Cruel Legacy Read online

  Cruel Legacy

  Cruel Book Three

  K.A. Linde

  Copyright © 2019 by K.A. Linde

  All rights reserved.

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  Visit my website at

  www.kalinde.com

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  Cover Designer: Sarah Hansen, Okay Creations, www.okaycreations.com

  Photography: Sara Eirew Photography,

  www.saraeirew.com

  Editor: Jovana Shirley, Unforeseen Editing,

  www.unforeseenediting.com

  * * *

  No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the written permission of the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

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  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

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  ISBN-13: 978-1948427265

  A L S O B Y K. A. L I N D E

  CRUEL

  One Cruel Night

  Cruel Money

  Cruel Fortune

  Cruel Legacy

  * * *

  WRIGHTS

  The Wright Brother ✦ The Wright Boss

  The Wright Mistake ✦ The Wright Secret

  The Wright Love ✦ The Wright One

  * * *

  AVOIDING SERIES

  Avoiding Commitment ✦ Avoiding Responsibility

  Avoiding Temptation

  * * *

  Avoiding Extras

  Avoiding Intimacy ✦Avoiding Decisions

  * * *

  RECORD SERIES

  Off the Record ✦ On the Record ✦ For the Record

  Struck from the Record ✦ Broken Record

  * * *

  DIAMOND GIRLS SERIES

  Rock Hard ✦ A Girl’s Best Friend

  In the Rough ✦ Shine Bright

  Under Pressure

  * * *

  TAKE ME DUET

  Take Me for Granted ✦ Take Me with You

  * * *

  BLOOD TYPE SERIES

  Blood Type ✦ Blood Match ✦ Blood Cure

  * * *

  ASCENSION SERIES

  The Affiliate ✦ The Bound

  The Consort ✦ The Society

  The Domina

  * * *

  STAND ALONE

  Following Me

  Contents

  I. It All Started At A Masquerade In Manhattan

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  II. Tricks Of The Trade

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  III. Revenge Is A Dish

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Chapter 17

  Chapter 18

  Chapter 19

  Chapter 20

  Chapter 21

  Chapter 22

  Chapter 23

  Chapter 24

  IV. Best Served Cold

  Chapter 25

  Chapter 26

  Chapter 27

  Chapter 28

  Chapter 29

  Chapter 30

  Chapter 31

  V. King’s To You

  Chapter 32

  Chapter 33

  Chapter 34

  Chapter 35

  Chapter 36

  Chapter 37

  Chapter 38

  Chapter 39

  Chapter 40

  Chapter 41

  Epilogue

  The Lying Season

  Acknowledgments

  Also By K.A. Linde

  About the Author

  To ‘The Count of Monte Cristo’

  Revenge never looked so good.

  Part I

  It All Started At A Masquerade In Manhattan

  Chapter 1

  Natalie

  Elizabeth,

  We met last month at Trinity for Jane Devney’s club opening in Midtown. I was wearing a one-of-a-kind Cunningham Couture piece, and I’m reaching out to you today at your insistence. I will be attending Jane’s New Year’s Eve Masquerade and want something to blow everyone away. Something no one else has seen. And you’re the only one I’d go to for this.

  I’ll be back to the city for a fitting the day of, but you already have my measurements. Have your assistant reach out if you need anything.

  Best,

  Natalie

  “I’m still shocked you had the balls to send that,” Amy muttered. “You sound like an entitled brat.”

  “Reality check, Ames. That’s the level of confidence and bravado she’s used to dealing with.”

  “Don’t get me wrong, I’m impressed. You didn’t even give her an option to say no.”

  I chewed on my bottom lip. No, I hadn’t. I’d rewritten the email about a hundred times before I got the tone right. The self-righteous, take-no-bullshit attitude that demanded and didn’t request. While also including enough flattery that Elizabeth would give me a chance.

  A chance was all I needed anyway. Because without Elizabeth’s business card, I wouldn’t have a dress. Unless I asked Jane, and I wasn’t ready for that yet.

  “Well, it worked at least,” I said to Amy.

  “Fuck yes, it did.”

  I’d been afraid it wouldn’t. Either Elizabeth’s assistant hadn’t bothered to check with her before agreeing to the dress or, as I’d suspected, she and Katherine Van Pelt weren’t as close as family just because they were now both married to Percy men.

  I didn’t care which it was. Either was good for me right now.

