AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Don’t act like you care about me,” I spit. “You’re a fucking cunt, and even if the rest of the world can’t see it, I can.”
She makes a disapproving noise. “Such foul language. Clearly none of my efforts to teach you how to behave like a lady had an effect. But I just wanted to warn you to be careful. You’re my only living relative, after all, just like I’m yours. It would be such a shame if you died.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I demand in a hard voice, sick of her falsely sweet tone. “What do you want?”
“I’ve had my lawyers looking into it, and they’ve found a way to ensure that I will be the benefactor of everything you own in the event of your death,” she says, a note of triumph in her voice. “I just wanted to make you aware of that.”
My stomach drops. “What?”
“Don’t sound so surprised, dear. I just took a page out of your book. You were clever enough to have Troy sign everything over to you before he died tragically. And now it turns out that if the same fate befalls you,I’llget everything Troy once had. Funny how life works out, isn’t it?”
Malice makes a low, angry noise, and I stare down at the screen of my phone as her words wash over me.
“You’re crazy,” I hiss. “You can’t do this.”
She clicks her tongue against her teeth. “You know, I was starting to think you understood, but you keep underestimating what I’ll do to preserve my legacy. I will not sit idly by and let you ruin what I have dedicated my life to building up. So here are your options. You can either sign everything over to me willingly now, or I’ll get all of it anyway when you die. It’s really quite simple.”
For a horrible moment, I have a flash of being back in that graveyard. Of having just buried Misty, standing over my adoptive mother’s grave as Olivia levied her ultimatum.
I was so helpless then, shocked and without a leg to stand on. The only thing I could do was give in. I can remember her cool, cruel tone, the way she didn’t seem to care at all that she was playing with my life, using me like a puppet just to increase her wealth.
It’s the same now. The fraying edges I saw when she confronted me last are completely gone.
She hasn’t just been struggling to plug the leaks in her business that we’ve been poking over the past weeks. All that time, even as I made moves against her, she was preparing her counterstrike.
And now she’s delivered a warning shot.
“I’ll give you some time to make your choice,” she says coolly. “But I won’t wait forever. You’ve always said you don’t want any part of this life, Willow. That you don’t care about the money. Now’s your chance to prove whether that’s really true. Sign everything over to me, and you can have the peace you want so badly.”
Then she hangs up the call, leaving me standing in stillness, clutching my phone in a death grip.
I blink, looking up to meet the faces of my men as they huddle around me. They look pissed as hell, but I’m just… reeling.
For as long as I’ve known Olivia, she’s tried to use me. She’s seen me as a pawn in her game. It’s still true, I guess, that she wants me to be useful to her.
But now there’s only one way I can do that.
By being dead.
25
VICTOR
Watchingthe fear spread across Willow’s face makes anger rise up in me. I can feel it, hot and sharp, bubbling in my stomach and spreading through my body.
I usually have a much better handle on things like this, but where Willow and her safety are concerned, it’s hard not to get pissed off. Especially about something like this.
There’s still a lot of baggage that I carry around because of my piece of shit father. Because of the way he treated me—used me. And seeing Willow used in a similar way makes my blood boil. Olivia treats her like a means to an end, an object. Something she would willingly destroy to get what she wants. Like a chess piece to be sacrificed when it’s no longer useful on the board.
There’s pain in Willow’s eyes as she puts down her phone. She looks shell-shocked, like she can’t quite believe that her grandmother is willing to put a hit out on her, to outright have her assassinated to get what she wants.
For so long when we were on the run, there was at least some comfort in knowing that Olivia wanted Willowalive.
But that’s no longer the case.
“I don’t—” She breaks off, swallowing. “I should’ve seen this coming. She killed Misty. She either killed my birth mother or paid someone to start the fire. And now she’s going to try to kill me too.”
“She fucking won’t,” Malice says fiercely. He steps in and grabs Willow’s arm, taking her phone from her. He puts it down on the table beside the door with more force than necessary and pulls her close. “Do you hear me? She’s not gonna fucking touch you.”
