Fallen Legacy

FALLEN LEGACY A Dark High School Romance HAWK BAY DUET BOOK II CARA E HOLT CONTENTS Note To The Reader Chapter 1 Chapter 2 Chapter 3 Chapter 4 Chapter 5 Chapter 6 Chapter 7 Chapter 8 Chapter 9 Chapter 10 Chapter 11 Chapter 12 Chapter 13 Chapter 14 Chapter 15 Chapter 16 Chapter 17 Chapter 18 Chapter 19 Chapter 20 Chapter 21 Chapter 22 Chapter 23 Chapter 24 Chapter 25 Chapter 26 Chapter 27 Chapter 28 Chapter 29 Chapter 30 Chapter 31 Chapter 32 Chapter 33 Chapter 34 Chapter 35 Chapter 36 Epilogue The End Books By Cara E. Holt Upcoming Books About the Author Published by Cara E. Holt Copyright ©2023 by Cara E. Holt No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved. License notes. This book is an original work of fiction. Names, characters, places and events are the product of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons or events is purely coincidental. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or used in any manner without the written permission of the publisher, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Cover Design: Haelah Rice Covers. Formatting: Haelah Rice Covers. Editing: Runyard Editorial Services. NOTE TO THE READER This book is meant for those age eighteen and above. It contains swearing, sex, and scenes that some may find triggering, including, death, kidnap, threats, intimidation, violence, and use of knives. If you are sensitive to any of the above triggers, please think twice before continuing. ELIZA It’s been four days since I packed my things and up and left the Alderman mansion. Silver hasn’t pushed me for information. He’s just let me be. I’ve spent these last two days wallowing. Drowning in pain. Angry at myself for being such a fool, and angry at the people that have used and betrayed me. Truth is, I was never really one of them. How could I be? I didn’t grow up with them; they have a loyalty to each other that I will never be granted. Whilst I have been sitting here drowning in my feelings, I have wondered how different my life might have been had I grown up here. Would I have just gone along with the engagement like it was nothing? I miss my brother, Kit. Him not standing by me has been the hardest part to process. For the last four years it’s been just the two of us. We have relied on each other and no one else. As much as I am angry at him, I understand. Kit has yearned for a family and somewhere to belong and he’s so desperate for it he can’t see the manipulation and lies. I’m not sure what my next steps are. I’ve contemplated ringing Hayley, my old social worker, and telling her everything. I mean, there are laws against this kind of thing; but then would she believe me? Wilbur is a well-respected man. Why would anyone believe a washed-up teenager like me over someone like him? There’s a knock on the bedroom door and Silver appears in the doorway. He tilts his head and observes me sitting in bed, twisting a piece of tissue round and round in my hands. He shakes his head and comes into the room, standing at the foot of the bed. “Okay, I’ve let you do the whole self-pity party for four days now, princess. Enough is enough. Time to shake it off, pull up those big-girl pants and face the world.” He grabs the duvet and yanks it off me. “Come on, up. You need a shower.” “Can’t you just leave me be?” I whine, trying to reach for the duvet, which he throws on the floor. “Can I at least have one more day of wallowing and then I promise I’ll sort myself out?” “No,” he says with a firm shake of his head. “This isn’t the fiery girl I met just a couple of months ago. Whatever has gone on, princess, you are a fighter. Don’t let them dampen that spirit.” I chew on my lip and nod my head. I know he is right. This isn’t me. “I feel broken,” I admit to him, keeping my eyes on the shredded tissue in my hands. Silver comes round and sits on the side of the bed. He places a finger under my chin and raises my face, forcing me to look at him. “You’re not broken Eliza. You’ve taken a knock and now you get back up and you come back stronger than ever.” He pats my leg. “Come on, up. I’m taking you out.” “Ugh, where?” I groan. I’m not in the mood to face the outside world. “Just get dressed and meet me downstairs. I’m not taking no for an answer.” He strides out the room, and the fucker takes the duvet with him, making sure I can’t bunker back down underneath it and continue my pity-party. With all the energy I can muster, I swing my legs out of bed and head for the en-suite. Time to look like a human being again. * * * We’ve been driving for about twenty minutes, and I still have no clue where we are going, and Silver is keeping stum about it. I turn the radio on because the silence makes all the noise going on in my head feel ten times louder. Silver grumbles at the song on the radio and changes the station. He grins and turns up the volume and starts singing at the top of his voice. “Come on, princess. I know you know this one. Sing it with me,” he says with an infectious grin that has me fighting a smile. “Sing it with me.” I roll my eyes but join in with him; I think I even break a genuine smile for the first time in the last four days Silver takes one hand off the steering wheel and starts