Chapter 26
My hand hurts like a son of a bitch. It’s been cleaned and bandaged, but I’m in a mood as I slump into the chair opposite my father, the chessboard between us.
I don’t usually play with him, since it takes more patience than I have, but I have nothing better to do.
My work is finished, and I don’t want to follow Bexley around.
I’m mad at her.
She stole my food.
“So why is Bexley really here?” my dad asks as he moves.
I debate my answer as I move my piece. “Like Kane said, just boring work stuff.”
“Boy, I taught you to lie better than that,” my dad scoffs as he makes his next move, and I glower at the board, knowing I will lose. I stay silent, and he grins as he leans back. “That’s better. If you can’t lie well, stay silent. “
“I’m an adult. When will you stop giving me lessons?” I grumble.
“When you’ve learned them. I gave you and your brothers our business for a reason. It needs all three of you. Take Kane, for example. He leads well. He’s smart and calculating.”
I roll my eyes. I’ve heard this speech a million times. I will never be as good as Kane in my father’s eyes. It’s something I’ve grown to accept, unlike Neo, whom my father seems to forget about most times. He doesn’t mean to. It’s just who he is.
He raised us in a brutal world to be brutal men. He didn’t admit he was proud of us until he handed the business over and retired. He’s softened as much as a man like him can over the years, but I still find it strange.
I know my father loves us. He just wants us to survive long enough to find happiness.
“I didn’t mean it like that,” he adds when he reads my face—something I wish he couldn’t do, but no matter how old I get, he always knows what I’m thinking. “I’m proud of how far you have come, Zayn. You’re just still so young sometimes, I forget.”
“It’s fine, Father. I understand,” I murmur as I make my move, and he wins, as usual.
I turn my eyes to the garden, but I feel him watching me. “You like Karma.”
I glance at him before quickly looking back. “She’s interesting.”
“She is, but she’s also deadly, so be careful,” he replies. “Don’t let your dick get you killed. No woman is worth your life.”
“One day one will be,” I correct. “One day, I’ll love someone so much, I would die for her if that’s what it took.” I’m a romantic. I want love. I want marriage. I want the whole nine yards. I want kids with united parents, not like us.
I hear him sigh, but he says nothing, just resets the board.
“Ah, Karma, Dodge, how is your work going?” I whirl around to see Bexley heading our way, Dodge behind her. She grins at me, and I glare before averting my gaze.
“Well, thanks. Are you guys busy?”
“Not really. There isn’t much to do when you’re retired,” my father complains.
“I’m sure someone with as much money as you can find a way to fill your time,” she replies impartially. “I was going to check your perimeter guards, but they are busy.”
“Indeed, you have time to kill then,” my father says. “Bexley, do you know how to play?” my father asks, and I sit up. It’s his way of assessing people.
“A little,” she responds. “Would you like a match while we wait?”
She’s being too polite. I track her, knowing something is up. She’s probably planning to stab me again.
“Please, sit.” I stand and move out of her way, and she throws me a look, which I ignore, as she sinks into my seat, eyeing the board and making her first move.
“You’re younger than I expected from your reputation,” my father comments as they play, trying to dig out dirt.
“Old enough to know when someone is fishing for information,” she responds as she takes one of his pawns. “Just like you’re old enough to know how to play word games.”
“I practically invented them,” he replies as he counters.
I watch their back and forth with Dodge, curious who will win, my ire forgotten for a moment.
“Indeed, you mentioned a sister?” He watches her move before analyzing the board, taking his time. “Is she well?”
“I presume so,” she answers carefully. “She is not biologically related to me, but she’s as close as. You have four kids? Your first three have a different mother, yes?”
Oh, she’s playing him at his own game.
He smiles like he knows it as he makes his move, sacrificing a piece. She takes it and moves like he wants her to. “Different mothers. Neither are in the picture.” He gives her the information like he did the player to get what he wants. “Your parents?”
“Who knows? Well, I do, of course,” she admits, falling into his trap, but then she flips it and takes another piece, putting it back on him. “You control nothing in name anymore, they simply come to you for advice, yet I see you have your own security detail.”
“Some see me as a threat.”
“Smart, since you are the power behind the throne. Your details are loyal? Do you trust them?”
“Yes,” he answers as he makes a move. “Why?”
“Just curious. You said you were bored. Maybe you’re jealous of your son’s success?”
My eyes widen as she implicates my father. “Bexley.”
She ignores me as she makes her move, playing quickly now, as if she were only testing him.
“Never. I want this for them and more. Why?” he asks, trying to keep up on both fronts. She has him on defense now, which I’ve never seen. Usually, he’s the aggressor.
“Just making sure you wouldn’t risk Kane’s life out of petty jealousy or desire for the return of your empire.
If your guards are loyal to you, then it makes me wonder if it’s only you,” she retorts as she moves again.
I watch my father’s mouth part in shock as she smirks, holding his queen. “Checkmate.”
She beat my father.
She actually beat him.
I tense, but he suddenly starts to laugh so loudly, I see tears forming in his eyes. “I’m guessing my sons are in danger, which is why you are here.”
“Your sons are in constant danger, but you know that,” she remarks as she stands. “Thanks for the game. I’ll get back to work.”
We both watch her go, and I sink into her vacated chair. “She’s good,” I murmur.
“She is. She might be the best, but none of it matters if she goes at it alone.” He looks at me.
“Nobody can survive this world alone, no matter how strong they are. I think I’ll go for a walk.
See you later.” He departs, his guards following him as I look at the board, trying to figure out how and when she flipped it on him.
Is he right? Is she the best?
She’s on our side right now, but what would happen if she wasn’t?
I don’t think any of us would be safe.