Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 151097 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 755(@200wpm)___ 604(@250wpm)___ 504(@300wpm)
I could see my reflection in the glass partition behind my father, which separated this booth from the next one. He was wearing a brown suit, one of his finest, and his eyes were surprisingly subdued.
I relaxed my body into a lazy lounge when I sat across from him because I knew it would offend him.
“Son,” my father greeted first.
“Why are you here?”
“You were trying to get my attention, were you not?” He waved his hand. “Now you have it.”
“So you consider commandeering sixty percent of your operations in a matter of months, wanting your attention?”
My father visibly bristled at the reminder of how easily I’d cut off his nuts. “Don’t get cute, boy. You think still being alive is your doing? You think you’re protected? Careful? Hidden? I could have walked into your little love nest at Glainne and ended you and those whores anytime I wanted.”
I perked a brow as I sat back and signaled one of my associates for a drink. Kellan was my usual go-to, but right now, he was the only one besides Abel that I trusted with my girls. “So why didn’t you?”
“You are my heir,” he answered, glowering into his drink. “And I’m too old to make another.” When I said nothing, he lifted his glass before swallowing the last of the contents and slamming the tumbler back down. “Enough. Let’s get this over with.”
“Get what over with?” I still didn’t know why he requested this meeting. Malcolm Kilpatrick was not one to beg for mercy or make deals.
“You were more ruthless these last months than you’ve ever been your entire disappointing life,” he said instead of answering my question. “You didn’t let familial attachment get in the way of seizing strength. Watching you destroy me has been the only time since you were pulled from your mother that I’ve been proud to call you my son.”
I scratched my chin and merely said, “I had plenty of motivation. You met them once when you tried to take them from me.”
“Then you should have no problem killing me.”
I didn’t think it was possible for my father to stun me. “Excuse me?”
“I’m offering myself up for execution on one condition.”
“And that is?”
“You rid yourself of those whores. They are your weakness and a distraction. Walton’s daughter,” he said, referring to the oldest captean of the Torrance family, “is young, fertile, and knows her place. Marry her.”
“Not happening.”
“This isn’t a negotiation,” my father snapped.
“You’re right. It’s not,” I said, pulling my gun. “Because living without Hunter and Coby for one moment is not up for discussion. You came here for nothing. You were a dead man regardless, but at least you would have gone down swinging.”
“I didn’t come for nothing. Regardless of what happens here, my wishes will be carried out.”
A cold like nothing I’d ever felt washed over me as I stared at my father across the table. Malcolm Kilpatrick wasn’t one to mince words, which meant he was stalling. I didn’t have to question why.
“What did you do?”
“I sent someone to take care of the problem.”
I shot to my feet, but my father wasn’t done. Luckily, Abel had overheard every word and was already calling for a charter. It would take hours by car to reach them.
And even then, it might be too late.
“My final act as Boss will be to rid this family of its greatest threat. I gave you a chance to send them back to that hovel they came from, and you refused. You have only yourself to blame.”
I had my gun to his head before he even finished speaking. “Call them off.”
He slammed his fist on the table. “You think death scares me, boy? I came here to die. This was always how it was going to be. It’s been our legacy since James killed Rory.”
“Rory was hanged by a lynch mob,” I said through clenched teeth.
“He was murdered by his brother because even James knew love was for the weak. Your great-grandfather turned his grief into power, and his sacrifice is why we’ve thrived.”
“So everything I’ve been told about the Brothers of Rory—”
“Was a lie. I killed my father for the throne, and my father killed his. One day, your son will do the same and kill you,” he said with no small amount of glee.
My punishment for committing patricide would one day be meted out by my own child, and he wouldn’t know the vicious cycle he’d been born into until it was too late.
Until I gave him no choice.
“Blood in, blood out,” my father roared when I hesitated. “Now make your sacrifice!”
They were the last words he ever spoke. My face was the last he ever saw. And my growled, “Never,” was the last thing my father ever heard.
HUNTER
“Left hand, blue.”
I gritted my teeth and twisted my torso, stretching my right arm until my hand landed on the closest available circle—between Kellan’s legs. It was funny as hell to watch him grow increasingly agitated with each round that brought us closer and put us in compromising positions.