  We took the elevator to Elizabeth’s studio and strode through the glass door as if I owned the place. I’d thought that it would be a disaster zone, as it had been backstage for the fashion show at Trinity. But without the models, the studio was a well-oiled machine. Elizabeth’s assistant barked out orders like a drill sergeant. Sewing machines hummed. Fabric covered the space. Final details were being sewed onto mannequins. Row after row of purple Cunningham Couture garment bags hung on racks, and a half-dozen sumptuous gowns were still waiting for final approval.

  I cleared my throat. “Excuse me.”

  Amy shot me a look and mumbled under her breath, “One more time with feeling.”

  Jesus, she was right. I couldn’t half-ass this first encounter. I had to make them believe it. But this came about as naturally to me as it did Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix Lestrange when they infiltrated Gringotts.

  “I’m here for my fitting. Let’s get this over with. I have a busy day ahead of me,” I snapped.

  Elizabeth’s assistant jerked his attention toward us. His look of annoyance immediately shifted to a welcoming mask. “Miss Bishop, you made it.” He strode across the busy room and took my hand. “Pleasure to meet you again.” He shook Amy’s hand next. “I’m Pierre, executive assistant to Elizabeth Cunningham. Come right this way. We secured a private room for you to check your dress before the event tonight.”

  “Perfect,” I said.

  We entered a brightly lit dressing room.

  “Make yourselves comfortable. I’m going to bring the dress in. Elizabeth picked out an exquisite piece for you.”

  Amy and I exchanged a
look. So, Elizabeth did know. Interesting.

  Pierre exited back to the main room, leaving us alone to investigate. Champagne chilled in an ice bucket on a table filled with finger food and tiny French pastries. Amy helped herself. In a second, I had a mimosa in hand. I left her to the indulgent treats that I probably needed to forego if I wanted to fit into this dress. A full week of nothing but cake frosting straight from the container was probably not going to help my figure. Though it had helped my mental state.

  I held my glass aloft as I stepped onto a pedestal before a trifold mirror. The figure looking back at me showed my thin face, baby-blue eyes, and pink lips, the Cupid’s bow as prominent as ever. My silvery-white locks flowed down over my shoulders, covering my breasts in the plain white T-shirt and black jeans I’d donned for the occasion. Amy had done research and decided that was what models wore to these sorts of things.

  And while I saw myself looking back, I didn’t feel like myself.

  A week ago, I’d been dating Lewis Warren, hoping against hope that we had some sort of future in this messed up Upper East Side world. Instead, it turned out that he’d kept a file on me that revealed how he’d manipulated me into dating him and then stalked me. He’d photographed me back home in Charleston, purchased my building here in New York, watched video surveillance of my apartment, and most demoralizing, gone behind my back to read my manuscripts. Something I found beyond unforgivable. When we’d broken up, he’d gone even further and ruined any chance of my dream career as an author. I was blacklisted.

  Between that and Katherine revealing my pen name, my world had shattered. And I was being pieced back together out of order. Into a deep, dark, vengeful version of the Natalie I had been. The one that said I was ready to burn this city to the ground, and nothing would stop me.

  “So, what are you going to do about Penn?”

  I sighed out heavily. “I’ll handle it.”

  Amy stared at me in a way that said exactly what she thought about that. Before she could voice her concerns, Pierre reappeared then with a purple garment bag. He unzipped it to reveal a long, flowing gown that made my eyes widen with both excitement and alarm.

  “Whoa,” Amy whispered from across the room.

  “That’s…wow.”

  “You did say you wanted to blow everyone away.”

  I nodded mutely.

  There was a twinkle in Pierre’s eye as if he had been waiting for someone this daring. “Well, this is the dress.”

  I scanned it, admiring the simplicity coupled with its inherent boldness. A statement number that said I wasn’t slinking away into the shadows and letting the Upper East Side chew me up and spit me out. I was here to play.

  “Let’s do it.”

  * * *

  A few hours later, I pulled up to Trinity in a limo. Nerves quaked through my body, but I refused to let it show. Not for this crowd.

  Flashes went off at the first glimpse of my Louboutin heel and continued as they took in my daring Elizabeth Cunningham gown. The mostly sheer material fell down my body in a form-fitting sheath, giving it the appearance of artful lingerie. Black accents covered my full breasts and ran down the middle of my body. They crawled up from my feet as if I stood in a ring of black flames. It was fitting, as I was rising up from the ashes.

