Poison Flower: Luxe paperback

1
VICTOR

I walk out of practice whistling Nick Cave’s ‘Red Right Hand.’ Torsten’s dreary goth music has finally got inside my head, and I’m too damn happy to care.

My muscles burn from the punishing practice drills Coach
Chaney put us through, and my balls and thighs ache from the pounding we gave Fergie last night.

Fergie. Just her name makes me smile wider. My Duchess. Our Duchess.

She knows the truth about us. It’s all out in the open, and she doesn’t just accept us and what our families represent, she craves us.

Cas has worked through his shit, and he no longer feels the need to win her against me. We can share her without all the macho bullshit.

And Torsten… I’ve never seen my friend so happy. She just gets him.

She gets us.

Fergie’s wormed her way under our skin, and I know that one day she won’t just be my Duchess. She’ll be my Queen.

Everything is perfect.

Almost perfect. There’s only one small niggle in the back of my mind – a thread I can’t stop tugging on, even though I don’t like how it unravels me. The secret Torsten and I discovered about Fergie and her father’s fake identities.

I keep telling myself that it’s a coincidence. There are so many reasons why they might choose to forget their old lives that have nothing to do with the Triumvirate, but when I look at the timing of her arrival in Emerald Beach, I see only red flags flapping in the breeze.

I know what I have to do. I have to confront Fergie about it. I need answers, and I need them before Cas gets wind of what we know. Because Cas won’t think. If he believes for a moment that his mother’s in danger, he’ll strike first, and not even Fergie Munroe can survive the rampaging bear that is Cassius Dio’s hatred—

“There you are, big brother.”

Juliet throws her arms around me and nearly knocks me offbalance.

“Are you okay?” she whispers, squeezing me so tight I hear things in my spine crack.

“I’m better than okay.” I plaster a grin back on my face.
“Everything is falling perfectly into place.”

“Interesting take on things, but sure.” Juliet pulls back and studies my face as she falls in step beside me, her aristocratic features twisting in concern. Looking at Juliet is like looking at a funhouse mirror – I see my own sharp cheekbones, dark wavy hair, and icicle eyes reflected back at me, only twisted and contorted. My face but not my face. A crease appears between her eyes. “I didn’t expect you to be so chipper about this disaster, but maybe you’ve been listening to Gabe’s positive affirmation tapes.”

I stop in my tracks. My gym bag crashes against my side. I wrap my fingers around Juliet’s arm, squeezing a little harder than I intended. Something about her expression sends alarm bells jangling in my brain. A squirrelly feeling wriggles in my stomach. “What disaster?”

“You know, what that bitch Fergie did.”

“Excuse me?”

What the fuck did she just say?

Juliet steps back, her pink lips twisting into a frown. “You
don’t know?”

My stomach sinks into my knees. “Don’t know what? Juliet, has something happened to Fergie?”

The fear crushes me into the ground. It’s the same fear that took me the day Gemma refused to pick up her phone, or the day I waited outside school to walk Juliet home and she never came out.

I’m too late. I can’t save the people I love.

Juliet huffs. “Can you get any more behind? Fergie and her father aren’t who they say they are. They have fake names, fake identities. They’re connected to all this shit that’s been going down with the Triumvirate. I bet she even sent that parcel bomb—”

“Fergie wouldn’t send a bomb in the mail. She…” I trail off as understanding dawns in my sister’s eyes.

“You knew, didn’t you?” Juliet digs her fingers into my shoulders. Her nails bite my skin, but I can barely feel it, I’m so fucking worried. “Don’t lie to me, Victor August. You fucking knew about this. That’s why you’re not surprised. She’s been in my house, in my room. How could you know and keep this from me, from Mom?”

