of someone who's above you in ranking taking away what you love most?"
She's addressing Bryony now, and we all know it. Pandora's stepmother is nervous, folding her hands in her lap, trying to avoid the confrontation we all know is going to happen.
"Please," Pandora pleads softly. "The decision to change Eden Falls lies in your hands. It's time to rewrite history. You want to be on the side people celebrate, not the one they condemn."
Bryony gives a barely perceptible nod, but we need to hear her say it, loud and clear. She hesitates. It's not going well.
"As far as I know, you only have one chance to plead your case," Emilian says, sounding satisfied. "If your proposition is overruled, everything goes back to the way it was."
Whispers start up again. Of course, the prick is right. If Pandora can't get others to vote in her favor, her reign will be over before it even begins. We need this vote. We've worked our asses off for this, and we can't give up now.
I grit my teeth. I don't plead, I don't ask for shit, but this is important to my toy, and I need to help her win this war.
"Bryony Oakes," I address her directly. "It's all on your shoulders."
Pandora's stepmother turns her blank stare to me, making me grit my teeth even harder. My jaw sets painfully, but I'm not giving up. Not before my toy gets exactly what she wants.
"Do you want your children growing up like this?" I ask her. "And baby Reign. When he's returned to his home... is this the world you want him to grow up in?"
The woman swallows thickly. She's going to look at Emilian any second now, and then it will all be over.
I approach her, stepping off the stage and coming to kneel before her.
"You could be the last vote," I tell her. "The last chance to make things right. I know you've made mistakes - we all have. But now is the time to change Eden Falls. Now. Not tomorrow, not next year. You could be the change you want to see in the world. Do it, Bryony. Be the better person."
She stands up on shaky legs. Judging by Emilian's furious expression, he's ready to fucking off the woman. I keep my gaze fixed on hers, offering her my hand.
"Come with me. Stand up for your children, for yourself."
She takes my arm and I lead her to the podium. We're not there yet. She needs to say the words for them to count.
"Get your hands off my wife, Booth." Emilian stands up, eyes filled with rage as they meet mine. "Who the fuck do you think you are, kid?"
"Your son-in-law," I remind him. "And one of the only ones who can change Reign's life for the better."
Emilian laughs out loud. "By abolishing the system, you're hurting the kid, too. He'll be nothing until he's eighteen. A mommy's boy. Everyone will laugh at him."
Pandora steps forward and I have to stop her physically before she launches herself at her trainwreck of a father.
"You're such a pathetic excuse for a man," I tell Emilian coolly.
"You're one to talk," he snarls back. "Pussy-whipped, that's what you are, Dexter. An idealist who needs knocking down. I've seen my fair share of people like you. They all take a tumble in the end. This town wasn't made for dreamers. This town was made for men with money."
I grit my teeth. "You mean for abusers. Bullies. Monsters."
He laughs. "You say that like you're not one of them, Booth. That's what we all are. Men."
It's my turn to laugh now, and I shake my head in disbelief.
"A real man, Emilian, knows the difference between consent and control," I spit out. "And only a weak man takes control when no consent is given." I grab Pandora’s waist and pull her against me. "A real man cherishes control. Makes his toy's life better with it. A real man looks out for the people he cares about. He doesn't hurt them. And he isn't afraid to admit he loves... loves as deeply as you'll never allow yourself."
"Stupid, insolent boy," Emilian spits out. "I'll be delighted to watch you go down in flames, just like your parents. You deserve to burn, just like they did."
My hands form fists, but before I can attack the piece of shit, Bryony tears her hand out of mine. For a moment, I'm convinced it's over. We've lost the battle and the war.
But then Bryony steps in front of the microphone and speaks directly into it.
"Pandora Oakes has my vote."
I can't believe she's done this. Silence lays on the crowd as we all come to terms with what Bryony has just done. I believed in my toy, but I didn't believe in the others. I wasn't sure she'd get the votes she needed. But as I look at her now, I see her
in a new light. She's done it. She's won the war.
"Oh my god," Pandora breathes as the guys all embrace her.
I step toward her. Bryony is left shaking on the stage, barely able to hold her husband's gaze. The guys part, allowing me access to Pandora, and she runs into my arms. I embrace her, holding her tight.
"We did it," I whisper in her ear. "You did it. You changed this cursed town, Pandora."
