Page 88 of Claimed By the Ruthless King

David’s been playing Salvatore like a fucking fool.

“Where is he?”

“Who?”

“Don’t play bluff,” I snap, adrenaline starting to kick in. “You know who.”

“Salvatore is with your aunt,” says David, flashing me a wicked smile.

“Why would he be with my aunt?”

I narrow my eyes, my brain trying to comprehend the man in front of me. His features are familiar, but they move in foreign ways as he flashes me a cruel smile.

He’s a monster in a human body, and as I stare deep into his soulless eyes, I realize my father was never the problem.

“Where’s Ben?”

David laughs. “You want your daddy?”

“I want the truth.”

“Your Aunt Viv has been keeping that one close to her chest for a while.”

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“I knew Salvatore would squeeze the truth out of her. Violence turns questions into answers.”

Anxiety claws at my chest. “What have you done?”

“Nothing major. Salvatore is easily distracted, especially when it comes to saving you from your own family.”

“My aunt isn’t a murderer.”

“No, she’s a liar. Which is worse.”

My heart beats erratically in my chest as I stare deep into David’s demon eyes, trying to read between the lines of his riddles. Aunt Viv is the only family I have left. She’s the only connection I have to my mother, to the simple life I have spent the past two years missing.

“Family will always find a way to let you down,” says David, his voice booming through the corridor. “They hide the truth and take it all the way to the grave with them, meanwhile you’re dabbing away tears, lowering their coffin into the ground.” He shakes his head, laughing in disbelief. “Oh, the things we do for power. Salvatore and I have committed some unspeakable acts, but your aunt is rotten.”

“She was in the Crows?”

“Oh,” chuckles David, “I’m sure she would have fit right in, breaking up families, leaking information in exchange for money. You really think she scaled her business because of luck?”

I hold my breath, tempted to run down the corridor and chance an escape while I still can. But I have to know the truth for my mother. I’m standing here for us both.

“Vivian is the reason your father abandoned you.”

Tears prick my eyes, but I refuse to let them fall. Not until I hear Aunt Viv admit the truth herself. David is a full-time scammer. He earns millions because he knows how to lie, how to draw a reaction out of people.

But the smile on his face tells me he means every word.

I wipe my eyes before tears fall. Aunt Viv doesn’t deserve my tears, nor does David.

David definitely found the right moment to weaken me. While I stand questioning everything about my life, he takes advantage of my helplessness and drags me away.

Strength left my body a very long time ago. I walk down the corridor with him willingly, my head even more fucked than my body as I shuffle into the elevator, on the verge of shutting down.

My reflection appears in the mirror. I stare at the ghastly woman in front of me, barely recognizing myself. My cheeks are drained of color, my eyes wide and hollow as I look back on my entire life, reevaluating everything.