“And why keep it secret?”
“Because I couldn’t suddenly appear with a wife half my age whose father happened to be the very man I had spent years pretending not to know. People would have started asking questions.”
“So you married her in secret.”
“The plan was to introduce it gradually,” he says. “Her father and I would begin appearing together publicly first. Then Piper would be brought into the picture. A few months later, we’d announce an engagement. After that, a wedding.”
I clench my jaw, barely holding myself together.
“All this time, it was you. You were the one who fucking hurt her.”
I drive my fist into his stomach.
Then his ribs.
Again.
And again.
And again.
I can’t stop.
“You killed my mother,” I snarl. “You’re the worst kind of monster, and you’ve outlived your place on this planet.”
His eyes widen.
Perhaps he’s wondering how I remember any of it when he personally spent months down in that damned basement beating my head against the floor until I could barely remember my own name.
“And now—” I grab him by the throat and haul him upright despite the chains. “—you’re going to die.”
His breath catches.
I lean closer.
“But not before you write your farewell letter.”
I release him and take a step back.
“You’re going to confess to everything. The war crime.”
My mouth twists.
“Just leave the deals with the Bratva out of it. Your confession concerns you and Jonathan. No one else.”
Harry steps forward without a word. He removes the chains, and my father collapses to the floor. A moment later, he places the papers in front of him along with a pen.
“And then,” I add, “you will sign the divorce papers. This marriage will be as though it never existed.”
The room falls silent apart from his uneven breathing.
The next thing I know, both the divorce papers and the letter bear his signature.
His hand shook throughout it. At first, he refused outright.
Then Isaak put a bullet through his shoulder.
That finally convinced him to cooperate.
