Chapter 7

Demitrious Corleone was a world-class dick. On the outside, he may appear to be the polished, well-mannered Royal and CEO of Core Technologies, altruistic and good-tempered.

What a fucking farce.

West downed his third drink in the past twenty minutes, knowing it wouldn't matter. His father wouldn't notice.

Not with Imperial Lake Zyair in the room.

At the end of the day, that was the worst part. The most unforgiving in West's eyes. It wasn't that Demitrious had driven a wedge between father and son, it was that, from the start, he'd attempted to do the same between West and Lake. As much as he wished he could claim it hadn't worked, West had to admit there was a string of resentment there that hadn't been present in their friendship before.

But he refused to act on it. Refused to allow his father to take anything else from him, especially not something as important as his friends.

Which was why he bit his tongue all through dinner, acting like he wasn't affected by the way his father praised Lake and all but ignored him.

They were at The Spark, Lake's favorite restaurant in the city, for their monthly family meal. Yejun had been invited, though he wasn't always—probably because this was the first dinner since Lake had returned from Vitality. They'd made it through fairly well, all things considered, and things were starting to wind down, so they could get the hell out of there soon enough.

The entire private room had been booked despite the fact that there were only four of them, and the relatively empty long table stood out. It was a waste all around—a needless display of wealth and privilege.

West wasn't against using his family name to get ahead, and Light knew he maxed out his credit cards almost as frequently as Yejun, but that didn't mean he was the type to flaunt his coin. Aside from his bike, most of his physical possessions of any real worth could fit into a backpack.

His father was the opposite. If there was a version of something dipped in gold and studded in rare gems, he wanted it. Didn't matter if it made no logical sense or was gaudy as fuck. The flashier the better in Demitrious's mind. It was the one and only reason he opened up the family home three times a year and hosted the Club. So that everyone could wander through the decadent halls of Corleone Manor and see for themselves just how truly above them the master of the house was.

"How are things coming with the task?" Demitrious asked then, his tone casual. It was a false projection, an act he put on perfectly, right down to the relaxed way he plucked his wine glass off the table and lightly sipped at the dark emerald contents. "With you back home, Lake, I'm confident you'll be able to solve this problem of ours before it's too late."

West ground his teeth and glanced away, one of his hands forming a tight fist in his lap beneath the table. It was too hard to tell if his father was doing it purposefully. Was it meant as an underhanded dig? A way of saying, "Son, you're not good enough, and we both know it," or was West merely too sensitive to it all now? Reading between lines that weren't there?

At his side, Yejun bumped his elbow against his arm and gave him a comforting look, silently telling him not to listen to the bullshit.

If Yejun had taken it as an insult against West, that had to mean it really was one, right?

Good Light.

This was exhausting. Always second-guessing himself. Always wondering how he could do better, please the older man at the head of the table more…

And for what?

West didn't even like the guy.

He was a shit father and an even shittier person, no matter what the rest of the world believed.

Demitrious was an esteemed member of the Order and had given them a task almost as soon as Lake had returned to planet. As seniors at Foxglove, that was to be expected. It was tradition that Legacy members undergo one final test of sorts, a proving of their worth in their final year. Sometimes, they were given the entirety of it to complete their assigned task. Other times, there was a different time limit, usually revolving around one of the school's acknowledged holidays.

For them, they'd been told to find the hacker threat by Demons Passing.

Which was in two fucking months.

"We're making progress," Lake lied easily, that frosty demeanor of his coming in handy against people like West's father. He was seated at the side of the table on Demitrious's right, while West was at his left.

Demitrious respected a cool head. It was one of the many reasons he'd given for being disappointed he'd ended up with West as his son and not Lake. West could still recall the elation painted across his father's face the night he'd discovered that the Zyairs, Lake's parents, had died in an accident.

He'd rushed to the hospital and had been the first to arrive, even before the rest of Lake's relatives. By the time Lake's uncle had made an appearance, Demitrious had already convinced Lake to come live with him. He'd acted as an unofficial adoptive father ever since.

