“I promise you that I didn’t know she was in danger, and after what I did at the warehouse, I needed distance from this town and all its favors.” I move to grab Peyton at the waist. I want to throw her ass over my shoulder and get the hell out of here. I need to talk to her without any distractions and away from this old fucker.
“She asked for your help for a reason. Everything is dangerous in Wintervale,” She holds up a hand, stops me from moving closer. "Don't touch me. I can't—I need to think."
Edmund's watching this with barely concealed satisfaction. He's won. Fractured us with the truth I should have told her days ago.
“Wait, did you only take this assignment and come back to Wintervale because you heard it involved me? Are you protecting me out of guilt?” Peyton's laugh is bitter, broken. “What the hell else have you been hiding?"
"Peyton, I know this is painful.” Edmund's voice is almost gentle, sympathetic. Playing the concerned great-uncle now that he's destroyed our alliance. “But you see now why you can't trust Blake or any of them. The Delanos are only loyal to themselves."
"And the Kingsleys are better?" She rounds on him.
“No, we’re not,” Edmund leans forward. “That’s what I’m trying to explain. My sister made her choice when she married that radical black man in the 1960s. She knew the consequences. This is Wintervale, not Manhattan,” he mocks. “And your mother made her choice when she came after what wasn't hers. The Kinglsey money goes to actual Kingsleys who do the work every day, like me, to protect the legacy.”
“Your father created an iron-clad trust for a reason,” Peyton says angrily. “He wanted his daughter and her descendants to be provided for regardless of who she married, and I’m here to honor that man’s dying wish. And neither one of you lying motherfuckers is going to stop me.”
Fuck, now she’s lumped me in her Wintervale pool of enemies. I can’t blame her, but it stings nonetheless.
"Perhaps, but I'm offering you something Blake can’t…a future. Safety. A place in this world that doesn't require you to trust a man who's already betrayed you once."
"By signing away my power and letting you control me?” Peyton's voice is exhausted. "No, I’m not doing that either."
"Then what will you do?" Edmund asks. "You're alone. Surrounded by enemies. With no allies you can trust. Not even your own father. If you’re wondering, the moment he learned about the trust, he immediately tried to figure out how he could take advantage of it like the reptile that he is.”
"I'll figure it out." She pretends as if the information he just delivered didn’t hurt her, but I know better. Then she moves toward the door, doesn't look at me. "I always do."
"Peyton, you’re breaking our agreement,” I reach for her arm in a desperate attempt to remind her that she’s supposed to stick close to me no matter what. There’s still a huge possibility of danger tonight. Silas is still at play.
She jerks away like my touch burns. “I said, don't touch me. The one true thing Edmund said tonight is that I can’t trust anyone. You played me, Blake Delano, but I won’t make the same mistake twice.”
I lie for a living and have never felt any sort of way about it, but in this moment, I feel like complete shit. I’d been avoiding this conversation, this confession, since the moment I spotted her on the terrace. I’ve never regretted anything more.
"Stay away from me, Blake. I mean it. This partnership…it's done."
She walks out.
I move to follow, but Edmund's voice stops me.
"Let her go. She needs time to process and realize that her only real option is to accept my offer."
"She'll never accept it."
"She will because the alternative is elimination, and despite her brave words, Peyton wants to live." Edmund pours himself more scotch. "You, on the other hand, your uncle is waiting. You should go and see about him.”
My patience for this arrogant son of a bitch has come to an end. I pull my gun and aim it at his head. It would be so easy to shoot him and put him six feet under. The world would be a better fucking place for it.
“You should be more worried about where my uncle is than me,” I tell him coolly.
“You want to shoot me, Delano?” He doesn’t even flinch.
“You’ve threatened her life twice tonight. It would be my honor to pull the trigger.”
“She's safer in my ballroom tonight than she is with you." He mocks with a cruel smile. "After all, you're the one with a history of getting the women who trust you killed."
The words hit like a physical blow because they ring true. My mother trusted me to be strong after my father died. She drank herself to death while I was off trying to be the man the family wanted. Lila asked me to help her. She died alone because I was too indifferent to act.
And now Peyton?—
"Get out of my house, Blake. Go back to your uncle and play whatever role he's written for you. But stay away from Peyton. You've done enough damage."
