70. Conrad
I leave her sleeping.
No, I don’t want to. But what choice do I have? I can’t lay here, pretending that I don’t know what I know.
As soon as the door shuts, I pull out my phone and I’m calling Antonio.
The bastard picks up immediately, just like always.
“You can’t change your mind now,” He teases.
“Fat chance of that,” I growl.
“Then what do you want? I expected you to be balls deep now that you have your wife back…”
“Who the fuck is Xavier Heeps?” I growl.
“Ahh,” He sighs, “You mean, who the fuck was he? Because he didn’t make it out of the house.”
“He’s dead?” God, the relief I feel just knowing that fact.
“He is, Conrad, despite what I said. You killed him.”
Me? When the fuck did I? My eyes widen as I realise exactly when. So the man wasn’t bluffing then, he had fucked her. He’d fucked my wife.
“I wanted him alive, Conrad.”
“Too fucking bad,” I sneer.
I hear something crash, something big. Has he really lost his temper? Him, the man who’s always in control?
“You just don’t get it.” Antonio snaps. “You’re still acting like this is some petty rivalry, when it’s far bigger than that.”
“Who the fuck is he?” I ask.
“Wrong question.”
“Fine, what the fuck is going on?” I retort. I’m sick of being kept in the dark, being used as a nice bit of fodder for him and my brother. I said I was in, that means I need to know everything. Every tiny, miniscule detail.
“The Esau don’t just want to take over this Chapter, then want to take over all of it. They want to undo hundreds of years of rule, hundreds of years of stability. They want to create a two-tier system, them versus us. The old blood, versus the new…”
“Meaning?”
“Meaning you, your brothers, most of the Brethren you know would be out, would be turned into an army. Only the elite would remain, and they’d get rid of the Chapter Lords as we know it. They’d replace them with Founders.”
“My family is elite.” I snarl. We’re fucking Blakes for god sake. We’ve been Brethren for nigh on five hundred years or more.
Antonio lets out a bitter laugh. “You’re scum compared to the real elite Conrad, and you know it.”
“And Xavier?”
“He was going to replace Titus once Titus was made Chapter Lord. There was no way the rest of us would ever have considered Xavier for the role but once Titus was in, once a year or so had passed, then they’d change everything. They’d pull the rug out right from under us…”
“How do you know all this?” I ask. He’s so damned knowledgeable on everything the Esau do. Who’s to say he isn’t playing us? Planning the exact same thing, planning on putting Magnus in charge and then taking over afterwards.
“Now, that would be telling,” Antonio snorts.
“We had a deal,” I state.
“We do. And I got you your wife back. Don’t forget your part, Conrad.”
“Grace?” I mutter.
“That’s right. As soon as she’s at Oblivion, you’ll hold the auction. And no one is touching her, you hear me?”
“You want her that badly? One fucking girl?”
“Didn’t you all but sell your soul to me for Brynn?” He laughs.
Yeah, I did. And I’d do it again. Even knowing everything I do now, knowing what she went through, knowing that she’s damaged goods.
“So, what about her father, what about Lucas Asher?”
“Leave Lucas to me,” Antonio snaps. “He might be on the run now, but he’ll rear his ugly head sooner or later, he always does.”
“I want in,” I reply.
“Give me Grace first, and I’ll consider it.”
He doesn’t wait for the reply. He hangs up, like the arrogant fuck that he is. I narrow my eyes, scrolling through my phone to find the picture of her.
Grace Ratcliffe. She’s a pretty thing. Not as pretty as my Brynn, granted. But I bet those long golden locks would look really good wrapped around your fist as you shoved your cock down her throat.