Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 92254 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 461(@200wpm)___ 369(@250wpm)___ 308(@300wpm)
She sneers. “Maybe not to you.”
“You brought this on yourself. You realize that, don’t you?”
“I’ve only been doing what I feel is right.”
“You tried to kill me. I wanted to negotiate, and you stabbed me instead.”
“I was defending myself.”
“Auntie, please. Don’t bullshit me. I have a gun pointed at your skull. You have no power anymore.”
Her stony expression wavers. There’s real fear in her eyes. She knows what’s going to happen. She understands this is the only way. Aunt Sona’s smart, and if our positions were reversed, she’d pull the trigger.
“How were we supposed to follow you after what you did to your father? You betrayed him, Arsen. You accepted the help from an outside crime syndicate, and you killed him.”
“Did you ever ask yourself why?”
“Power. Control. Money. I don’t care. The usual reasons.”
“No, Sona. I did it because of the scars.”
Her mouth twitches and she glances away. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Yes, you do. I did it because of the hell he put me through. You knew about it too, didn’t you?”
“Your father was a hard man,” she murmured. “I didn’t always agree with his disciplinary choices.”
“He had his soldiers beat me. They stabbed me, burned me, cut me. They treated me like a dog.”
“What does that have to do with anything?”
“I killed him because he didn’t deserve to stand at the head of the Brotherhood. He viciously bullied and brutalized his own child. He wasn’t worthy of the title patron.”
And just like that, I could see myself clearly, as if I were standing across the room and watching this scene play out.
My father wasn’t worthy of running the Brotherhood because he treated his own family like cattle.
And I’m doing the same thing.
The circumstances aren’t exactly aligned. Aunt Sona and Uncle Garen betrayed me and started a war against me, whereas my father was on some kind of sick power trip. But still, it’s the same.
If I kill her now, I won’t be worthy of running the Brotherhood.
I might hate her. I might want to do it so badly it hurts.
But I also love her because she’s my blood.
I took over the Brotherhood because I wanted to be better than my father.
How can I say I’m changing things if I become just like him?
“You’re not going to do it,” she says quietly, her eyes going wide. “You can’t do it.”
“Sona—”
She lunges sideways, grabbing for her purse. She nearly pulls a gun before I kick her in the wrist and stomp down on her hand. She screams in pain, and I bring down the butt of my gun, bashing her in the head.
Blood seeps from a wound. It doesn’t knock her out, but it stuns her.
“Restrain her,” I order.
Aaron comes over with zip ties and wraps them around Sona’s wrists. “What now, Patron?”
“Take her. Bring her back to my property. I’ll deal with her there.”
He looks uncertain. “Are you sure? What about these witnesses?”
I walk over to the counter and drop a big stack of cash. “There are no witnesses. Just a bunch of smart people that know better than to get involved with dangerous men.”
Aaron grunts and lifts Sona up off her feet. He carries her on his shoulder, and she looks so fucking old and frail.
I could’ve done it. Pulling the trigger would’ve all but guaranteed an end to the fight. Garen would’ve been livid, but he’s not clever or strong enough to keep fighting on his own.
But there has to be a better way. I can’t murder my own blood relatives, no matter how angry I am with them.
I’m not my father. I won’t ever be my father.
I can build a better future and a stronger Brotherhood.
Chapter 33
Lena
I’m on edge the rest of the day until there’s a commotion downstairs. Maud tries to run interference, but it’s obvious something’s going on. “It’s just work,” she says as I head toward the stairs.
“Are you going to stick a needle in my arm to keep me from bothering him?”
Her eyebrows raise. “I’m thinking about it.”
I tilt my chin up, showing her my throat. “Go ahead then.”
“That’s a bit dramatic.” Her smile seems almost proud of me. “I could just jab you in the arm.”
I grin at her and brush past. She doesn’t try to stop me. Weirdly, I get the feeling Maud respects me for standing up to her. At least, I hope so.
Otherwise, she’s going to put something in my food, and I’ll end up dying a week later or something crazy.
There are half a dozen men down in the foyer. Most of them are lounging around, but they all nod to me respectfully. I find Tigran in the kitchen pouring drinks and beaming like he just won the lottery. “There she is,” he says, raising a glass of wine in my direction. “Come on, have a drink with us.”