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“You have no fucking clue what’s good for you,” he tells me, shaking out his fists, his knuckles covered in my blood. “Do you ever shut up?”
“Shut up?” I gasp. “Why the hell would I do that when I’m chilling out with my girl’s dad for the first time? I mean, fuck. What better chance to get to know one another? You know, I intend to marry her one day, if she’ll have me, of course. I’ll have to beat my boys to the punch though, but I think I’m in with a good chance.”
“Foolish child,” Matthias says, shaking his head. “I commend your positivity, a glass-half-full type of guy, thinking that she will ever live to see another day after I’m through with her. Let me break the news to you now and save you the heartache. My daughter will die tonight.”
“Yeah . . . I don’t know about that,” I tell him, my shoulder silently screaming. “I’ve gotten to know her quite well over these past two months, and she’s really not down with the idea of becoming someone’s bitch, but I commend you for trying. You must be a glass-half-full kinda guy too. Seems we have that in common.”
“Okay, I’ve had enough of your bullshit,” he says, reaching behind him and drawing his gun. “Any last words?”
“Umm, what about a question?” I ask. “You’ve got me curious. I think I’ve pretty much worked you out, but there’s just one thing that isn’t adding up for me.”
“Dare I ask?”
“Well, it’s clear that you’ve been orchestrating all of this for quite some time. You infiltrated The Circle, got members on your side, working from within while you rotted away in that cell. You spent years building an army of loyal followers, people who will have your back when you attempt to rise in power,” I say, filling in the pieces as I go. “You’ve watched Oakley from afar, put people in her life to ensure she was right where you wanted her when the time came to finally take her out because you’re threatened by the potential power that pulses through her veins. Terrified that she would have taken your crown the same way Zade took his father’s.”
“What is your point?” Matthias questions. “I’m growing bored, and in case you have not quite worked it out, I have an army to rebuild and only a few measly days to do so.”
“My point is that you have orchestrated every step of this. You’ve been the mastermind behind it all along, though I’m sure you didn’t count on Zade taking out his father quite so soon,” I say, knowing damn well that none of us were quite prepared for it, though we knew it was inevitable. “You have a reason for everything you do, every step is so meticulously planned out, and everything has a rhyme or reason, but the one thing I can’t quite figure out is, why the explosion at Cara’s initiation ball? Why put the people of Empire through such turmoil when you will eventually need to acquire their vote to claim leadership?”
“How did you figure it out?” he questions. “How’d you know I was responsible for the explosion when no one else has even whispered a breath of it?”
“Oakley ran that night,” I explain. “I spent hours filtering through city surveillance, trying to figure out where she went, and unfortunately for you, I have all the proof I need to keep you out of leadership.”
“What are you talking about?”
“When was the last time you brushed up on the bylaws?” I question. “In the event that Zade forfeits leadership, leaving no known blood heir, candidates may put themselves forward and campaign for votes. Unless you can prove your true lineage, you’ll be left to campaign, but I can only wonder how successful your attempts will be once the footage of you setting the bomb which killed countless members of our organization gets into the hands of the voters.”
Matthias narrows his gaze at me, fury burning in his stare, but he doesn’t respond, doesn’t give me what I’m looking for, so I push harder.
“You will be executed on the spot, no private trial, no chance to fight your way out, and then all of this would have been for nothing. You would have destroyed your relationship with your daughter for nothing.”
Matthias steps back, returning his gun to the back of his pants, not willing to risk taking me out just yet when there’s a possibility I hold the key to his demise. His gaze narrows, and I see him deep in thought, trying to figure out his next move when an alarm sounds through the underground bunker.
A smile pulls at his lips as something flashes in his eyes, and I realize my rescue team has just been discovered. “We’ll continue this conversation at a later date,” he tells me. “I have a daughter to ambush and kill.”
