The Affection Exchange System - Chapter 7

Chapter 7 My employees looked angrier than I felt, which I appreciated. However, I didn't want to give away my plan too early, so I just kept nodding along. "Give me some time. Let me think this through." When they saw me finally soften, they agreed to let me go. Even so, they kept warning me the whole way out. "You need to cut ties with them, Mr. Sterling, once and for all!" "Those two are bad news. Trust us on this!" I made it home through a barrage of warnings. The second I walked through the door, I pulled out the listening device.

If I'd guessed right, the two of them would meet up with Derek right after this. What exactly was going on between the three of them? I waited patiently, listening for any sound from the other end. Hours later, Derek finally showed up. He barely got _through the door before he slapped both Raine and Skye across the face. "Have you two lost your minds? How could you humiliate me like that in front of everyone?" Raine and Skye shrieked back. "We agreed this was just about taking Julian down! Why the hell did you sleep with us while we were under the system's control?" Derek froze. "Wait.

You two have you regained your own will?? That's impossible! My contract with Juliar is a blood pact. There's no way he could have broken free of my control." I let out a long breath. Just like I'd suspected, it really was blood-based. The transfusions had been brutal, but they had freed me from Derek's grip completely. Raine and Skye were stunned, too shaken to even bother confronting Derek about what he had done. Instead, they grabbed him and demanded to know what they were supposed to do now. Derek let out a dry laugh. "Relax. Julian's a soft-hearted idiot. Hasn't he alread) forgiven you?

"He's already ordered everyone not to spread the story around. So at the press conference, all you have to do is come running in crying and flip the whole story. "Say he forced himself on you, that he wants to keep both of you for himself. That'll destroy the Sterling family for good, and you'll get exactly what you wanted." After a few more instructions on exactly how to phrase their accusations, Derek hurried off. Then came the sisters' own conversation. "Are we going too far with this? The Sterlings did raise us..." "Don't get soft on me now, not after everything!

You know why they raised us, right? So we could be his brides someday! They dress it up as saving our lives, but they were just raising us from childhood to be his wives! "We could have lived happy, easy lives. Instead, they stripped away our freedom, trapped us in that house, forced us to study for exams, made us watch our figures, learn instruments, and even do flower arranging. Have you forgotten how suffocating it was growing up in that house?" I listened to their bitter accusations in silence, and something in my chest went cold.