The Scarlett Legacy (Woodland Creek) by Woodland Creek, K.N. Lee Read Free Book Online Page A

wearing on her. She was forty-nine, but usually looked to be in her late thirties. Tonight the dark circles under her blue eyes made her look her true age.
    He hoped she was all right. She’d kept a smile on her face during dinner. They had been victorious in getting rid of Hugh Prince and his entire family, but it still wasn’t enough to bring his father back.
    Adelaide had married his father when she was only nineteen and they had been in such a deep love that Wes sought to find the same for himself.
    He had found that love in Olivia…and more. She had the power to do things that a wizard couldn’t, which made her invaluable.
    Still, even love couldn’t keep his darkness at bay. The things he had done would haunt him forever.
    Wes sighed, images of the Prince twins strewn across the pavement, only feet away from the car they’d crashed.
    The car he crashed with his power.
    He was a monster, but one the rest of his family needed. Perhaps soon everything would return to normal and he would never be forced to step out of character again.
    No amount of magic could erase the images of his father’s dead body. The responsible parties had met their judgment. Wes and his mother had executed their revenge in ways that shook Woodland Creek.
    “Goodnight,” Olivia said. They watched her walk up the stone steps to the front entrance of Scarlett Hall. “Is she okay?”
    He looked down at Olivia, her black hair blowing in the wind as thunder crackled across the black sky.
    “She is just taxed by everything that has happened. She’ll be okay once the media turns its attention to something other than our family.”
    Olivia’s face looked worried. Her brows furrowed as she looked up at him.
    “We did all that we could. The town is rid of any competition. Now what?”
    Wes kept his face blank as he looked at her. Competition didn’t concern him. He would continue to run the lab as well as take up his father’s underground business of arms dealing and the assigning of assassins around the world. All of the other areas of the business would be put to an end.
    That wasn’t the problem.
    He kissed her forehead. She still didn’t know that their meeting hadn’t been by chance. She’d practically been recruited. He’d never bring it up that he knew of each and every dignitary and spy she’d assassinated.
    “We wait,” he said, his eyes darkening as he looked off to the forest. “There’s still one more Prince to deal with.”

 
    MAYBE THEY HAD all gone mad. It didn’t matter. A century old feud would end.
                  Olivia followed him to the white double doors straight through the front porch.
    Inside Scarlett Hall darkness welcomed them. The main staircase wrapped upward around a single pillar to the two other floors of the house. On either side below the stairs were two corridors that led to different parts of the house; the library and den, and the kitchen, parlor, and dining hall.
    Sandy, their house manager—a woman in her late forties with short blonde hair and thin blue eyes, waited in the shadows. She knew better than to turn on the lights. Adelaide enjoyed darkness, and so most rooms were kept dark or dim when she was around.
    “How was dinner?”
    Wes handed her his coat. “Fine,” he said and headed to the winding staircase that began in the front entryway.
    “Sir,” Sandy called.
    He paused.
    “Yes?”
    “You have a guest.”
    Olivia and he shared a look, then looked back at Sandy.
    “Who?”
    “A gentleman, Miss Evelyse drove him here from town.”
    William’s jaw tightened.
    “Did you think to ask who he was?”
    Sandy wrung her hands. She shook her head.
    “He just said you’d be expecting him.”
    Wes stared at her, realization flooding his body. He swallowed. Perhaps it all would end tonight. He nodded to Olivia.
    “Go to bed, honey. I’ll be up soon.”
    Olivia looked hesitant. She put a hand on his. “Are you sure? Should I go with you?”
    “It’s fine. Go