The son he'd always wanted, a fact he'd never hesitated to rub in West's face.

West downed another drink and slammed his glass onto the smooth cherry surface of the table with a little more force than necessary. It had the unfortunate result of gaining his father's attention for the first time in what had to have been an hour.

Demitrious glared at him pointedly, but before West could give in to the flash of anger coiled in his gut and snap back some snide remark, Lake spoke again.

"I have a plan," Lake said. "I'll be discussing it with the others tonight."

"Oh?" Demitrious smiled and swiveled his body back toward him. "Tell me more."

"We'll be bringing someone else in," he began, still speaking in that even and clipped voice. It was impressive since not many could maintain that air of superiority in the face of West's father. Though, Demitrious no doubt considered it as Lake thinking they were on even playing fields.

How wrong he was.

Lake didn't think himself equal to anyone, sometimes not even West or Yejun. Those were the rare occasions where West allowed himself to be angry with his friend and act on that anger. Fortunately for the both of them, those moments were few and far between.

They'd made a promise to each other as kids, the three of them, and Lake may be many things, but he never broke a promise.

That didn't mean he always clued West and Yejun into things.

Like this, for instance. Someone else?

Who the hell was he talking about?

"Someone who will be incredibly beneficial in helping us root out the threat," Lake continued, and Demitrious nodded his head, hanging off of every word.

Or, at least, making it seem that way.

West couldn't tell this time.

"A member?" Demitrious asked.

"No," Lake replied, but before he could be warned against taking that kind of action, added, "Not yet, anyway. He will be, come the Night of the Nightshade."

"You've chosen a sacrifice?" West accused, ruining all his hard work for the evening by breaking his silence. "Without us?"

"Hey." Yejun grabbed his wrist, but West shook him off, not having any of that despite knowing his friend was merely looking out for him.

"Lake is an Imperial," Demitrious reminded curtly. "You will show him proper respect when in my presence. This is not the schoolyard, boy."

"He's got every right to be annoyed," Lake interrupted, careful not to let the irritation slip into his tone, even though West noticed the way his spine had straightened slightly. "Selecting a sacrifice is the duty of every Legacy up for review, not just me."

West inhaled slowly and dug his fingernails into his palms, focusing on calming his jangled nerves. Lake and Yejun weren't the enemies here. They cared about him, truly. They were on his side. Attacking them was the same as attacking himself, and West was no masochist. His father was the mismatched piece here. He was the thing that didn't fit.

"We did all choose together, though," Lake added, and West quirked a single dark brow, waiting for the explanation to come. His friend popped the last morsel on his plate into his mouth and chewed slowly, before saying, "We met with them the other day at the Roost. You confirmed there and then that he was to your taste, remember?"

Yejun covered what would have been a chuckle with a cough and reached for his drink.

West's lips twitched, the smirk forming against his better judgment, but damn it all. That was a good one.

"Well then, since you all seem pleased with the collective choice," Demitrious said, rising from the table, "I'll wish you luck, boys. Just remember, a lot more is at stake here. The Legacies of the past were all jokes compared to you three. Make me proud." He set his harsh gaze on West. "Or else."

They stood as well, bowing their heads wordlessly as he took his leave, waiting on the count of ten before straightening after he left.

Yejun let out a breath and dropped back down into his chair dramatically. "Well damn. I thought he'd never stop talking. Remind me why I had to tag along tonight again?"

"Because he asked for you," Lake stated, easing back down into the wooden chair on his side of the table. Now that they were alone, he selected a few more things from the trays filled with more food than a small army could eat.

"He just wanted to remind us about Demon Passing," West said. "Dick."

"Once we graduate and Lake takes the throne, we won't have to tiptoe around him anymore," Yejun reassured, clapping him on the back and shaking him slightly. "Which is why we have to succeed." He glanced to Lake and held his eye. "Which leads me to this plan of yours."

