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“If I did, you’d fall, and it’s my job to give strength to my only son.” His gaze fell to my mouth before flicking back to my eyes. “It is my duty and my sacrifice to give you back your strength, Aslan. The strength that was stolen from you by that bastard Avci.”
Grabbing his wrists, I tore his hands off my shoulders. I stumbled but stayed upright. “You speak of the Avcis as thieves and criminals, all while talking of torturing your only child.”
“Not torture.” He winced. “Persuasion.”
“No matter what you do to me, I won’t suddenly fall in love with you or agree to be your lapdog. You might as well kill me because it’s going to be a waste of both our fucking time.”
He sighed heavily. “Unfortunately, my methods are rather tried and true at this point. They are fool proof. The only question is how long it will take...not if I’ll succeed.”
He stepped back, giving me room to breathe. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll give you one final chance before we begin. Once we start, there will be no more chances until the end. But...just this once, because I love you with all my heart, I will give you the opportunity to surprise me.”
His lips tilted into a sad smile. “I would really love you to surprise me, Aslan. Prove to me you are me. That you are worthy of my empire. That you house the heart of a beast and have become the savage lion I named you after. Do that and we will go back upstairs. We will share a drink, good food, and I will summon my generals to swear allegiance to you. Do that and all of this is over.”
My mind swam with images of Neri.
My heart shattered into pieces that she’d endured a month of believing I was dead. Was she okay? Had Jack and Anna gone to Townsville to collect her? Was she forcing herself to survive and go to uni, or had she been as broken as me and utterly unable to think around the aching, suffocating hole inside?
What about Griffen and our apartment?
What about Billy and Honey, Teddy and Eddie?
What about Lunamare and the freshly stamped company registration that we’d all signed one slightly drunken night via Zoom?
My chest folded in on itself, snapping my healing ribs and using them as pitchforks to stab my heart.
Fucking hell.
I needed her.
I needed her to function, to heal, to survive.
If I never saw her again, I didn’t want this life. I didn’t want to fight because there was nothing to fight for if I didn’t have her.
“I’m taking your long pause to be that you’re thinking about my offer?” Cem asked softly.
The guards didn’t move from their position by the exit. Their eyes never looked away from me, seeing too much, watching the unravelling of my hopes, dreams, and soul.
Swallowing hard, I asked, “W-What would I have to do to prove myself?”
What do I have to do to earn your loyalty so I can turn around and kill you?
Cem studied me for a moment as if he could hear my internal hate. Finally, he scratched his jaw and held out his hand. A guard stepped forward without a word and withdrew the pistol from behind his back. Placing it into his boss’s hand, he backed up and stood by the wall.
Presenting the gun to me on his outstretched palm, Cem said, “Three things. You could prove you are my heir with just three little things.”
I didn’t take the weapon.
I didn’t speak.
Cem fisted the gun and wrapped his finger around the trigger. Aiming it at my chest, he muttered, “Kill a traitor, rape a slave, and transact a business deal with female flesh. Do that and your lessons have already been learned without any tutoring required.”
My mouth went dry.
My left leg burned.
Balling my hands, I choked, “You want me to kill, rape, and traffic?”
“I do.”
