“Careful, Sinclair,” He warns, “Or I’ll have you joining your brother in no time.”
Death didn’t scare me but that didn’t mean I wanted to die.
“Murder is how you like to handle your business?” I grit out.
“It has its charm but honestly, I don’t particularly want to deal with the mess it’ll bring so you’re going to listen to me.”
I tilt my chin up, hands balled up into fists at my side. He will shoot me; of that I have no doubt.
“There’s an order, River, there are us,” He waves the gun, referring to himself, “And then there is you. You are at the very bottom of this pyramid; do you understand that?”
I don’t answer him.
“You’ll stay away from my sister, River although I don’t really think I have to warn you, you did that damage all on your own.”
“You don’t care about her,” I snap.
“You’re right, I don’t,” He shrugs, “But she has her uses and now we are going to have to fix her up because of what you did. She’s no use if she is broken but I do really want to know, did you really believe you could hurt me with her? All it’s done is put a little bump in the road. This part of town will be gone in less than a year regardless.”
“If you think we will go willingly, you’re mistaken.”
“Your willingness isn’t a concern anymore.” He grins, “Go to the town square, Saturday morning at eleven. You’ll find out why.”
“Fuck you, Liam.”
He tucks the gun away, placing his hands in his pockets, “You should have burned with your brother, River.”
And with that, he turns and leaves. I hear the roar of his engine a few minutes later, leaving me alone once more.
I fucked up so bad and I don’t think this is something that can be fixed.
Chapter Forty-two
Ileft the attorney’s office in shock.
My grandmother kept a lot of secrets from our family, the main one being how much money she really had. I’m talking triple the amount my father has; he got a percentage when she passed but it’s such a small amount in comparison to what she left me. She also had two estates, the one my father got and promptly sold not even a week after her funeral and another smaller one in the next town over. That’s mine too.
I also have her jewelry, her car, and whatever is at the estate.
I’d come here this morning with a plan and while this has completely astounded me, I have to pull through. But I’m not going to lie, this money is going to help. That’s the thing about money, it really does make the world go round and to win you need to be bigger. I am now bigger.
But I am not my father, and I already know what I will be doing with the money my grandmother has left for me. Thing is, what I have planned won’t even use it all – I mean it totally could,I won’t pretend to have any real idea but I’m pretty certain it won’t. Not that I care about it either way. I was going to go headfirst into this without any financial back up, but I will admit it eases some of my anxiety about what the future might hold for me.
Climbing into my Mercedes, I start the drive back to my parents’ house. Liam was there when I left this morning, he just looked at me coldly and went on his way after I lied about meeting Zara for breakfast. She’s called me twenty times since seven AM this morning and it’s only eleven now. I’m not ignoring her; I just need to figure this out on my own.
Twenty minutes later, I’m pulling through the gates, noting my brother’s car still in the drive. I didn’t care that he was here, it was probably best he was, but I also planned for this too. My parents’ car is parked in their garage, leaving only his outside.
Parking, I steel my spine, take a deep breath and pick up the folder that came with me today for this very reason, making a quick stop at his car before I head inside.
I find my parents in the dining room, a spread of food across the table for brunch. My mother sips on a glass of champagne while both my brother and father have brandy or whiskey or whatever – it doesn’t even matter, so I don’t know why I’m cataloguing their drinks. Nerves. It’s nerves.
I’ve never done anything like this, never stood and been loud like this. I thought I didn’t know how, but I only realized I didn’t because it was only me and I wasn’t important. But this right here, this is important, these are people’s lives, this is someone’s life that was lost because of the people sitting in this room.
“Have you come to apologize?” Is the first thing my mother asks me as she glares at me from across the table.
Is this what hate feels like? This burning, bubbling pit of rage that I only feel when I look at them. I am so consumed by what I’ve found out in the last twenty-four hours that I haven’t even thought about River. Well, no that’s a lie, I’m doing thisforRiver and the pain is so clearly there, but I’ve shoved it so far down it’s struggling to get back to the surface. Maybe if it stays there, I can get over him quicker.
“You murdered River’s brother.” I address my brother and father, ignoring my mother, “You’re about to ruin thousands of people’s lives. You’ve lied and schemed and controlled and I’m done playing your games.”
