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32: Linc
After ringing around,I’m dismayed to find my father is at Kennedy Estate, the scene of the crime and now Lottie’s refusal to live here makes perfect sense to me. My mother’s car is in the drive when we roll up and I grimace. I don’t want her to find out like this, so I turn to Audrey and she nods as if reading my mind.
“I’ll handle Aunt Heather.”
I fiddle with the recorder Ryker gave me and he swats my hand. “Leave it alone. I don’t want you breaking it with your big paws.”
Taking a breath, I exit the car and walk inside with Audrey and Ryker at my side. I haven’t said it, but it means the world to have them here in my corner with me.
Audrey veers off to find my mother.
“Aunt Heather?”
“In the library, my darling.”
Audrey nods as she walks off in the opposite direction. I know my father will be in his study on the opposite side of the house and Ryker follows me. He’ll wait outside in case I need him. Not because I’m worried my dad will get violent but because I’m worried I might not be able to hold myself back from killing the sick bastard.
He looks up as I walk inside his study, his ruddy complexion from years of alcohol abuse making him look old and tired. “You finally come to your senses?”
I remain standing as he glares at me and I realize that to him I’ve always been the enemy. “Yes.”
His face lights up and he leans forward. “You’re going to hand over the CEO position to me?”
“Tell me something, were you always a piece of shit, or have you just got worse as the years went on?”
His eager expression morphs into outrage. “How dare you come into my home and speak to me in such a way.”
“But that’s just it, this isn’t your home, is it? Grandfather left it to me and Clark. This is my home, and you’re here at my good grace.”
“We’ll see about that.”
“Oh, you have something up your sleeve, old man. Maybe blackmailing an innocent woman?”
His eyes flash and he huffs, lifting his head. “I have no idea what that little tramp told you, but I did not blackmail her.”
I lunge forward, grabbing him by his collar and hauling him up until he’s face to face with me. The calm exterior I was showing him dissipates at his vile words directed at the woman I love. “What did you just say?”
“Lincoln, what are you doing, son?”
I release him like he’s a venomous snake, and he sags back into his chair.
“I’m no son of yours. I don’t have to force myself on women to prove how powerful I am.”
“Is that what she told you happened?”
He was patting his shirt to remove the wrinkles from it and I step back, trying to find my cool in the face of this man’s inhumanity.
“The truth, son, is she wanted it. Your little Lottie as you called her, was a fucking tease. She paraded around in these little skirts and tops to tempt me and when I made my move, she cried wolf.”
I had to swallow the bile in my throat hearing his words. I was across the desk before I could process what he was saying fully. My vision blurred at the edges, my entire body tensing as I breathed through the words he had spoken. My fist clenched as I hauled back and let my rage have an outlet.
I felt the crunch of bone under my knuckles, the warmth of his blood, his voice rambling in my ears like it was coming through a tunnel. The vision of her at the mercy of this man, at the idea I was at a god damn prom while she was facing this filled me with fury and shame. I hadn’t been there when she needed me. The thought was enough for me to leash my anger. Killing him as much as I wanted to right now would mean I was leaving her alone once again. I wouldn’t do it. Even if she never spoke a word to me again I would always be there for her and I couldn’t do that from prison.
Shoving him away, I peered down at him with all the hatred I felt for him and knew I needed to finish this.
“She was fifteen years old.”
He wiped the blood from his nose with the back of his hand, which shook and still he had the audacity to try and defend himself, to justify his sick perversions.
