I hate myself for it.
He steps inside.
“Tink.”
My name that isn't my name. Low and unhurried, like we are the only two people here and the sounds of his men moving through my house are nothing but weather. The sight of Emery’s pendant hanging around his neck sends a stab of pain through me, I miss the feeling of it around my neck. I miss how it would ground me and offer some semblance of peace.
But, it was never mine to keep. I hate that I had to give it up.
“You bugged my phone.” The words come out flat. Deliberate. A verdict, not an accusation.
He doesn't flinch. “You kept it.”
Three words. True and terrible. I kept it and we both know why and neither of us is going to say it out loud, because saying it out loud would mean admitting that somewhere inside all of this hate and strategy and carefully maintained fury there is something that refuses to let go of him, and I am not ready to die with that truth on my lips.
“The library.” My voice almost holds. “This morning. You heard everything.” I watch his face when I say it. I need to know what's on his face when he confirms it. “You knew about the tape before I did.”
A muscle in his jaw tightens. Something moves through his eyes, brief, involuntary, gone before I can name it and then the wall goes back up.
“Yes.”
“You knew Meekan was using that private moment between us—” My voice cracks on the edge of it and I drag it back and rebuild. “You knew, yet you did nothing and still made me wear your jersey and sit rink-side and perform like a good little puppy.”
He says nothing.
“Why, Xaden?” I ask.
The silence stretches, long enough that I start building walls against whatever he says next.
“Everything you think you know is wrong. Meekan was never going to upload that tape because I already had him and your father.”
I search his face for the lie and find none, he’s speaking the truth.
“You have my father?” I breathe out.
The cruel smirk that spreads across his face is sinister. “Had to catch the senator before you did, Tink.” His tone is filled with sarcasm.
“I hate you,” I seethe.
“I saved you.”
“That’s the biggest lie I have ever heard?—”
“Your stupid ass was about to meet Meekan. Your father had planned to have his men intercept you. Use you against the Denver Kings and try to use you against me.” His words hit their mark and knock the air right out of me. “Oh, Tink,” he purrsas he moves closer and reaches out to brush the back of his knuckles along my cheek. “I’ve loved listening to you plan my fall and plot your rise but you made one fatal mistake.”
I step back, forcing him to drop his arm back to his side.
“What’s that?”
“I’ve been planning this for over a year, I was gathering intel. Moving men into place without my father knowing. Killing him wasn’t a spur of the moment decision, it was calculated. It was the perfect time to strike. Steven showed me his cards that night, your brother proved he is nothing without the backing of his daddy. He’s weak and he’ll be the first I take out tonight.”
I swallow and stare up at the man I have allowed to consume my every thought, to get under my skin and fester inside me.
“When this is over, I'm still coming for your empire.”
Something crosses his face. Hard and complicated and not quite the cold triumph I expected. “You won't survive this war.”
“You don't know that.”
