Total pages in book: 58
Estimated words: 56591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 56591 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 283(@200wpm)___ 226(@250wpm)___ 189(@300wpm)
Sebastian leans against the wall, tapping his cane against the floor. Aaron sits behind his desk, toying with his big beard. I stop opposite the desk, Ethan at my shoulder.
“Are you sure you want him here?” Sebastian says, gesturing to Ethan with his cane. “I’ve got some hard truths to share with you. Sooner or later, they may become public. But trust me, you won’t want to preempt that.”
“He can trust me,” Ethan snaps.
“Trust,” Sebastian mutters, tittering. “What a lovely word that is. It sounds so solid.”
He winks at me. We both know he’s talking about my songbird. Fuck. Not my anything… He’s talking about a woman named Isabella Marlowe that I knew for a week or two.
“It’s about your father,” Sebastian goes on, shrugging. “It’s your choice if you want him here.”
“What about my father?” I demand.
Sebastian raises an eyebrow.
Damn it. They could be bluffing. But at the same time, I can’t deny it. Trust is a difficult concept, especially considering recent events.
“Ethan,” I say, gesturing to the door.
He looks at me with disappointment. “For real?”
“Give us a few minutes.”
His head drops, shoulders sagging. “Uh, sure,” he murmurs. “Okay.”
Aaron sneers the entire time Ethan is walking from the office. I resist the urge to bounce a paperweight off his bald head. The security agency also had some information about Aaron, namely that he was arrested for drug trafficking four years ago, but the case was dropped when some key evidence mysteriously went missing.
“That was a clever move,” Aaron says. “With the documents. You had us throwing one hell of a party before we realized they were bullshit.”
I shrug. “Not difficult to fool a fool.”
Aaron grins, but it doesn’t reach his eyes. “That’s good, little man. Very witty.”
Sebastian snorts when he sees the look on my face, joining us at the desk. “Calm down, tough guy. I haven’t told Aaron everything. After all, he’s just a little CEO of a little company. I’m the big bad wolf.” He titters and taps his fingers against his wolf’s head cane.
It’s strange to see Aaron so easily chastened. He bristles silently at Sebastian’s dismissal, but he doesn’t argue or try to fight it. He just takes it like the little rat he is.
“You think you’ve got us beat?” Aaron hisses. “There’s still a lot we could do to you, Vale. I could start with that old bitch. You think your wannabe tough guy guards outside the hospital mean a damn thing? I run that place, and I can do any damn thing with her or my bitch niece that I wan—”
I don’t plan it. One moment, he’s ranting; the next, I’ve lunged across the desk and hauled him off his feet by his beard. He gasps as I shove him against the wall, making him shake like a scared kid.
“You’ll never speak about her like that again,” I snarl. “This won’t be about business if you do, Pike. It’ll be about you staring down into a puddle of your own blood.”
“Mother—fucker,” Aaron wheezes, shoving uselessly against my chest. “Do you have any idea what you’re doing? I’ll take your whole life!”
“Take it,” I grunt, “as long as you keep her name out of your mouth.”
“You piece of—”
“That’s enough,” Sebastian cuts in. “Let him go, Dom. We have important matters to discuss. Aaron, leave us.”
Aaron’s eyes swivel toward Sebastian, but he can’t move his head with my hand buried in his beard. “What?”
“You heard me. You don’t need to hear the next bit.”
I let Aaron go, gaze fixed on him, waiting for him to make a move, to say something I don’t like. I’ve been doing my best to pretend I’m over Songbird, but one mention and I go full berserker.
Once we’re alone, Sebastian drops into Aaron’s seat and lays his cane across his knees, tapping his fingers against the wolf’s head.
“That really was something,” he says. “You moved like that.” He snaps his fingers. “I suppose you’re wondering why I feel so safe being alone in a room with you.”
No, in fact. I was wondering what Aaron meant by saying he runs the hospital. Does Pike Construction have a stake in it? Is he manipulating the staff? My thoughts spiral to Izzy’s problem, to her grandma, not the problem sitting opposite me with a smirk on his face.
“That was clever,” he goes on. “The documents, feeding her false information. How did you know she was going to flip?”
“That’s not your concern.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “Maybe you didn’t, eh? Maybe Uncle Seb’s betrayal hurt so badly, you’ve been paranoid ever since. Maybe I broke you and your daddy.”
“If that’s the case,” I growl, “you’re one sick fuck, saying it with so much glee.”
“I’ve tried to let you go, Dominic,” he says. “I honestly, truly have. I swear to God, I have done my best to live my life abroad, away from the States, away from the last remaining stain of your family. Away from the kin of the man who took everything from me. But I just can’t do it, you see. I wasn’t always like this. Something broke me.”