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“You know the answer,” he stated. “Stick to our initial plan.”
“Our initial plan?” I scoffed. “You mean yours. She’s not our enemy, Karl. Dedrick doesn’t even give a damn about her. Her death won’t hurt him. Rather bring release.” I was seething. I clenched my jaw, breathing heavily.
Our initial plan was to get close to Melanie, gain some shit on Dedrick to ruin his career entirely, and finish Melanie. That was my father’s wicked way of taking revenge. He lost my mother because of Dedrick, so now he wanted Dedrick to lose the person most precious to him, to feel the same excruciating pain that my father had felt after losing the love of his life. And he’d been waiting nearly twenty years for this, fueling my head with hatred for the Atwoods ever since I was just a damn kid. How twisted was that? But he couldn’t understand that getting rid of Melanie wasn’t the right move. It wouldn’t hurt Dedrick the way my father would want it. And I couldn’t kill an innocent woman. I couldn’t let him hurt Melanie. I couldn’t lose her. I shouldn’t have agreed to this in the first place, but I was brainwashed, believing my purpose in life was to fulfill my father’s vengeance. Until I met her and she made me open my eyes.
“Tell me where your allegiances lie, Shane.” My father’s cold tone rang in my ears. “Are you with me or against me?”
I stood up and approached the island my father was standing behind. On its countertop was a bottle of scotch he poured himself and an empty glass. I filled the glass with brown liquor.
“I’m with you.” I clinked his glass before taking a sip, my eyes on his.
“I knew I’d talk some sense into you.” He smirked, finishing his scotch in one shot.
Yeah, you did. Now I know what I have to do.
~••~
“Good morning, Miss Atwood,” I said after Melanie got into her chauffeur's black Range Rover. I smirked, looking at her astonished reflection in the rearview mirror.
“Shane?” Her eyes brightened up. “What are you doing here?” She giggled, and our gazes met in the mirror reflection. “How? Where’s Gregory?”
“Well, your chauffeur seems to be very fond of you. He agreed to switch cars with me,” I replied, smiling. The sight of Melanie being so joyous felt oddly good. “He drove to your uni already, so we can switch cars again once we get there. That way, your father won’t suspect anything.”
“You’re insane!” She chuckled, her eyes gleaming.
“So I’ve been told,” I teased before starting the car, leaving the Atwood’s driveway.
Melanie hopped onto the front passenger seat, leaving a soft kiss on my cheek. I glanced over at her and couldn’t help a smile forming on my lips. She looked gorgeous as always. Her long hair was tied in a high ponytail with two wavy strands embracing her oval face from the sides. She wore white sneakers, high-waisted blue jeans, a white sleeveless turtleneck, and little to no makeup. She was smiling all the time, gawking at me with her big brown eyes. She put her hand on my arm, raising weird goose bumps to my skin.
I swallowed hard, switching my focus back on the road, dispelling the devilish thoughts running through my mind whenever she was around.
“I’m sorry, Melanie,” I said apologetically.
“Sorry?” She frowned, adjusting herself on the seat to face me.
“About last night—”
She cut me off. “It wasn’t your fault, Shane,” she said, her voice soft. “I’ve seen what your father is capable of. It looks like we’re more alike than I thought.”
“Meaning?” I asked, clenching my jaw at the thought of all the possible scenarios that could’ve happened between my father and Melanie yesterday.
“We both have twisted fathers,” she said matter-of-factly.
I let out a heavy sigh. “What did my father want from you?” I looked at her fleetingly before focusing on the road ahead of us.
“He said…” She hesitated as if contemplating her words, and I caught myself clenching my jaw. “That we can’t be together. Thathecan’t let us be together.” She quickly rephrased the sentence, dropping her gaze to the fingers she was playing with like she always did when she was nervous. “Because our families are enemies. My father called him—”
“What?” That took me off guard, but I quickly put two and two together, and now it all made sense why my father came to LA in the first place. “Did he say something else?”
“He mentioned a deal,” she replied, casting her eyes upward to look at me.
“A deal?” I asked, my voice rough. “What about?”
“He never told me,” she said quietly. “He drove me back to my house, saying we’ll meet again.”
Meet again, my ass!I exhaled deeply, not letting my emotions take control. That was not how I handled things. I’d been trying to keep my wits.
“Then he talked to my father, but I don’t know what about. My father sent me away,” she continued.
