The words hit like a fist to the gut.
“Are you serious right now?”
“Completely.”
“I’ve been clean foryears,” I said, my voice rising. “I’ve done everything you asked. I’ve stayed out of trouble. I’ve worked my ass off to prove I’m not that person anymore?—”
“And yet no one trusts you,” he said. “Not me. Not your brother. Not your mother. You want to know why?”
I didn’t answer.
“Because youearnedthat distrust,” he continued. “You got drunk and missed a pickup, and your brothers died because of it. You caused the injury that made Amai infertile. You’ve spent the last decade trying to clean up a mess you created, and you’restillnot done paying for it.”
My hands curled into fists at my sides.
“So, that’s it?” I said quietly. “I’m just—what? A backup plan? A fucking sperm donor for my brother’s kid?”
“You’re a Landry,” he said. “And you’ll do what’s necessary for this family. Just like the rest of us.”
“How the hell am I supposed to do this?” I demanded. “How am I supposed to father a child and then just—what? Watch Amai raise it? Pretend it’s not mine?”
“You’ll figure it out.”
“That’s your answer?Figure it out?”
“Yes.” His expression didn’t change. “Because it’s happening, Kaisen. Whether you like it or not.”
I wanted to flip his desk.
Wanted to punch him in his smug, calculating face.
Wanted to walk out and never come back.
But I didn’t.
Because he was right about one thing.
Iwasa Landry.
And Landrys didn’t walk away.
“Amai’s going to kill us both when he finds out,” I said finally.
Winston smiled.
It was the coldest thing I’d ever seen.
“Good thing he won’t ever find out.”
I stood there for a moment, letting that sink in. The finality of it. The absolute certainty that this was happening whether I agreed or not.
Then, something shifted in my chest. A realization that hit harder than any punch.
“Wait,” I said slowly. “So the child will still have my DNA. My blood. That means…” I paused, working through the logic even though I already knew where it led, “that means someone I produce can’t be that fucked up. Right? If the kid’s got my genetics, then?—”
“With Amai as the father,” Winston interrupted, his voice cutting through my argument like a blade, “the child will be a worthy Landry heir.”
The words landed exactly where he intended them to.
