He digs his nails into the leather arm. “I need a fucking keeper, don’t I?”
Shit. This was bad. If he ever admitted to anything that he’d done wrong, it meant he’d fucked up.
“Tell me.”
“I came onto Blair. I was suggestive and maybe not nice about it.” He rolls his eyes. “She’s a fucking frigid bitch.”
He stands up and heads to his desk where his phone is, but he doesn’t get that far. I’m two steps away from him and it’s two steps I cover quickly, the first blow from my fist hitting the side of his face hard enough to floor him, and the second has him cowering on the floor.
He starts to try to fight back, trying to push me off him, because I’m now sitting on his chest, pummelling him with my fists like I did when we were kids. There’s a voice in my head telling me that I need to pull back because I’m stronger than what I was the last time I let myself go at him like this and I have the control to listen to it.
I give one last blow to his jaw and stand up, move away. We’re done. I’m done.
He doesn’t move. His eyes are open and he’s blinking, so he’s alive, but he doesn’t move.
My fist starts to throb and I rub at it and my face smarts where he managed to get one blow in.
“You’ve been fucking her.” He sits up, spitting out blood. “Were you fucking him too?”
I sit down on the chair.
“Yes.”
“You fucking traitor.” His words are ice.
I don’t respond because he’s right.
“I know you hate me. I know you hate our father and you know what, I fucking get why. But your grandfather loved the bones of you and left you everything. All of it. He made sure your mother didn’t end up on the game when she was pregnant with your sister and stopped from ending up on the streets and he loved his country. How fucking dare you turn your back on it.”
“You’re only pissed off that you didn’t get to fuck Blair yourself.” My words are calmer than I feel and I’ve no idea how. “Because that was your plan. You need power from somewhere because your days are numbered here, let’s face it. You’ve fucked up with all of this, banking on Lennox Stewart to pass your ideas…”
“They were our father’s ideas too…”
I stand. “He’s been manipulating you since you started! You can’t see what’s under your fucking nose!”
“Just because you disagreed with him…”
“Think about it, Will. Just fucking use your brain for once! Where’s he been moving his money? How has he actually been supporting you in public? Why did your last set of amendments to the treaty get rejected by Blair? Because they weren’t ever enough.” I pace to the door knowing this can’t end well for either of us.
“Dad has everything to lose if we don’t agree a trade deal with Scotland. His businesses…”
“Aren’t affiliated like they used to be. He’s too clever to have all of his eggs in one basket, William, don’t you see?” I had my suspicions about what William Goldsmith Senior had done, but no proof and his son would want proof.
“You’re just trying to drive a wedge like you’ve been doing for years. Ever since I’ve known you, you’ve wanted to come between me and dad. You weren’t happy that Grandfather favoured you. You had to take everything from me, even Joanna.”
I stop, stuck to the spot.
“We’re going there? Eighteen years ago when I fucked the girl who wouldn’t go out with you and you blamed me for it?”
“She only wanted you. She should’ve been with me, Isaac. I’d known her forever.”
“And you’ve wanted her title forever too.” Joanna had been the daughter of a Marquis and it was an inherited title.
“You shouldn’t have fucked her. Like you shouldn’t have fucked Blair.”
“It doesn’t matter. Neither of them would’ve fucked you.”
“They might not have had the choice.”