“Torsten and I know about their fake identities, but that doesn’t mean she’s connected to anything,” I say weakly. “We’re doing some more digging to get to the truth—”

“More digging? Jesus H. Christ, if you two amateur
gumshoes would stop thinking with your dicks for one second, you’d see that you’re digging your own fucking grave. Think about it.” Juliet ticks reasons off on her fingers. “One, they show up in town just as shit hits the fan with our parents. Two, Fergie has martial arts training. What use is that to a blind girl? Your answer is Three – she’s an excellent actress. Pretending to be blind is the perfect cover. Think of everything she might’ve seen simply because we didn’t think she could see it. Four—”

Rage bubbles in my veins. “None of that is evidence. And Fergie is blind, and don’t you ever imply otherwise. As for the rest of it, Torsten and I are investigating. We’ve got this. But in the meantime, you can’t tell Cassius because he’ll go full Bear and do something stupid. Innocent people change their identities all the time—”

“Innocent people don’t get this kind of fake identity – the kind you can only get from someone in our business. But you don’t have to worry, big brother,” she beams her sunshine smile up at me. “I’m taking care of you for a change.”

“Jules, what are you talking about? How do you know about this anyway?”

“Cas found out. He found her old IDs and put it all together. He’s not as dumb as you all seem to think. He couldn’t find either of you this morning, so he came to me.” She pats my arm. “We fixed it. Fergie won’t ever betray you again.”

“Fixed what—” Before I can get another word out, Xavier steps out in our path, waving his phone in his hand, a big grin on his stupid face.

“Hey Vic, looking good,” Xavier yells. “Why’d you never tell me about that swing of yours? Your teammates would love to try it out if your girlfriend’s up for it.”

“Did you get a go in her ass, too?” Miles calls out. “Or is that Cas’ territory? Because if he’s suddenly open to sharing…”

A cold, dark feeling settles in my stomach. “Juliet. What did you do?”

Juliet hands me her phone. “You can thank me with an
extravagant present. I prefer diamonds.”

I stare down at the screen as she starts a video playing. The post already has thousands of views, hundreds of comments. A familiar moan fills my ears as I stare down at my Duchess in my arms as I stroke her hair and tell her exactly what we’re going to do to her.

It’s security footage from the library, zoomed right in so thatFergie’s face is clearly visible as we tie her into the swing and lower her down on Torsten’s waiting cock.

For a brief moment, I think about the footage that’s leaked from our phones, the security breach Torsten is still trying to pinpoint, and a glimmer of hope flickers inside me. That maybe one of our enemies did this. That someone evil is responsible for the hurt this will cause Fergie, and all I have to do is punish them and everything will be okay.

That hope withers and dies.

Because Cas did this. Cas and Juliet.

My sister and my best friend might as well have taken a knife to Fergie’s skin in front of me, that’s how much this fucking hurts.

I squeeze my eyes shut and shove the phone back to Juliet.

“Turn it off.”

“Why?” She dials up the volume. Now Fergie’s moans echo, followed by my grunts and the hot SLAP of Cas’ hand against her ass. “Everyone needs to see that she’s nothing but a slutty gold-digger.”

“I can’t believe Cas did this.”

She snorts. “Do you think that ape is clever enough to think of a way to put her in her place? No, he ranted to me, and I asked him what the worst thing he could possibly do to her would be, and he said that she’d had a sex tape released once before and it ruined her life…”

…and it ruined her life…

Oh, Cas.

In that moment, I understood everything – why Fergie had hidden her identity from us, and why she was so determined to get into an Ivy League without us digging into her past. The only thing that makes no sense is why she trusted Cas with that secret. She had to know that he’d use it to destroy her.

“Jules, I’m begging you to turn that video off.”

“What’s wrong, Victor? You can’t handle the truth? Your pretty little plaything is a spy. She’s trying to destroy everything our parents fought for, everything our mother sacrificedto build.” Juliet’s lip wobbles – a classic sign that she’s aboutto blow. “I know you don’t see it now, but I did this for you. You’re supposed to rule Mom’s empire one day, Vic, and you can’t rule if you’re weak.”

Fuck.

Fuck.

Is that what she thinks? Is that truly what she fucking
thinks?

When this is over, you’ll be begging for my weakness, little sister.

I square my shoulders and allow every atom of my anger to appear on my face. Juliet cowers from me as I grab her wrist and snap, “Take me to Cas.”

“That’s not a good idea. I’ve got him locked away. He can’t—”

“Thank you for your concern,” I hiss through gritted teeth. “I know exactly what my friend must be like right now. Take me to him, sister dearest, before I do something I regret.”

Stonehurst Prep Elite
Book 1 - Poison Ivy
Book 2 - Poison Flower
Book 3 - Poison Kiss