First Episode

The Cost of Power is set in an alternative universe from the main Martiniere Legacy series. In this book, I take a closer look at the mind control technology and…the relationship between Gabe and his father Philip ends up being different.

Additionally, Gabe tells Ruby who he really is much, much earlier than in the main Martiniere Legacy series.

Most of all, I’m freeforming this story. I somewhat know where it’s going to go, but how it unfolds depend on what happens with Gabe, Philip, Ruby, and Justine once they get on a roll in this particular setting.

UPDATE, April 21, 2023 : Given where I am in this story drafting-wise (approximately 60,000 words), THERE WILL BE A SECOND BOOK. No way can I wrap up what I’m doing here in 40,000 more words. Things are gonna happen with Philip, Gabe, Ruby, and the Martiniere Multiverse, and I don’t want to cut the Multiverse elements that start coming into the story. This may be the series that resolves the entire Multiverse element of the Martiniere stories.

Now whether that book gets serialized here or not…we shall see.

Enjoy! This is part five of Chapter Six. There will be six parts to this chapter.

July, 2033

RUBY

As it turned out, Cari had watched Criminal Injustice, and recognized Gabe from the trial footage. So after several rounds of OMG Ruby it’s for real, your Gabe is Gabriel Martiniere and OMG you’re getting married to him, Ruby was able to reserve the Thunder Mountain Ranch for the Wednesday through Friday after Thunder County Days.

Then she called her best friend from college, Linda Coates, to serve as a bridesmaid. For a ceremony like this, she needed at least two attendants. Remy and Linda would be perfect.

Kendra and Justine joined her on the phone with Linda as they discussed dresses, switching to video so they could share images. Kendra smoothly took over the process of planning the outfits.

“It’s a short turnaround so we’ll have to deal with off-the-rack items,” she said at one point.

“You know, I think I’ve seen the perfect dress for Ruby just recently, from my favorite designer,” Justine said. “Strapless, taffeta, tan, with metalwork embroidery that looks like little red roses on twining vines. It’s a full, ankle-length skirt.” She brought it up on her projection. “What do you think? Maybe we can get it in white—”

Ruby inhaled sharply, not just at the price but at the beauty of the dress. “I don’t care if it comes in white. Tan works.”

After they agreed that this was the dress, Kendra took over the process of ordering it and setting up a rush fitting appointment for Ruby in Paris next week. She and Linda spoke further, bringing Remy into the call to talk about their dresses.

Justine sat back, half-smiling as she leaned over to Ruby, keeping her voice low so she wouldn’t disturb Kendra’s conversation. “Amazing, just amazing,” she said. “Gabie back. Getting married. The two of us becoming the Martinieres-in-waiting. If anyone had told me this would happen even twenty-four hours ago, I wouldn’t have believed it.”

“Things are moving pretty fast.”

“Yeah.” Justine was silent for a moment before continuing. “I still don’t know what to think about it all. The Board—I figured when Uncle Gerry brought up the option that Gabie might want to share the title, they would find a way to reject it. Instead the Board accepted that possibility without argument. Then there’s Daddy-damned-dearest. My father does not normally talk like he did in that phone call this morning. There’s more going on than I know about, and I don’t like that. Something big has gone wrong. Something he hasn’t talked about.”

“That’s what Gabe said to me. The Braun situation?”

Justine nodded curtly. “Possibly. I had to sit through a session of Daddy-poo raging about Gabie just last week. So whatever’s happened has just occurred. And it’s bad enough that he’ll drop past attitudes to ally with Gabie. Oh, that’s a typical Martiniere setup, where Family enemies become allies over a threat to the Family, but all the same, I wish I knew just how the hell Joey plays into this scenario. He’s up to something. Maybe he’s what has gone wrong. I hope not, but—damn it, at least now I have a good brother. Not just the ass.”

Icy fingers clutched in Ruby’s gut, and she didn’t think this was just pregnancy. What could they be facing now?

You told Gabe you were in it with him, no matter what, she reminded herself. This is the Martiniere life. Get used to it.

#

Lunch was delivered, to Ruby’s surprise—an assortment of vegetarian and meat pizzas from Hey There Cowboy Pizza, enough not just for them but for the security staff.

“Test transaction on one card that’s being difficult,” Gabe explained when he emerged from the dining room to warn her about the delivery. “Plus, given everything we’re trying to do today, I wanted to save the time rather than try to figure out how to feed all of us.”

“You’re gonna spoil my diet, Gabie!” Justine scolded, though she grinned at him. “All those carbs!”

“We’ll make up for it at dinner. Brought some steaks out to thaw so we’ll grill those, get some greens from the garden if we have enough—do we, Rubes? If not, we have frozen veggies. Home-grown.”

Ruby frowned. “Not enough for all of us here plus the security staff.” She wasn’t ready to draw down their reserves just yet. What if something went wrong?

“They’ll get their own food for dinner—I wanted to order pizza for everyone to make the order big enough to really test that damn card.”

“Then we’re good,” Ruby said.

“I wanna check the receipt when it gets here. Call me, okay, Rubes?”

“I will.”

After that it was a flurry of grabbing plates and preparing to eat in the dining room—the only table big enough to hold everyone present.

Melinda Peters, the owner of Hey There Cowboy Pizza, supervised the delivery herself. Ruby suspected she wanted to snoop—Melinda had been one of the biggest gossips at Thunder County High School, in the same class as Remy, two years ahead of Ruby. Her furtive whisper to Ruby as she followed the two teens hauling pizzas into the kitchen confirmed it.

“Your Gabe’s really the Gabriel Martiniere?”

“Uh-huh. Seen the birth certificate, passport, and driver’s license.” Ruby turned her head to call toward the dining room. “Gabe? Pizzas are here.”

It was hard to keep her face straight and not burst out laughing when she saw how Melinda’s eyes had widened.

“Oh my God.”

“Yep, and we’re getting married after Thunder County Days. At the Thunder Mountain Ranch.”

Oh, it was so worth it to see the expression on Melinda’s face at that. Both Ruby and Remy had made it onto the Thunder County Days Rodeo Court when Melinda didn’t, and Melinda had been buddies with Jeannie Barkley. The two of them had bullied Ruby and Remy.

Ruby was willing to bet that Melinda would be on the phone to Jeannie as soon as she left the Double R Ranch. At least Melinda knew better than to bring Jeannie along on the pretext that she needed help with the delivery, but used two of her regular employees.

Melinda simpered as Gabe came into the kitchen.

He ignored her as he checked the tab, then extracted four boxes from the pile, after checking the contents. “That should cover what we need in here. Take the rest—ah, good, Lance, there you are. Have the kids take the pizzas to where your people want to eat.”

Melinda reluctantly followed the teens out the door.

Gabe smirked at Ruby when she was gone. “So did you tell her we were getting married?”

“Sure did.”

He laughed. “Well, the word should be going out on the local gossip wire within seconds. Want to bet how long it’ll take before Jeannie or your aunt Grace start slinking around here trying to borrow money or kiss up to me for favors?”

“Not long enough,” Ruby sighed. Then turned her attention toward coordinating lunch.

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