Page 157 of Pregnant By A Rich Demon 2

Losing Priest would devastate Amai in a way that losing Truth wouldn’t. Not yet, anyway.

And devastation was exactly what I needed.

I needed Amai broken down, stripped of his support systems, forced to confront the reality that his power was conditional. That it existed because I allowed it to exist.

That I could take it away whenever I chose.

The road stretched out before me, empty and dark. The lake property was close now—maybe fifteen minutes away.

I thought about what I’d find when I arrived. Kaisen, trapped in that hole, probably half-mad with fear and rage.

It was impressive, in a way. The level of calculation required, the cold-bloodedness of the act.

I’d raised him well.

Too well, perhaps.

Because now that ruthlessness was being directed at family instead of enemies. Now that calculation was being used to eliminate threats from within rather than without.

That had to be corrected.

Kaisen hated Amai. That hatred had been festering for years, growing deeper with every perceived slight, every moment of being overshadowed by his older brother.

That hatred was useful.

I’d channel it. Direct it. Use Kaisen as a counterweight to Amai’s power, a reminder that the family structure was bigger than any one person.

And with Priest locked away, with Kaisen back in play, with Truth still vulnerable and unprotected?—

Amai would have no choice but to come to me.

To negotiate. To submit.

To remember who was really in charge.

My phone buzzed one more time. A text from Terrell.

Subject is secured. Cell 7, Block D. No windows, no contact. He’s asking questions but getting no answers.

I smiled.

Good. Let him ask. Let him wonder. Let him sit in that darkness and realize how completely he’d been outmaneuvered.

And maybe—just maybe—he’d understand that his loyalty to Amai had made him a liability.

That in this world, loyalty was a weakness unless it was directed at the right person.

And the right person was always the one with the most power.

I turned onto the dirt road leading to the lake property, my headlights cutting through the darkness.

Somewhere ahead, Kaisen was waiting. Suffering. Praying for rescue.

And somewhere behind me, in a concrete cell with no windows and no hope, Priest was beginning to understand what it meant to be a pawn in a game played by kings.

Both of them would serve their purpose.

Both of them would remind Amai of the cost of defiance.