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“Of course.” He swallows my knight in a full dick move. “What do you think it was?”
“Anyone ever told you that you have a shitty way of showing your care?”
He shrugs and takes a drink of his cognac. “I do what it takes to protect my family.”
“By being a dictator?”
“The methods don’t matter. The results do.”
I scoff. Some things never change.
While he’s drinking, I notice an opening and use my queen to kill his bishop.
He raises an eyebrow, probably since I left my king unprotected. It doesn’t matter. My rook is in place and if he makes a move, his queen will be unprotected.
“You made a mess,” he says and something tells me it’s not about the game.
“I’m ready for the consequences.”
“You know.” He chuckles with nostalgia. “I could never beat James in chess. It drove me insane.”
“No way. You actually lose.”
“I actually lose.” He brings the drink to his mouth then stops. “I was the nerd in the family while James was the popular one. He got all the attention, all the stardom and all the girls. And yet, he kept beating me at chess which was supposed to be my speciality. One day, I asked him how he does it, and then he said, You’re too uptight, little brother. Don’t play the game...”
“Play the player,” I finish for him.
He nods. “I understand the full meaning behind his words now. I shouldn’t have controlled you. It was an epic failure and I lost my holiday home because of it.”
I go to attack his queen then stop. “Sorry?”
He scoffs. “We both know you don’t mean that.”
“I would if you drop the entire case against Lord Clifford’s ex-wife.”
“There’s no case to drop. Both Clifford and I buried the accident for a reason. He didn’t want his ex-wife’s name in the press and I didn’t want the press to broadcast that my brother was drunk and high at the time of his death.” He points his glass at me. “Clifford and I agreed to make each other’s lives hell since then, though. I’m winning, by the way.”
“Of course you are. You always win, Uncle.”
“Not always, punk. No matter what I did, I lost my brother.” He pushes me back using his rook. “I won’t lose you either.”
I hesitate before clutching my bishop. If this is a tactic to make me doubt my next
move, then it’s fucking working.
“You want to play professionally? You have it.”
“I… do?”
“On one condition.”
I eat his queen and grin. “Ha. I’m listening.”
“Checkmate, punk.” He grins back. “Sacrificing the queen for the king is a pleasure.”
No. It’s not.
I stare at my king surrounded by Uncle’s rook and knight.
