“It’s Monet, and I paid ten million for it. Put out your fucking cigar.”
Bates took another long puff before he smashed the cigar into the ashtray.
“Besides, with a pregnant woman around here, we can’t have any smoke anyway.”
“You just make me hate that bitch more and more…” He interlocked his fingers behind his head. “I can’t wait until we kill her. Executing traitors is one of my fetishes.”
I opened the folder and read through the contracts.
Bates kept staring at me. “I’m guessing you’re the father, then?”
“Yes.” I clicked the top of my pen and added my signature to the bottom of the page.
“Damn.” He shook his head. “We can still kill her, you know. We agreed we wouldn’t have families.”
I clicked my pen again so it wouldn’t dry out and looked at my brother. “I know what we agreed on. But shit happens.”
“Never fuck a woman without a condom.” He held up a finger. “Rule number one.”
I never should have broken that rule. “It is what it is, Bates.”
“The baby is like a week old?” he asked. “Does that really count?”
“Enough, Bates.”
“Come on, think about it.” He pulled his legs off the table and sat up, his elbows resting on the surface. “You have the baby, kill her, and then what? You’re changing diapers and reading bedtime stories? Having a kid isn’t easy. Why do you think Father left us? Because it was fucking hard.”
“Nothing is too hard for me. I can handle it.”
“You say that now. Wait until you hear the constant screaming all day and all night. And how do you think this will affect your sex life?”
“I’ll get a nanny.”
“Doesn’t matter. At the end of the day, that little brat is still your responsibility.”
Regardless of my brother’s argument, I would never take my unborn baby’s life. “This way, we have a legacy. We have someone to pass the business down to. It’s not the worst thing in the world.”
“What if it’s a girl?” he countered. “She wouldn’t be able to hold her own.”
“If she’s my daughter, yes she will,” I said proudly. “I won’t raise a princess. I’ll raise a queen.”
“I still think you should reconsider.”
“Well, I never will. So drop it.”
He gave me that knowing look, the same look he’d been giving me all our lives.
“What?”
“Why do I feel like this has something to do with Siena?”
“Because it does. She’s the one who’s pregnant…in case you didn’t notice.”
“Maybe you’re more attached to this baby because she’s the mother.”
It was a ridiculous accusation. “If she weren’t pregnant, I would have killed her. You know I would have.” My finger wouldn’t have hesitated to pull the trigger. She was a traitor, and she deserved a traitor’s death.
“But when I was smashing my fist in her face, you told me to stop.”
“Because you were going to kill her. And I’m the one who deserved to take her life.”
He shook his head slightly. “I hope that’s the truth, Cato. Because she’s a snake in our garden. Never turn your back to a snake.”
I looked down at the contracts then pushed them across the table toward him. “Trust me, I won’t.”
3
Siena
I sat on the balcony and cried.
Sobbed.
Now that the dust had settled, reality hit me hard.
My father was gone.
Both of my parents were gone.
The last thing I said to my father was harsh, so harsh it would haunt me for the rest of my life. He had been too stubborn to talk to me in five years, and I had far too much pride to go back on my word, so those were the final words that we would ever say to each other.
It’s your fault she’s dead. You didn’t love her, and you don’t love me. All you care about is money and power. You can’t love things that won’t love you back. You can’t take those superficial things to the grave. All you can take is your soul—and you don’t have one.
I’d left his house and never looked back.
Now I regretted how ferocious I was. He didn’t come after me once in five years, so he obviously didn’t care, but he’s still my father.
He was my father.
In the back of my mind, I always thought we would find our way back to each other. I always imagined we would have Christmas together again. I thought my father would realize he was wrong and beg for my forgiveness.
But now that wasn’t possible.
I didn’t even have my brother anymore. I would be dead in less than a year, and Landon would be the last of my bloodline.
Unless someone hunted him down.
My family had been destroyed by money. Had been destroyed by greed.
My hand moved over my stomach, and I feared for my child. They would be born into a wealthy family, having a father more powerful than any other man. But they would also be vulnerable to the same sickness.