Violent Ends (The Denton Family Legacy 5)

This made Gideon stop as the color drained out of Maddox’s face.

“You should really learn to clean your office. After dinner when you were dealing with your guests, I went in there to look for the details of the man who was accused of killing my Sarah. I found what you did.”

“What did he do?” Jacob asked.

“The man that is sitting in jail didn’t kill her. Dad organized it. Sarah was coming out of the doctor’s. She’d gotten sick, and it had been a routine checkup. She stood at the side of the road. Dad paid fifty thousand pounds for him to push her. That’s all it was. Just give her a simple push.”

“You arranged for her to be killed?” Jacob asked.

Maddox said nothing.

“Why?” Gideon asked.

“Because he needed a son to marry the youngest daughter in the Castillo family, isn’t that right, Dad? You can’t exactly make bargains and deals without someone there to push in their direction. Sarah was merely in the way.”

“What the fuck has been happening?” Jacob asked.

“His reach and pull have been greatly shifted. The once-powerful Denton name no longer has its reach. He’s grasping at everything he can. The Castillo and the Savona each own the cities that surround us. They are both powerful in their own right. Combine together within marriage, and they are a force to be reckoned with. He wants more power. More control. It would all be within his grasp. Sarah paid the price for his … desperation. She’s gone because he wanted to sell me off like he did Tamsin.”

Gideon felt a lump in his throat as he stared at his brother. Landon shouldn’t have to face this.

Not now.

Not after everything.

“I’ve got nothing. All of my happiness and love died with Sarah. I’m empty inside. I’m already dead.”

Just like that, Gideon watched as he slid the blade across their father’s throat. No emotion. No remorse.

Nothing.

Empty.

None of them made a move to stop him.

Landon moved to face their father, who struggled to breathe.

The blood was seeping out of his wounds.

“She was everything to me, and just so you could keep the Denton name moving another day, you ended her. She didn’t deserve that. I was going to marry her. Share my life with her. I loved her more than anything in the world. You think that bounty keeps you safe. I’ve got nothing left to lose. I win, old man.”

Slowly, Maddox Denton died.

When it was over, Landon got to his feet and stared at each of them. None of them were angry.

Their father had done the unspeakable. He’d killed one of their women, and he had to pay the price no matter what.

Chapter Fourteen

One month later

Landon disappeared.

Emma knew what had happened, and she also knew what Gideon had told her. Without a body, no bounty could be claimed. He and his brothers burned the warehouse to the ground, setting his body on fire after they had rid any chance of evidence, teeth crushed, nothing that could come back to them. To the outside world, Maddox had disappeared as well, escaped the hell that he’d started.

Emma looked out over the beach, taking a sip of her coffee. Gideon would be arriving any moment, and they were going to have their honeymoon.

Since Maddox’s disappearance, Jacob had taken the throne. He’d been the one in charge of making deals, of having to come up with a solution for Savona and Castillo.