Chapter 37
CHAPTER 37
L ost Your Mind
Byron
“I’m not in the mood for this shit. Just drink the fucking water and eat the damn food,” I snarl and toss one of the old untouched plates across the room.
The place is soundproof. The old bastard did me a favor with this place. I got lucky.
I didn’t think Danika would move in. That bitch hasn’t done anything I thought she would do. It’s been damn near two years, and she hasn’t come looking for this bitch yet.
“Just go. Let me die in peace,” Anika says weakly.
I fly from my seat and grab her by the back of her matted hair. She stopped taking care of herself a few months ago, and in the last few weeks, she hasn’t touched a thing I’ve brought to her.
Does she even understand the trouble I have to go through to come down here and bring her food and supplies? I risk getting caught each time.
“The whore women in your family ruin everything you touch. I gave you an out when you were little. I knew you were onto me. That’s why I lied to Freddie and made sure he stopped bringing you around.
“I couldn’t have him trusting anything your little ass said. I thought making your nosy little ass look like thief again would work in my favor. Fuck ,” I roar and release her to take a step back and calm myself.
“Joke’s on you. My sister kills people who steal from her. Literally and figuratively.
“Your plan was stupid as fuck from jump. Danny hasn’t found me because you made it so I’m dead to her. What did you think was going to happen?”
“She was supposed to want to find you. When she realized you and the money were gone, she was supposed to want to find you and then I would have swooped in and found you and the money. I would have pinned it all on Lyric.
“I finally would have had her trust and then she would have been mine and I would have easily taken everything that’s mine.”
“ O-kay, dummy. How were you going to keep my mouth shut? You know I was going to tell my sister the truth and what the fuck belongs to you?”
“I didn’t say I planned to find you alive. I had to trigger that temper somehow. She needed to be so angry she would kill Lyric without question.”
“So why have you kept me alive?”
“Because of shit like this. I have to pivot. Lyric is in a fucking coma and his health isn’t moving in the right direction. I need his ass to die.”
“But that’s not why you came in here all pissed off. Danny’s onto you, isn’t she?”
“No. That stupid whore isn’t onto shit. She’s fucking everything up. She was supposed to be my wife. Percy has the second-largest share of wealth in the horsemen’s circle. I need him to agree to give me control.
“That’s rich. How the hell do you plan to get the others to agree? Your own father knows you’re touched in the head. I’ve seen how he watches you.”
“That’s not my fucking father,” I snarl.
“What?”
“Dayton isn’t my real father. Oh, and since we’re revealing secrets. Lyric isn’t my brother, he’s yours. Ain’t that some shit?” I snort.
“Would you like to hear a story, Anika? It’s about the whore you call a mother and the two other gutter rats she gave birth to.”
“Fuck you,” she yells back at me.
“Well, that’s not nice. I’m only offering to clear things up for you.”
I retake my seat across from her and cross my ankle over my knee. Tilting my head, I study her closely. It really is a shame what she’s done to herself.
She doesn’t have Danny’s red hair or freckles, but she has a similar pretty face. Den’Nisha makes gorgeous girls. I’ll give the whore that.
“Do you have any idea how exhausting it is to spend most of your life pretending to be someone else? To take someone else’s place and have to be them and push yourself down so far no one knows the difference.
“You came so close to ruining everything for me. Not once but twice. I’ve always wanted to be an only child, Anika. Byron was the one who wanted an older brother and loved having me as a little brother.
“I hated him. Little Goody Two-shoes. I’d pray every night for him to disappear.
“After ten years of my prayers going unanswered, I decided to take matters into my own hands. That’s when I found out my mother was a cheating whore. She and Marlow Givens had been having an affair behind Dayton’s back.
“I was crushed for the man I thought was my father. We didn’t need them. She was a whore, and Byron was a little punk ass bitch.
“So I came up with a plan. I did research at the library on how to tamper with the brakes on her brand-new Mercedes. That day, she wanted to take Byron out for ice cream to make him feel better about the stitches he had to get the day before from falling out of a tree.
“Well, I pushed him.” I shrug and continue. “I was sure he was going to die from the fall, but all he ended up with was a fucking cut on his cheek.
“He was such a sucker. He didn’t even tell on me for pushing him. He gave me candy instead and asked if he had done something wrong.
“God, I fucking hated him. I told my mom I wasn’t feeling well, so I could stay behind. As soon as they were gone, I cut the same cheek and stitched it up myself.
“Dad and I were finally alone. That bitch got what she deserved, and I was finally without that annoying pussy. I didn’t have to be compared to his perfect ass.”
