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I obviously didn’t know him, knew nothing.
“He helped me bring you back here and did pay for it with his life,” he said. “Like I said, a good man. He was willing to fall on the sword so I could get what I needed. His debt paid.”
So, Callum was in on it the whole time, Godfrey faking his death… everything.
“You haven’t said why you brought me back.” I stood, noticing eyes on me. Lucas was still here, but I didn’t fucking care. I swallowed. “You got what you wanted. My money. Power.” My voice quivered, laced with emotion. “Why bother bringing me back to my family?”
For that question, Lucas interceded again. He pulled something out of his jacket, giving it to me. It was a picture of me, but one taken without my consent. I was sketching on the old stoop of the last house we’d lived in with Godfrey, my head down, legs out and ankles crossed. I had my earbuds in and had escaped the world.
At least, I thought I had.
“You changed it.”
My head shot up, Callum too close. He stood before me, tobacco and aftershave clouding the air around me. He reached out and flicked my hair off my shoulder. I twitched, but that didn’t stop him from reaching for me again.
I wanted to gag.
The stomach acid literally shot up into my throat, his fingers guiding down my bare shoulder. I’d taken off my coat and left it with his servants.
I jerked my shoulder away, and he smiled.
“You were supposed to die, you know,” he said, my lungs freezing. “But you changed that. You’re right. I could have easily gotten what I needed from you, then taken you out.”
“But you didn’t.” I looked at him through watery eyes, his head shaking.
“I did let you live, Sloane. I gave you a chance to be here and back with the people who love you the most. I even let Bruno live. I was going to get rid of him too. Especially after I decided to do what I was going to do with you.”
Shaking, I stepped back. “What are you talking about?”
“Why, his illness, of course.” He placed both hands on the top of his cane, rubbing the jewel. “I was going to take care of him right then, but ultimately, decided against it.” He frowned. “I guess I knew what that would do to you.”
He got closer again, and I did gag. Especially when he put his hand on my jaw, the pads of his fingers rough, calloused. With as much money as he must have had, he’d clearly done things with his hands.
Preformed deeds just as dark.
His thumb grazed my lip, but when I attempted to tug my jaw away, he didn’t let me. He gripped it, his hold solid, unyielding. He forced me to look at him. “I told you I had a proposition, and one that can make everyone in this situation happy. You, Bruno… You know, he’ll do anything I want him to, right? He does because he trusts me.”
He did trust him, but only because he didn’t know the facts.
“And if for some reason that changes, I can make sure he’s neither seen nor heard from again.” His fingers bit into my jaw. “Just because I’m keeping him alive for you doesn’t mean he has to see the light of day.”
He kept saying that, keeping him alive for me and knowing what the alternative would do to me. He’d said I had changed things.
“And if you agree to what I have to say, it also works out for your family as well,” he continued. “It does because I won’t dissect your family’s company piece by piece.”
I winced, my swallow hard. “What do you want?”
“For you to keep everything, have everything,” he said, his voice tender now, his touch. His grip loosened the same time he guided his finger through my hair. Tears fell from my eyes, but he merely looked at them, scanning my face. It was like he was a fucked-up scientist and I was simply his petri dish. “I need a companion, Sloane. Someone to tend to me as I’m getting along in years. I don’t plan to work this hard forever, and I’d like to settle down and be with someone.”
The air fell from my lips. “You want me to be with you?” I couldn’t even… “Like with you?”
I thought I really was going to be sick now, trembling when he lifted my face.
“It doesn’t have to be what you think or even physical.” He touched my lip. “Though, I’d enjoy that. In all honesty, I can and already do have others fulfilling that obligation. They’re nice, but they do come and go. What I’m looking for really is just someone to be there. A constant in my life, a partner and equal. You’re young and still have time to be that for me.”
I didn’t know what would make me throw up the most. He’d given me plenty of options.
“I’d simply like you to be around for me.” His hands braced my arms. “A friend and confidant, and if you want more, that’s fine. If you don’t, that’s fine too, and you can take on suitors if you need that. I just want to make you happy.”
