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He’s grieving. Let it go, Wyatt.
“Ethan’s dog?” I snickered, nodding. “Isn’t that what you wanted to be.”
“I’ve become much wiser of late.”
“Is that so?” I snapped, rising up to look out at his playpen. “It’s amazing how people wise up while sucking up to other’s people’s money and power.”
“Other people’s!” He stood rounding his desk. “This family belongs to me just as much as it does you. If fact, some might argue it belongs more to me.”
“Why is that?” I turned back to him.
He gripped glass tighter. “You know fucking why!”
“Oh, is it because you think your father stepped aside for my father?” I laughed, shaking my head. “You aren’t wise, Killian, if you think that.”
“Is that so? Let’s check the order again—”
“No one gives fuck!” I hollered at him. “Your father didn’t step aside; he was pushed! He was goddamn pushed! And you know why? Because your father was fucking weak!”
He threw the glass he held in his hand, only to grab my shirt, slamming me up against the glass with a gun pressed to my head. “Say that again?”
“No fucking problem,” I said, pressing my gun into his stomach. “Your father was pushed out of the way by my grandfather, for his own son. Why? Because he could. Not because my father was more special but because my grandfather could. Because your grandfather died. Great Uncle Killian, your namesake, was shot down. So, no-one could protect or fight for his son. And Uncle Declan, his son, knew that there was no way he could win. Everyone was used to my grandfather. He’d groomed my father, and my father groomed my brother. No one gives a fuck about who should have been! None! None of them are loyal to us! They are loyal to the one who holds the most fucking power at the time. And they would prefer it if we all died! That is why we stick together! That is why we are family! That why we need to fucking hold the line.”
“Who are you to tell me about holding the line?” he hissed. “Are you not the one who pulled the trigger on Ethan’s bitch?”
I might as well have been. “Hence the demotion, and I was pushed over the edge because I too felt rage over your mother. She raised me. She took care of me. She dedicated her life to this family, and that’s how she ended up. I wanted Calliope to die so badly that I didn’t care about anything else and fucked up…I broke the line. I betrayed my brother because I loved your mom as my own. And I love your sister still and wanted to make up for not saving her. Now you are pointing a gun at me.”
“This is Ethan’s fault.” He hissed, his hand shaking. “We are at odds because of him. He’s not fit to rule.”
I shook my head. “If he weren’t ruling, I think we might have already been dead. He’s a cold son of a bitch. He’s arrogant and vicious, but his plans frustratingly always work out.”
“He stepped on my mother for his stupid pla
ns.”
I shook my head. “Did he, or did she lay down like always? That’s who Aunt Cora was…she would do anything for the family. It wasn’t him or Calliope who ended her. It was cancer. That’s not anyone’s fault.”
He released me and stepped out. “You’ve always been the good one at talking. That’s why Ethan sends you out. Even now, you are attached to his strings even if you don’t realize it. I have to break free. I’m going to do my own thing.”
I dusted off my shoulders. “I know more than anyone else. The more you try to get free of Ethan, the more stuck you become. I’m not sure how it happened, but it happened. It’s either his side or death.”
“Let it be death then.”
“And Helen and your father?”
“And that’s the fucking problem!” he hollered. “Why is it my family is threatened if I don’t listen?”
“Because that’s how it goes! What are you expecting to happen? That we can all just not listen and do whatever the fuck we want and he just keeps quiet? Why? Why would he protect us if we don’t protect him?” It felt like I was yelling at myself, really. What was I expecting to happen after I joined hands against him? For him to say thank you, brother? I was blind, now I see?
What was I expecting from him? This was how it’s always been in this family. If you are against the family, you die…and the family ruled, no matter what he did. That’s why we called it a kingdom. And kings protected their family when they were loyal…or killed them if they were not. That’s how history went.
“Thank you for stopping by, Wyatt.”
“I’d rather not step on your turf wars and embarrass myself,” I bit back. “So, turn on your fucking phone on.”
He rolled his eyes, turning on his phone turning it to me. The moment he did, it began to ring, and on the caller ID Ethan’s name came up almost immediately.
He looked back at me as if I had done something.
