Chapter Seventeen #3
Alec clenched and unclenched his fists. “Not at all. You see, I know for a fact that Paul was terrified of horses. Never once have I seen him near the stables and considering you found the body, it would lead me to believe that perhaps you lured him there. Or placed him there after you killed him. What did he happen upon, Warrington? My patience wears thin.”
“I did not kill him,” Colin denied staunchly. “I was going for a ride when I happened to discover his body. I have no idea why he was in the stables.”
“You are lying,” Alec advanced on the man. “Shall I wring it from you?”
“You will not touch him!” Nigel threw himself in front of his son. “How dare you make threats!”
Alec raised a well-defined blond eyebrow. “I never threaten. As you can see, I fully intend to carry out a promise. Your son killed my brother and I will know why.”
“Alec!” came a great booming voice.
The occupants of the room turned abruptly to see Brian standing in the solar’s elaborate archway, his face pale and his body unkempt. Alec turned his full attention to his father, shocked at his appearance.
“Da?” he whispered. “You look terrible!”
Brian was beyond drunk; he was a living, breathing cask of liquor.
He staggered in through the door, nearly tripping over his feet as he moved.
Alec reached out to steady him, his face glazed with horror at his father’s demeanor.
Brian clutched his son, his drunken face washing with a desperate expression.
“My only living son,” he murmured, touching Alec’s cheek. “My heir. Alec, my beloved boy, you have returned. I did not think you would.”
Alec was mortified, his carefully controlled facade crumbling.
He managed a quivering smile as he attempted to guide his father to an unbroken chair.
He knelt before Brian, his entire body awash with sorrow and remorse.
All of the anger and confusion he had felt towards the man within the past several weeks was suddenly gone, the deep love he had always felt filling him tenfold.
“I am here, Da,” he said softly, his throat tight with emotion. “I shall not leave you again. I swear it.”
Brian stroked his son’s face as if rememorizing the features, never wanting to let him go. Tears were in the great brown eyes.
“Paul is dead, Alec. Peter is dead. There is only you. You are all I have.”
Alec swallowed hard, feeling as if his heart were being shredded by the force of his father’s sorrow.
He grabbed the man’s hands, enfolding them within his own.
It occurred to him that he’d never seen his father drunk.
The man before him was not the same man he had known for thirty-two years.
The change began to take place shortly after the arrival of the Warringtons, as he had always suspected.
He realized that if any more changes were to take place within his father’s troubled soul, it would kill him.
The Warringtons would murder yet another Summerlin.
Refocused on his fury, he rose to his feet, still clutching his father’s hands. The expression he turned on Nigel and Colin was deadly.
“What in the hell have you done to him?” he hissed.
Nigel gazed at Brian impassively. “He has done it to himself.”
“Like hell!” Alec roared. Brian’s hands fell from his grip and the man nearly tumbled from the chair with the sudden movement.
In two long strides, Alec was upon the father and son Warrington.
With one man in each massive hand, he slammed them both against the wall in macabre unison.
Toby moved in to support his brother, but he could see quite clearly that Alec did not need his assistance.
He could hold two grown men at bay easily.
“What have you done to him?” Alec repeated through clenched teeth. “You are killing him!”
Soft, indistinguishable voices suddenly came from the foyer and Toby bolted into action.
Moving quickly for the open solar door, he slammed it shut just as Celine and Edward entered the keep.
Alec waited until the voices faded before returning his attention to the men within his grasp. Nigel was struggling; Colin was not.
“Now,” Alec growled, forcing himself to calm with the king in such close proximity; he did not want Edward to hear him lose control.
“I will demand two answers from you. Colin, you will tell me why you killed my brother. And Nigel, you will tell me what it is that has my father acting like a gutless fool. I am waiting.”
Colin was the first to speak. “Release us, Summerlin. We cannot supply you with answers we do not have.”
Alec’s grip on Colin’s neck tightened and he fixed him with a pointed look. “You hold quite a few answers, my friend.”
Colin opened his mouth to refute, but Alec slammed him against the wall so hard that he bit his tongue. Nigel yelped, genuine fear clutching at him. Alec was apparently intent on doing them great bodily harm while Brian sat like a simpleton. Nigel knew their only chance lay in the drunken baron.
“Tell your son to release us, Brian,” Nigel said loudly, firmly. “Do you comprehend my meaning?”
