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I can barely breathe or think beyond the fact that Landon had his hands on her. “Skye, go to the bedroom and shut the door.”
“What? Why? What are you going to do?”
If I could, I’d tear him apart. Who knows? If he provokes me enough, I still might. “Go up. Now,” I repeat.
But she doesn’t listen. Instead, she seems to feel sorry for him. “Arran, please don’t hurt him. Look at him. He’s so scared. Just tell him to leave.”
With utter disbelief, I turn to the woman. “If you don’t want him to die, do as I say.”
“What the fuck is your problem?” Landon demands.
I turn back to him. “My problem is, you touched what belongs to me.”
11
ARRAN
Inarrow my eyes at my older brother. He’s sitting across the desk from me, tending to his swelling lip with the towel and bag of ice I threw at him a few minutes earlier.
“Stop fucking glaring at me like I ate the last piece of your pie. She’s fine. I barely even touched her.”
A growl escapes me. “The key word beingbarely. Which means you did.”
He lifts his gaze to me. “What the fuck does it matter? She’s just a thing you bought.”
I lean back and steeple my fingers beneath my chin. Were he any other man, I would have killed him. Though for the life of me, I don’t know why seeing his hands on her infuriates me. I’ve never wanted to kill anyone who’s touched a woman I’ve been with before. Perhaps it’s that I do actually see her as mine. Completely and utterly mine.
“It matters,” I tell him. “Skye is off limits to you and anyone else. Is that clear?”
“You know that I own all of this shit, don’t you? That money you bought her with, it’s mine,” he hisses.
I chuckle, low and menacingly. “Your fucking money, is it? You would think that.”
“It’s true. My name is on everything. Including this house.”
My eye twitches. “Let me make something clear. The money I use is mine and no one else’s. Not yours. Not Father’s. As for the buildings, Father owns them. Which means you don’t have shit.”
He grins. “For now. But eventually, it will all be mine. Don’t go believing what everyone says about you being his true heir. All that matters legally is that my name is on that fucking will.”
“Have you ever asked yourself why that is? Why I run the fucking company yet don’t fight you inheriting it? Are you really so dense?”
The answer eludes him. I can tell the wheels in his head are spinning at full capacity, but he just can’t put it together. Not that I lay the blame on him. While Mother kept him glued to her side, teaching him how to spend money and flaunt it, I remained with Father, learning how to make it. Learning how to be smart and savvy and fucking ruthless.
Yes, Landon will inherit the company and all the risks that come with it. I will retain control of the empire. He cannot remove me from my position without a hefty severance that could bankrupt the Maxton Corporation. And if the company fails, he takes the fall and I go free and clear.
Father has never outright told me why he updated his last will and testament to read this way. It was shortly after Kate died, and though the drugs hadn’t fully taken effect, he was in deep mourning. Not that he’s ever managed to get out of it.
I’m not sure, but I think he did it for Mother’s benefit so that she’d stop harassing him over giving Landon more since he’s the eldest. A way to give her what she wanted, without actually giving it to her.
Father cares for Landon. But there’s no doubt he sees him as Mother’s son more than his own.
Suddenly, I see Landon in a different light. He’s weak and vulnerable and doesn’t even know it.
All of my fury deflates. “What are you doing here, Landon?”
Smiling, he gently touches his puffy lip. “I heard about your little purchase and wanted to confirm for myself that it was true.”
Frowning, I ask, “Where did you hear about it?”