"You don't agree?" Lake cut the ferh steak and slipped a bite past his lips, all while maintaining eye contact. "You seemed fond of Nix the other night."

"Did I?"

"You came," West reminded with a shrug, only to have Yejun snort.

"I can come from just about anything." He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. "I don't like it. Even if he's not the one we were after, the guy still managed to mess with West's programming. It's bad enough you allowed him to become a King, but this? The sacrifice—"

"Should be useful," Lake interrupted. "Nix has the potential to be."

West pursed his lips, considering it. "You want to use him as bait."

Lake snapped his fingers. "Bingo."

"And," Yejun drawled, "how exactly do you plan on going about that?"

"We know very little about this hacker," West began.

"Which one?"

"The one the Club wants us to find," he clarified. "We know he wants to expose Essential's less than stellar dealings to the world, and we know he's open to recruitment if it means achieving his goal."

West felt kind of shitty for having to bring up the elephant in the room, especially when Yejun immediately looked away and grew distant. He'd suffered from their recent betrayal the most and had yet to fully recover. But facts were facts, and they were on a time limit.

"We took out his pawn," Lake said, pretending not to notice Yejun's reaction the same way West was. "He'll be in the market for another."

"How can you be so sure?" Yejun asked quietly.

"Because clearly getting close enough to break into our systems isn't something he's capable of doing himself."

"He was found trying to break into the main servers within minutes by security," West agreed. "He's got skills to even make it that far, but they're nothing in the grand scheme of things. He's a threat, but not a big one."

"That's why we've been trusted with this." Lake dabbed at his mouth with a napkin.

"It's bullshit that we have," Yejun stated. "Other Legacies had easy tasks. This? We've got nothing to go on but supposition and luck."

"Like you even know what that word means," West teased, hoping to lighten the mood.

But of course, he only managed to have the opposite effect.

"I'm not a moron," Yejun snapped. "Just because I'm not an emotionless robot like you two whack jobs doesn't mean I'm stupid."

"Whoa," he held up his hands. "Sorry. Bad joke."

"This whole thing is a bad joke," Yejun swore and shot to his feet, his chair clattering to the ground. "You know the only reason we're going through this is so Lake's uncle can get off on it."

Hendrix Barden, also a member of the Order, was sixth in line for the throne, one place after Lake. He'd made his opinion on Lake being too young publicly known before the bodies of the Emperor and Royal Consort had even gone cold. It wasn't a hard conclusion to come to that this was all a part of his plan to prove Lake and the rest of them weren't strong enough to take positions within the Club, let alone the government.

"Have you tried talking to Beck?" West asked, referring to Lake's cousin and, unfortunately, Hendrix's son. West had always been a fan of Beck, the two of them having bonded over the fact both of their dads were trash.

"I will tomorrow when I see him on campus," Lake said. "Though I doubt he knows anything."

Right, because just like how Demitrious left West out of all things important, Hendrix did the same with Beck.

"Whatever," Yejun stated. "Barden can do whatever the hell he likes. He'll never beat us. Lake is next in line whether he likes it or not. Still, just in case…Bring the Firebird in, what do I care. But," he set his hands on his hips, "how can you be certain it'll work?"

"I can't," Lake said.

"So, if the hacker doesn't take the bait, we've just wasted our time, that it?"

"Do you have a better idea, June? I'm all ears."

"Fuck off, Lake. You weren't here. You don't know—" He stopped himself, running a hand through his hair to slick back the strands that had slipped loose from the small bun he'd put it up in. "You don't know."

"No," he conceded. "I don't. I'm sorry."

"Yeah." Yejun clicked his tongue, the anger leaching out of him all at once.

"Did we do it right?" West asked then, wagging a finger between him and Lake. "The whole apology thing? Us emotionless robots have been training for this moment for days."

Yejun tried to fight it but ended up laughing. "Man, shut up."

"So it's settled then?" Lake asked, bringing them back to the topic at hand. "Nix will be our sacrifice."

