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“How?! I’m fucked! Even if I get the contract and save Eva, what happens?”
“I can pull some strings so that the contract is altered, and you’re bound to marry Eva instead of Emma,” he announces surprisingly. “It’ll be a hefty price to pay, but it would ensure Eva is off the market, especially with so many begging to marry her.”
“Begging to marry Eva?” I practically laugh. “You’re fucking lying.”
“Meaning you didn’t see the cover of Forbes Elite released today?” he tosses and watches my fake smile fall flat. “That’s what I thought.”
He chuckles and enjoys his cigar.
“I’m gonna get that printed nice and big. A proud piece of imagery to put on the wall for fellow empire mates to see. My daughter with the Albrecht royal. Good marriage material. His folks called to inquire about her status. I said it would be revealed at the gala.”
Ares… wants to fucking marry Eva?
“That can’t happen!” I snap, feeling a seething force of jealousy.
“And it won’t if you stop wasting opportunities and get to the car that’s waiting for you.”
“Wait. If I don’t have access here…”
“Means you’ll just have to give Molly a valid reason as to why you need to see me.”
“My own father,” I seethe. “I’m your son! I should be able to come to you if I need aid.”
“You’re an adult who has to be able to create his own fucking empire from the ground up before thinking you have the BALLS to be in the same room as me. Let alone breathe the same oxygen!” he snaps and rises from his seat, pointing to the door. “Now get the fuck out of my household, and don’t come back unless you’re ready to be married off to secure our alliance with Prescott!”
I don’t test his patience, knowing if I don’t move fast enough, he’ll do what he’s done in the past to previous clients who didn’t heed his warning.
Take the loaded gun from the bottom drawer and fire it three times.
“You’ll regret siding with them,” I whisper and walk backward, knowing damn well to never turn my back on my father. “Just you wait.”
He simply smiles.
“I’ll be waiting.”
38
SET UP TO FAIL
~DOMINO~
“No…” I whisper the word as the car skids to a stop.
I’m not the only one getting out of the car, baffled by the sight that’s before our eyes. I want to believe it’s not real. That this is a hallucination after a day of intense stress on my poor brain.
I’d be foolish to believe in my hopeful delusions.
“S-Sir Leighton. Your house… the mansion…”
“Is no more,” I whisper as I stare at the piles of ash, streams of smoke still drifting upward to the night sky. I feel a wave of numbness as I realize why this is happening.
He doesn’t want me to prove my innocence. He wants me out of the way so no one will claim what he’s built…
“I need to get to Leighton U,” I whisper, only to look back and see the driver starting the car.
With one look back at the remains of what used to harbor me and the others, I can only wonder what happened to their belongings. Did they also burn into ash? What about the staff?Someone had to have told them this was going to happen. To evacuate, or else the authorities would be involved.
Biting my bottom lip, I can only think of the various possibilities.