Brian remained slumped like a dullard for several moments. Then, slowly, as Alec dealt Colin another heavy slam, Brian grasped what Nigel had inferred. It was enough to bring him to his feet.
“Release them, Alec,” he said hoarsely.
Alec ignored his father, disregarding the blood that trickled from Colin’s mouth as he reaffirmed his stance. “Well, Colin? Spill your guts before I do it for you.”
“Alec!” Brian demanded, more forcefully. “I said release them!”
Alec remained focused on Colin. Then, slowly, he turned to his father. “Why?”
Brian looked confused. He put his hand against his desk to steady himself, all the while searching for a reasonable answer in his alcohol-soaked mind. Why?
“Because…. because I demand it,” he said weakly. “I shall not allow you to bully our guests.”
“Guests?” Alec repeated with disbelief. “They’re goddamn vultures! If you weren’t so drunk or so frightened, you’d be able to see that.”
“Do not speak to me in that manner!” Brian boomed unsteadily. “You are still my son, Alec, and you will do as I say!”
Alec gazed at his father as if he were looking right through him. His features took on a curious look. “What is it about these jackals that has you running like a coward?”
Colin suddenly brought up his knee and caught Alec in the abdomen. Alec grunted with shock and pain, releasing his hold on the younger man but maintaining his grip on the father. Colin, not at all a weakling, caught Alec in the face with a sharp blow, snapping his head severely.
Head spinning, Alec released Nigel and cocked his arm, driving his fist into Colin’s jaw. As the younger Warrington went flailing backward, Toby jumped into the melee and clobbered him with a blow to the back of the head.
Nigel was screaming murder as Brian, fighting for lucidity, attempted to prevent Alec and Toby from killing their nemesis.
But his weak actions were in vain, for between the two large men, Colin was dangerously close to losing his life.
The only reason preventing Alec from snapping his neck was the fact that he wanted answers to Paul’s death.
The solar door suddenly flew open and Ali charged in, yanking Toby away from the chaos and fully intent upon aiding Alec as he plowed into Colin.
He had heard the scuffling sounds upon entering the foyer with the ladies and his intuition told him Alec was in the midst of the struggle.
As always, he would be at Alec’s side whatever the situation and had nearly ripped the door from its hinges in his haste to reach his friend.
In the doorway, Peyton and Ivy stood in horror as Jubil struggled to recover from her recent fainting spell.
“Alec!” Peyton cried.
Barely aware of Ali’s presence, Alec was fully cognizant of his wife’s voice. His head came up sharply, focusing on her beloved features. Only when he read the terror on her face did he slow his actions.
Toby, his knuckles bloodied, pulled the women into the room. Closing the door softly, he bolted it this time. The chaos that had filled the small solar not a moment before was suddenly vanished, bringing about an eerie, heavy silence.
Peyton stared at Alec as if he had suddenly gone mad. Across the room, Nigel was twitching with fury and fright.
“I told you,” he said to Brian. “I warned you!”
Brian did not respond, but Alec rose to his feet threateningly. “And I warned you. I am seeking answers, Nigel, and I fully intend to have them.”
Nigel was ashen as he focused on Alec. “Is that what you seek, Legend? Answers? Very well, then. I shall give you what you seek.”
Brian abruptly came alive, his face mottled with terror. “No! I forbid you! I have done everything you have asked, Nigel, everything! I forbid you to go back on your word!”
“I have given you no word,” Nigel snarled, turning to Alec once more. “Answers, did you say? Gladly.”
“No!” Brian roared pathetically, his hands gripping his hair as if to pull it from his scalp, his anguish a palpable entity. There was not a person in the room who was not visibly moved by the man’s agony. His obvious terror.
Alec glanced at his father with great concern. “What is it, Da? What in the hell would upset you so?”
Ali, rising from his crouch over Colin’s unconscious form, tried to push Brian into a chair.
But Brian would not respond, instead, he seemed to be slipping deeper and deeper into horror.
Peyton had been frozen with shock from the moment she had entered the room, but hearing Brian’s pitiful bellow jolted her from her trance and she moved swiftly to comfort the man.
He attempted to ignore her, too, but her firm, soothing voice eventually permeated the cloak of his panic.
Alec watched as Peyton and Ali lowered Brian into a chair. Only when his father was seated did he return his attention to Nigel.
“Tell me now or I shall rip your heart out.” It was not a threat. It was a pledge.