"Don't expect me to be monogamous for him," Yejun warned. "I've got a list of names I still have every intention of making my way through this semester."

"Wouldn't dream of asking that of you," Lake deadpanned.

"Whether or not Yejun gets to stick his dick into more than one warm hole isn't the problem here," West interrupted, rapping his knuckles against the table. "It's how you plan on convincing Nixie to agree in the first place. After the other night? There's no way."

"He probably hates us," Yejun nodded. "I would if three strangers forcefully stripped me and forced me to suck one of them off."

Lake gave him a droll stare.

"All right," he admitted, "fine. I wouldn't. That sounds like a good time to me, but I acknowledge that my sexual preferences are not your average ones. Nix was terrified and humiliated. My guess? He'll sooner stab us with a blunt knife than allow any one of us to touch him again."

"The sacrifice has to be ours," West reminded Lake, "in all the ways it matters. The Club won't acknowledge him otherwise. And Nixie? He's not so big on public displays of affection."

Still, a thrill shot through West, straight to his groin, at the thought of getting another taste of the other guy. Nix was entirely his type, from the lithe, yet well-defined form, to his sexy little brain. The defiance Nix had somehow mustered despite the obvious fear he'd been feeling. West had always been a sucker for a smarty with a hot bod.

The thing was, he was Lake's type too.

"We're used to sharing things," he found himself saying, "but this is different."

"How so?" Lake stared him down, but West could tell he knew exactly what he was trying to say.

"You've had more time with him than we have," Yejun jumped on. "You sure you're going to be okay with passing him around?"

"Since when has that ever been an issue?" he insisted. "What's mine is yours."

West nodded. "And what's yours is mine, yeah. But still."

Lake rolled his eyes. "What? You guys want some kind of reassurance?"

"It wouldn't hurt," Yejun grinned, showing that he was mostly teasing.

West wasn't.

Maybe it was residual resentment from their meeting with his father just now, maybe it was something else. Either way, he let himself push the issue even knowing it made him kind of a dick to do so.

"I watched him fuck himself on camera a few times," Lake said. "It doesn't mean anything."

"Prove it." West didn't back down.

After a brief stare-off, Lake heaved a sigh of annoyance. "Fine. I won't screw him until you two have a turn, deal?"

"Define, screw?" Yejun leaned forward, laughing when Lake glared. "All right, all right. That's good for me." He turned to West. "You?"

"Everything else is on the table," Lake quickly reiterated before West could answer. "The only thing I'm agreeing to is not penetrating his hole with my dick until you've both done the deed. Got it?"

"Poor Firebird," Yejun made an expression like he actually meant it even though he didn't. "He's going to have an awful time at Foxglove, isn't he."

"Or the best time ever," West corrected, challenging Lake with that statement. "I'm a phenomenal lay. If I take the lead here, we'll have him eating out of the palm of our hands in no time."

"No," Lake snapped.

"See, that," Yejun pointed at him, "that possessive look in your eye? That's what we're worried about."

"I'm not being possessive."

"Not being self-aware is more like."

"Are you two taking the deal or what?"

Sensing Lake was at his breaking point and this was as far as they were going to get, West grunted. "Yeah, brother. Yeah, we'll take the deal."

"So," Yejun asked. "Who's breaking the news to Nix that he's got new owners?"

"I will," Lake said.

"Better tell him quick," West replied. "The clock is ticking. We'll need to have a backup plan in place in case this doesn't work out the way you want it to."

It was a long shot if you asked West, but then, no risk no gain.

Judging by the way Lake had reacted the other night, it was safe to assume gaining Nix Monroe was more than worth it.

West could cause a stink and point out the obvious, how Lake was clearly trying to be underhanded here and was merely using the hacker as an excuse to tie Nix to him but…

What was Lake's was West's.

And Nix? Getting to feel that warm, wet mouth locked around his cock again?

Yeah.

He could live with that.