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"You're a sick, twisted man," I mutter, but the words don't even feel like the right ones. My eyes are burning. I shove the gun harder against his forehead. "You had her executed." And if I wasn't there, everyone would have thought she killed herself.
His expression hardens. "I did what had to be done. Things were the worst they had ever been. A divorce would bankrupt me. I made a business decision for the future of the Empire."
The absolute gall of him.
If it went to court, my mom would get everything because of my father’s abusive ways. Empire secrets would become public record. He would lose his wealth, his power, and prestige. It would be a nightmare for him.
And it wouldn’t have been even half of what he deserved.
"Mum’s death was a business decision, huh?" I spit. "Consider this one too, then."
"No, I–"
I pull the trigger.
The gunshot echoes through the room like a gong. Blood and brain matter splatters all over the leather chair and the bookcases behind him. His eyes are wide, his mouth agape. He slides down in the chair.
I'm not sure how long I stand there.
Just looking at the life bleeding out of his eyes.
Someone clears their throat, and I lift my gaze to find Ben standing at the threshold. He looks at Griffin's dead body, then at me.
My gun's still in my grip.
"What happened, Ben?" I ask him, cocking my head to the side.
Ben looks back at my father's body. "Looks like suicide to me."
I smile, setting the gun I used on the table.
It's not one of my custom ones. It's a plain Glock that I got from the armoury. Ben watches me for a few more seconds then goes back to his post outside the door. I let out a breath, taking one last look at my father.
I am the Empire now.
FORTY-TWO
ALIZE
It's beenfour days since Griffin Duke committed suicide.
But it feels more like three weeks. We’ve moved from the estate and Alexander's been made leader of the Empire. Yesterday was Griffin's funeral, and that felt like it took years off of my life.
The air in the room was heavy. It was held in a cathedral, as apparently he was a Catholic. Hundreds of people attended. There was an entire performance from Sarah when she gave his eulogy, and a lot of tense smiles and handshakes as everyone came to pay their respects. He was cremated, so I didn't have to look at his body.
Just a decorative urn that held his ashes.
Well, that Ithoughtheld his ashes.
It was during the sermon that Alexander told me he had flushed them down the toilet. Griffin had been cremated the day after he died, since the police had deemed it an open-and-shut case.
It's better than he deserved, to be honest.
After we got back from the funeral, we visited Hyacinth Duke's grave. It was there Alexander told me what really happened, what his father really did, how his father really died. Though I had my suspicions, it still shook me to hear the words from his own mouth.
But I understood.
If anything, it only confirmed what I already knew about Alexander. The people he cares about will always come first to him. It's honorable, and I feel ridiculously privileged to be counted among those people. With Michel Moreau and Griffin Duke out of the picture, we can finally start to rebuild our lives.
