“Talking about sucking—” Mason coughs out and inhales sharply, like the air inside his lungs isn’t enough. “H-how does it feel... sucking the dick of the son...” He fights to say the words, while I’m already striding at him. “... of the man who killed your family?”
I’m over the table before I can blink, grabbing Mason’s shirt, and inflicting consecutive blows to his face with my gun’s handle.
“Stop! Atlas, stop!” Summer tries to pry me away, but it takesLink and Carter stepping in to rip me off him.
Connor, however, punches Mason once more.
“Are you all fucking her—” my father spits out along with some blood, “to be such loyal dogs?”
He should be thankful Link and Carter haven’t let go of me.
“Running an empire should’ve taught you loyalty is won in many ways. Or are you fucking your own men to have theirs?”
Connor snorts at Summer’s words. He’s never going to learn when it’s not okay to laugh.
But I love the way she finds it in her to mock Mason’s provocations.
“I’m done with you,” Summer adds, turning to leave for the door.
I get myself out of my friends’ grip to stalk after her.
“But I’m not done with you...little girl.”
Her stride falters, and when she turns, there’s a diabolical smile curling on her lips.
“I killed plenty of your men, including Gabriel, and you’re still unable to fully move after I paralyzed you. Little girls don’t do that. You can’t ruffle my feathers when I’ve plucked yours.”
“Your father was a liar,” he shoots back, the last word breaking into a cough. Then he steadies himself with a deep inhale. “219 days for a name—” There’s a loud wheezing sound coming out of his chest. “Dante DeLuca. I got him. But he slipped. Then there were another 307 days until... I found him again. You seem like a great judge of character, Miss DeLuca. You think I did all of that... for money?”
“For a lot of money and to uphold your reputation as a man no one steals from—yes.” Summer is quick to respond.
“Wrong. Your father...” The way he bares his teeth. Pure hatred. “... was the one my wife... was planning to leave me for. Switch your familyfor mine.”
No. That can’t be true.
Do I believe my mother could’ve sought comfort in anotherman’s arms?
Yes.
Knowing my father, no one would stay in his orbit willingly. But Summer’s father? Mason must be trying to mess with her.
Summer shakes her head adamantly.
“No.” I catch a barely-there quiver of her lips. “That’s a lie. My father would never do that. He would never leave us. He loved us. H-he—” There’s a brief moment of hesitation, like she’s trying to establish if what she’s about to say is true. “He loved my mother?”
“Really?” Mason scoffs. “Obviously, he loved my wife more. And he didn’t stop at trying to steal my Tessa. After what...happenedto her, Dante killed my brother... to get back at me.”
Summer takes unsteady steps back, gaze dropping to the ground and hands trembling.
“He would never,” she chokes out and pins her attention back on Mason. “That’s not the father I knew. He was an honorable man.” She squares her shoulders, like she’s fighting for the truth in her words. “He wouldn’t cheat. Or kill an innocent. You’re lying.”
“Nineteen stab wounds—” Another cough tears out of his lungs, and it feels like it’s only the spite of his venom that keeps him talking, “on his arms. One bullet to his left thigh. Nineteen—the number of years... I was married to my wife. I made Dante count each stab. But he slipped away... before I could cut his arms for ever having them around Tessa.”
“No!” Her voice shakes, and her face pales.
It matches the story she told me about the wounds.
Is it all true?