  My fingers moved to the edge of my black lace mask that obscured the upper half of my face, and I checked to make sure it was secure. I hastily dropped my hand and stepped into the spotlight.

  Alone.

  Alone for the very first time.

  Every time I’d ever made this sort of appearance in the past, I’d had an Upper East Sider crutch to help me through it. First, Katherine, then Penn, and then Lewis or Jane. But now, it was just me. Just me taking on the world. And I wasn’t going to cower.

  I raised my chin, put a devilish smirk on my cherry-red-painted lips, and stepped into the spotlight.

  Despite the fact that I hadn’t been born into this life and had no real money of my own, my name was on their lips. The scandal from last week had given me a sense of notoriety. If I hadn’t returned, perhaps I would have floated away into obscurity, but since I was here, now I was someone. All on my own.

  The crew had given me that. Penn had given me that by drawing me into this world with a bet. Katherine had given me that by making me a pet project and then a household name. Lewis had given me that simply by putting me on the arm of a Warren. Even Jane had given me a piece of it by including me, befriending me.

  And she was the one who had told me to fake it. I intended to heed her advice.

  I posed for a few carefully positioned pictures, slowly making my way up the red carpet. Giving everyone a view of the dress, of me.

  Take your fill, boys.

  I shot them one more devious smile and then stepped across the threshold into Trinity. It was bustling with partygoers. I had no idea who would be here tonight. Which Upper East Siders I would run into during this. But I wasn’t here for them. I was here to be seen and photographed and gossiped about. Mission accomplished.

  A passing waiter offered me a glass of champagne, which I took with relish. I could do this. I could see through the glossy shine of this world. The rhinestone society polished to look like diamonds.

  Money couldn’t hide the sewage, and when I was done with them, money wouldn’t save them from it either.

  Now for the real fun.

  I withdrew my phone from the matching black clutch and read the waiting text from Penn.

  I’m here. You didn’t really give me specifics. Where should I meet you?

  My lips curled in excitement as I sent my reply.

  Do you want to play a game?

  I’m listening…

  If you can find me, you can have me.

  Chapter 2

  Natalie

  This was the moment that would determine it all.

  Would Penn play the game? Would he chase me here, as I suspected he would? He’d said that he wanted this. That he would wait for me. But a week of radio silence as I’d figured out my next move meant anything could happen.

  Especially considering what had happened to me.

  I wasn’t the same person I’d been when we had sex in that hotel suite at The Plaza. I wasn’t the same person who had turned him away because I wasn’t ready for a relationship. I was someone…something else entirely.

  I didn’t know where that left me.

  Let alone us.

  But I dared to find out.

  I had to.

  My eyes skimmed the crowd as I sipped my glass of champagne. My dress drew looks like a moth to a flame. People whispering behind their hands. I was sure they were explaining who I was. The risk I’d taken in showing up tonight. And I just tilted my chin up and let them look, let them talk. With luck, it’d get back to the people I wanted it to. It would snowball from there.

  I smiled viciously at the thought of Katherine’s face when she found out that I was back in the city. But that wasn’t here or now.

  I couldn’t predict how Katherine would react. But I was making my own way now. No longer waiting with the ball in her court.

  Right now, I needed to focus on Penn.

  My phone buzzed, and I glanced down at the message that had come in from him.

  Fuck.

  I laughed despite myself.

  Yes, that’s the idea.

  What are you wearing?

  That’s cheating.

  Any hints?

  I took another sip and tried to reel in the giddy feeling at the center of my chest. Penn was dangerous in every way to my heart. But I figured I should give him something.

  I flipped to the camera and took a picture of the crown necklace dangling at my throat. The crown that he had given me a year ago. The crown that I’d thrown at his feet when I found out about the goddamn bet. The crown that he’d returned to me when he decided to pursue me again.

  Even though my heart still skipped when I was near him, I’d been certain that I’d
never go back to him. Never allow myself to fall into his trap again. And yet, here I was, in his necklace. Maybe I’d catch him in my trap this time.

  I approve.

  The pad of my finger traced his comment before I returned the phone to my clutch. He’d find me. I was sure of it. Not that I intended to make it easy for him.

  I went looking for him in hopes of drawing out our game and the anticipation. But I found Jane first.