Wreck Me (Corrupt Legacy Series #2)

Two years ago

Destiny.

The concept enrages me. Someone already wrote the book of your life, and it’s done. You can’t tweak or revise it. You can’t change a thing but accept that some higher power decided how it’s going to be—from the start until the end.

Well, destiny, let me tell you something. If I can’t choose my own path, I will refuse to call you anything but a big word used to keep humans in check, to remind us how small we are in the big scheme of things. We’re born, we live if we get lucky enough, and then we die.

One in billions. One of many. No one important.

“This is what I have worked towards. With Celine out of the picture and my son pledging his allegiance to the Family, it’s on you. Do not disappoint me, Abigail. This is your destiny. Call yourself lucky that I chose you for my son,” Uncle Felix says.

I am a choice. I have no choice.

He’s not actually my uncle, but those titles are used to preserve the image of a tight-knit family—such crap.

I glance from my hands tucked in my lap to him sitting in the armchair in front of me. Felix’s presence towers over me—a king on a throne.

My father leans against the wall in the corner of the living room, his eyes gleaming. My mother sips from her glass of champagne, not bothering to hide her smile.

On the outside, I don’t let my feelings show. I breathe in and out slowly to keep my control intact while a torrent of anger rips my insides apart.

I won’t allow them the satisfaction of reminding me of my role and duty.

It has never brought me anything.

“I won’t,” I say on command.

All my life, I have been constantly told how my future has been predetermined—not by a force above, a God, but by the unofficial leader of the Family: Grandmother with her right hand man, Felix, doing her bidding.

I have grown up with a fundamental knowledge, the credo of the Family: You have to be worthy of being a part of it, and that means you have a duty to fulfill and a role to play. If not, there are consequences to be paid.

Trapped in this quagmire called my life numbs me.

While my parents and Felix are in celebratory mode, even though it’s not even noon—clinking glasses and chatting—my gaze shifts to the large window with square panes.

A vast patch of land stretches wide, serving as the Family’s compound in Greenville.

On top of the hill, Grandmother’s impressive mansion looks down, showing who has the ultimate power. Surrounding the hill are six houses, but one has been left to the whims of time and weather. A ghostly warning: if you don’t comply, you will be eliminated—in the best-case scenario.

From the original six families, only five still rule. The Astors, the Vosses, the Sinclairs, the Langleys, and the Fairchilds. The Prescotts are long gone, having been cut off years ago. It’s all hushed as to why. The official statement was that they didn’t comply with the last patriarch, but who knows the truth? I sure don’t. We, the youngest, are not meant to know things only accept them.

Together, the families represent the Family which has amassed so much influence and fortune that they basically rule Delaware. What started two hundred years ago with buying land and smart marriage alliances evolved into an empire in key sectors like finance, healthcare, telecommunications, real estate, retail, and education.

The Family is untouchable, beyond rich and powerful. And I have had the misfortune of being born as the heir to the Vosses.

My father leads the real estate company, which should pass down to me. But my parents have other plans for me. To be a trophy wife for Kaden, the heir of the Astors and the firstborn in our generation. That makes him the future leader of the Family. Yet, this marks a first in the Family’s history: a marriage within—not the usual outside unions—to gain even more status, power, and money. There are power moves at play that my friends and I don’t have intel for. Why the Family does certain things and why things have to be this way remains a mystery.

To ask would mean we question the status quo, and that could be dangerous and possibly lethal.

Returning from my mental wanderings, I ask Felix, “How is Kaden?”

My heart breaks for my best friend. He was initiated, and I don’t know what Felix did to him for Kaden to renounce his love for Celine. But the initiation had to happen. Another rite of passage in the Family. When the ruler decides it’s time to pledge our loyalty, we have to go through the so-called initiation. At the thought, an icy shiver runs down my spine, chilling my insides.

We have been nothing but pawns in the Family’s chess game of power.

Felix’s face remains impassive. “He no longer has a weakness. That’s what matters.”

I hope I never have a weakness. I flinch, and he notices my slip.