She's beaming so wide it must hurt, and even though there's a hint of sadness to her smile, I know she's ecstatic.
Maybe now, we'll finally be able to move on.
Maybe now, I can tell her the truth.
The truth being that the hope of finding Reign and Lily Anna is nearly gone. That all the PIs, the police, the men Emilian hired, are close to giving up.
They're gone, vanished without a trace.
And as I stare into my toy's hopeful, brightly shining face, I know it's something I'll have to tell her sooner rather than later. I also know it will break her heart.
But I'll always be there to pick up the pieces.
Chapter Twenty-One
Pandora
6 years later
Eden Falls has changed a lot during the past six years.
The only reason Dex and I stayed in town was because of the search for Lily Anna and Reign.
They told me to give up. Countless people have tried to convince me we'll never find them. But I never listened to them. I cling to the hope that someday, Lily Anna will bring my son back. Often, I imagine what he looks like now. The photo-robot the PI team has put together paints him as a handsome young boy.
If he comes back, he won't even know me or Dexter. But I still cling to the hope that we'll get him back. Some days, the hope is waning. Others, it's stronger than ever. I keep clinging, hanging on to the last few straws of my patience. Hoping, praying my son will come back. And I know one day he will.
I just don't expect that day to happen when it does. When I'm leaving the doctor's office, sitting pale as a sheet in the back of a car a chauffeur is driving. A small smile breaks on my lips when I think of what I just found out. I fight it off my face as the driver pulls up in the long, winding driveaway of Booth Manor.
Six years have brought changes. I've been slaving away on the Manor tirelessly while Dexter worked. It now sparkles and shines like new. It's more beautiful than ever and I'm immensely proud of what I've achieved. That's on the good days, at least. On the bad days, I eat myself up because I lost my child. Because I haven't been able to conceive again. Because it might never happen for Dexter and me.
My hands form fists. If I could just-
We round the corner and I see a police car parked in front of the Manor.
"What's happening, Leroy?" I ask, trying to keep my voice as level as possible as I address our new driver.
"I'll find out for you, Mrs. Booth." Leroy gets out to open my door, but I'm already out of the door, walking briskly to the front of the house where my husband is talking to two uniformed officers.
"What's going on?" I demand, my eyes going to my husband first.
Dexter is somehow getting more handsome by the year. His jaw is covered in dark stubble, but just as chiseled as it was when I first met him. He's got a maturity going for him now though, one that makes him look distinguished, confident and suave. As always, I melt just a little at the sight of him. It's been a long time since I stopped resisting those feelings. It feels so much better to give in than to fight.
"We have eyes on a woman that could be Lily Anna." An officer speaks up from behind me, and I spin around, glaring at him.
"Lily Anna?" I repeat. Her cursed name is never forgotten in this house. Not when she took something so dear and precious away from us. "Where is she?"
"There was a sighting in town," he mutters, nervously glancing between Dexter and his fellow policeman. "We don't know if it was her yet."
"Was she alone?" I bark.
"Y-Yes," the officer stutters.
My shoulders sink. Dex appears behind me, softly placing his palms on my back. He squeezes, hard enough to stop me from panicking and remind me of his solution for everything that ails me. Pain. Sweet pain, darling pain that has become like a lover's embrace through all these years.
"That doesn't mean anything," Dexter mutters in my ear. "He could still be with her. She's probably hiding him."
"Have you heard anything?" I ask, turning my head to the side. "Has she been in touch? You, or Father?"
"No."
I groan in frustration and walk away, leaving the officers standing on the doorframe and Dexter rushing behind me.
"Pandora, don't do this."
"Why? Why not? You know it's not her, just like it wasn't the first seventeen times a sighting happened," I hiss. "This one doesn't even have a kid with her. What makes you think it's really Lily Anna?"
"This." He pulls his cell out of his pocket and shows me a simple text message.
Midnight. The cliffs at Oakes Estate. Just you.
It's not signed, but it doesn't need to be. My gut instantly recognizes her tone, her words. It's her, and she wants something.
I grab onto Dex's arm to steady myself and he embraces me. I feel my own body shaking in his arms. Neither of us says a word until minutes later, when we finally pull apart and stare into one another's eyes with resolution.
"We're going to get Reign back," I say, and Dex nods.
"I'm going to tell your father," he says next.
"Dex, she said not to tell anyone."