“Wait, I’ve been right about you. You’re Myron. Oh my God. You killed your own twin brother? You’ve been pretending to be him all this time. All because you wanted to be an only child?”
“I made it so I got what I wanted. Or so I thought. A few weeks after the funerals, Dayton received a call at breakfast. As whoever was on the other end spoke, his face drained of all color. He rushed out and returned that night with my older, long-lost brother, Lyric.
“I was so fucking furious. Danika already wouldn’t accept me as Byron. I had everyone fooled but her. Then Lyric came and she was friends with him right away.
“Freddie took to him instead of me. I wanted it to be me and Danny. Freddie would take me under his wing just like her and we would run it all together.
“That had been my plan. When I got older, I would take care of that traitor Marlow and if Percy had a problem with it, I was going to off his ass too.”
“Then I caught you snooping in Uncle Freddie’s office and called you Myron by accident when you yelled at me. It was such a Myron thing to do.
“I was only eight. It just slipped out. I didn’t know I was right,” she says.
“I couldn’t chance it. You had to stop coming around. Freddie hated liars and thieves. I knew just what to do to get rid of you.” I grin.
“I lost out on so much with my uncle after that. He never did trust me again. I’ve made Danny feel so bad about that, but it’s always been you. You poisoned him against me.”
“Every chance I got. So much so he started feeding your mother shit about you until she couldn’t stand you either.”
My smile grows as tears fill her eyes and spill over. This bitch has always seen too much. I’ve always wanted to destroy her. If only it had worked with her sister sooner.
“All of this for what?” she snarls.
“I told you. I’m coming for what’s mine. I’m going to finish what my father started.”
“Who’s your father? How is Lyric my brother?”
My phone rings before I can answer her questions. Good, I’m tired of this conversation anyway. I need to know who the redhead is to Danny.
I wasn’t supposed to be at that fight club, but I’m glad I showed up when I did. Now I know there’s an obstacle in my way. Wait until Dad hears about this.
History is repeating itself. I can’t allow that to happen. I won’t repeat my father’s mistakes.
“Hello,” I say into the phone as I step outside.
“We’re running out of time.”
“Hello to you too, Father,” I croon.
“This plan isn’t working. She hasn’t been announced as Freddie’s successor and our friends are getting impatient. This is all making me look like a liar. You wouldn’t be trying to play me, would you?”
“Like you played Freddie, Darius, and Dayton? Oh, and how could I forget? Your best friend, dear old Percy. No, Dad.
“I’m still on your side. Just like I took Freddie out for you, I will handle Danny and the rest.”
“You don’t want to fuck things up with the Russians. I told you not to get involved with that woman. You’re slipping up, Myron.
“You have been for a while. That shit with Lyric was uncalled for. You brought down unwanted attention.
“LaSalle still hasn’t let up on finding out who was responsible. You’re underestimating the favor she has with him.
“Better than overestimating and miscalculating my hand,” I mutter to myself.
“What was that?”
“Nothing, I have it handled.”
“Maybe it’s time I let one of your brothers step in.”
I roll my eyes and grind my teeth. I can’t seem to get away from having siblings. When I’m in control, he and those two will be the first to go.
I made a deal with the Russians for a reason. When that little blonde with the blue eyes approached me, I was ready to dismiss her until I learned of our mutual interests.
“I said I’ve got it,” I snarl into the phone.
“Watch your tone with me.”
“Or what, Marlow? Are you forgetting I know everything? I know you have wanted to run the horsemen from the beginning.
“I know you were the one to kill Darius. You thought you were going to try to pin it on Dayton. Or are you forgetting that I know all about Lyric and how you paid those girls to force Den’Nisha into labor a month early? And then paid the doctors to lie to her, making the poor girl think she miscarried, so you could sell off her baby.
“Keeping him hidden as a pawn for later use. All in hopes of making her yours, so you could get closer to Freddie to take his spot. Ha, you must have forgotten who the fuck you’re talking to.
“You did all that, only to turn around and find out the baby was Dayton’s. And you still got bested when she fell for Darius instead of you. You see how even the best-laid plans need time?
“I said I’ve got this. Don’t threaten me when I’m doing all the fucking work you couldn’t. Calm your ass the fuck down before I tell them all everything.”
With that, I hang up on his ass. I want it all. I’m not sharing the glory I worked for with anyone.
Marlow waited too long to tell me who he was to me. The shit backfired. Instead of worrying about me, he needs to find out who called Dayton to reveal Lyric’s whereabouts.
Our friends . The Russians only fuck with him because of me. I should have allowed Freddie to finish connecting the dots.