My eyes glance in Erik's direction, but she doesn’t notice; she’s too busy staring into her lap. “I don’t know,” I lie.
Erik’s brow furrows in confusion.
“I was wrong not to warn you,” I add. “I chose wrong.”
Anthony shifts again, uneasy. I ignore him.
“I didn’t use you,” I say quietly. “I didn’t plan to fall for you. But I lied to you every day after. And that part?” I swallow hard. “That part is on me.”
She finally speaks, taking a deep, shuddering breath. “But you asked me out because of your father?”
“Yes,” I answer immediately. No hesitation.
Her eyes squeeze shut, and something inside me fractures completely.
“And then I realised there was more to it. More to why he was so interested in you. Leoni, I thought having power meant protection,” I continue. “I thought if I stayed ahead of it, of him, no one else would get hurt.” I step closer now, unable to stop myself. “I was wrong. And you paid for it.”
She opens her eyes again, glassy and furious and unbearably sad. “I loved you,” she says.
I nod. “I know.” That’s the worst part. Because I did too. And I still do. “And I know you can’t forgive me,” I add. “And I don’t expect you to. I just—” My voice breaks again despite every instinct I have to lock it down. “I need you to know that if I could undo it, I would. Every single part.”
Silence crashes down around us. Leoni rises slowly; legs unsteady but determined. She doesn’t touch me. Doesn’t even brush past.
As she walks toward the door, the space she leaves behind feels cavernous.
Anthony looks at me, waiting for the order.
I don’t give one.
Because this time, control would be the final sin. And if this is the price of choosing wrong, I’ll pay it.
The door closes with a soft, final click.
I brace myself against the marble worktop, my head dropping as my chest caves in. The sound of it feels too quiet for something that just broke me open.
“Father is going to lose his mind,” Erik murmurs behind me.
I spin on him. My hand closes around his throat with no thought, slamming him back against the wall hard enough to rattle the glass. His shoulders hit first. His head follows.
“Did it ever occur to you,” I snarl, tightening my grip, “that everything I do is for us?” My voice echoes, raw and unrestrained. “You’re so busy trying to impress that piece of shit,” I continue, shaking him once, “you didn’t even notice what I was building for you. What I was offering you.”
He scoffs, even with my hand at his neck. “He gave you everything on a platter,” Erik spits, his breath tight but his eyes blazing, “and you repay him by fucking it all up for a woman you hired to take notes?”
“He’s dead!” I roar. “And if you weren’t so fucking obsessed with trying to shag Leoni just to piss me off, you would’ve been there with him.”
His eyes widen. His breath stutters. I release him abruptly, shoving him back like he’s nothing, like he’s already beneath me.
“What?” he chokes.
“You didn’t see him,” I mutter, dragging a hand down my face, the rage draining into something darker. “You didn’t see what he was like at the end.” I turn away, pacing once, twice, my laugh sharp and hollow. “I spent my whole life trying to keep that evil from touching you,” I say, dragging a hand through my hair. “Taking it on myself so you didn’t have to.” I stop and look back at him. “But sometimes,” I say quietly, the words heavier than anything I shouted, “I think you’re worse.”
“Did you kill him?”
The question is raw. Stripped bare. His eyes search my face, desperate for denial, and when I nod, his legs buckle. He catches himself on the wall, breath tearing from his chest like he’s been punched.
“There’s so much you think you know, Erik,” I say steadily. “But you only know what he wanted. The parts he needed you to see so he could keep pulling your strings.”
Anthony takes a step back, then another. He leaves the room without a word.