"Calm down." He kisses my forehead. "I haven't said anything to the cops. It'll be just us, and your father. We need to overpower her. We need to get Reign back."
"You don't even know if he's with her," I manage, but when I look at him, the hope in his eyes mirrors mine. We want the same thing, and this is the closest we've come to getting it back. "We need to leave soon."
He nods. "Emilian already knows. I've been waiting for you to come back. Where were you, anyway?"
Guiltily, I remember my errand and wave my hand as if it was nothing. "Shopping. Come on, we need to head over there."
We get in the car with Leroy. The drive to Oakes Estate is torturous. Every second of it, I spent staring out the window, looking for a familiar shadow or a sign. But there's nothing. Night is starting to descend on Eden Falls, bringing its secrets with it.
"Do we have a plan?" I finally ask Dexter once we pull into the Estate's driveway.
"You and Emilian will wait close by while I meet with her," he explains. "I'll be talking to her, since she only contacted me."
We get out of the car and walk up to the entrance where Emilian's already waiting.
The events of the last few years have made him seem smaller, more fragile. I regard him with cool indifference, but offer a curt nod in acknowledgement. He does the same with me and my husband.
Together, we set up camp in the family dining room. The house seems empty and sad now that Father is the only one who lives here. I can't help but notice how lonely it seems here.
"There's already been a sighting," Dex fills the silence. "A woman of her age, similar features, in town. At first they thought she was homeless. An addict."
"Why?" I ask, furrowing my brows.
"She was painfully thin," Dex shrugs. "But do you remember the Meyers? The doctor she killed... It was his son who saw her in town. He's positive it was her."
"We'll have to be careful tonight," Emilian cuts in. "Our priority is Lily Anna."
"No," I interrupt him icily. "Our priority is Reign."
"You don't even know if she has him," Father snarls.
"I don't give a shit," I spit back. "I want him back. I don't care about her. She's better off dead if you ask me, because if I get my hands on her, I'll kill her myself."
"Likewise," Dex growls.
Father stares at us, shaking his head as he laughs. "I'm not letting you hurt her."
"Of course not," Dex mutters. "She's the last person around that you can
hurt, isn't she? You've gotten rid of Pandora's mother. Of Bryony. Brazen and Tianna are gone. You have nothing left. No one."
Emilian looks so shocked about Dex's words I almost start to feel guilty. For a moment, I'm convinced his facade will break. He'll show his vulnerability and let us see how hard the past six years have really been on him. But a moment later, his mask is back in place, the turmoil forgotten. He won't break. He can't let himself do that, not even now.
"That's beside the point," he hisses after a long pause. "You two worry about your son, and I'll take care of the girl."
"Fine," we grunt in unison.
The rest of the evening, we set up watch around the cliffs. Father and Dexter pace the outer perimeter, hoping to get to Lily Anna before the meeting. I wait in an old boathouse, hidden behind a broken wooden canu. It gives me just enough shelter so Lily Anna will think I'm part of the shadows, while providing a good view of the cliffs.
And it's why I see her first.
Lily Anna climbs over the edge of the cliff. It's her - definitely her, with the same defiant upturned chin and beautiful doll-like face. But she's painfully thin. Emaciated.
My fingers tighten on the canu so much I'm afraid I'll break the wood, and I retreat further in the shadows as Lily Anna inspects the empty cliff.
It's five minutes to midnight. Dexter will be here soon enough to wait for her. None of us anticipated she'd get here this way - we thought she'd come from the surrounding forest, not from the water and rocks at the bottom of the cliff.
I'm still trying to figure out how she managed to climb up here when I see Dexter approaching. His steps are heavy as they hit the ground, and he doesn't betray me - he keeps his eyes focused on Lily Anna, so she won't suspect anyone else is here.
The former lovers face off. The tension in the air is palpable.
"Where's Reign?" Dex asks calmly.
"Dexter," Lily Anna breathes, completely overhearing his question. "I'm so glad you're here. You have to help me."
"Where's Reign, you bitch?" Dex hisses now, making her take a step back.
"Dex, it's me. Lily Anna." She takes a step closer, then another one. She grabs Dexter's shirt and he steps back, disgusted. "You love me, Dexter. You always loved me. It's supposed to be you and me. Just us. Not that stupid fucking kid. And his name isn't Reign."
A Hurt So Sweet: Complete Dark Bully Romance Series Box Set: Elite of Eden Falls Prep Page 60