39. Thorne
Chapter 39
Thorne
“Everything good?” Caspian asks as I walk through the door and close it behind me.
“Yeah.” I sit and rest against the sofa.
We’re in the office at the frat house. I just got back from seeing Ivy. I was helping her parents get settled into the new home the Knights gave them, by way of apology.
This is the first time in history that they were proven to have sent an innocent man to the Hallows. Because Gustave Bershov was the senior guard and not just any old innocent man, I imagine the compensation will be more than over the top.
It will never be enough though to make up for what he went through.
Gustave received a full pardon and because of the evidence I provided on Levgen, the whole set up to stage Ivy and her mother’s deaths were excused.
“Are you sure you don’t have any more secrets up your sleeves?” Caspian smirks.
I spread my arms out wide for show. “Nothing at all.”
It was only the day after the showdown at the cottage that I told him everything. When he came to my aid it was without any knowledge of what was happening. He just knew I needed his help.
He brought the Bratva task force with him, which is how we were able to overpower the men the scar-faced man brought with him. And the man himself.
“Don’t ever do that to me again. I understand why you did it but I felt like you didn’t trust me.”
“You know it wasn’t that.”
“Yes. I know, but that’s what it felt like. Remember, I was the one who was taken captive. I deserved to know what was going on.”
I nod, agreeing. “Yes, you are absolutely right, but I couldn’t put you in the position of conflict.”
“And you love Ivy so much that you even protected her from me.” He gives me a knowing smile.
“Yes. I guess that’s what happened.”
“For the record, I would have kept your girl’s secret.”
“Thank you.” I make a fist and place it at my heart, showing my appreciation for his allegiance.
“No worries.”
“Now I can go back to my original shit problems.”
“Actually, you might not.” He picks up an envelope and hands it to me.
“What’s this?”
“It’s from Kai. About my father. He sent one of his men with it. He left a few minutes before you arrived.”
“Have you looked inside?”
“No. I left that for you. Shows you can trust me.” He taps his chest. “Kai said all the answers you need are inside. He says he did it for free because it will get my father off his back if we make the right choice.”
Now I’m more than curious. I tear open the envelope and pull out the first document. It’s Aleksander’s medical records.
I see exactly what I need to see at the top of the page and immediately stand.
“What is it?” Caspian asks with a hint of dread in his tone.
“Kai’s right. This is the answer. We have to go to Ivanov Tech now.”
“What’s going on?”
“I’ll tell you on the way.”
We arrive at Ivanov Tech within the hour.
Aleksander is sitting in his office going through paperwork when we walk in.
The door was open but Caspian closes it behind us. His face is a stony mask.
Aleksander looks furious to see us. “What the hell are the two of you doing here? I did everything I was supposed to, to free Gustave Bershov.”
If I’d allowed this asshole to handle Gustave’s release he would still be at the Hallows. The new year would come and he’d still be there.
Aleksander wasn’t even impressed with my work to uncover the mystery of my family’s deaths.
The asshole is bitter because he didn’t do it. I got the justice we sought for so many years, and the glory will go to me for solving his brother’s murder. Not him.
Once I presented him with the paperwork and got his clearance, I went to one of the judges to do the rest. Aleksander was fucking around, taking his own sweet time and talking shit about running it through the council as a trial.
Nothing of the sort needed to be done. It’s times like this when I’m grateful for my defiance.
I walk up to him and rest the copy of his medical records before him.
He gazes down at the document and his eyes stay there, glued to what I unearthed.
If anyone were to search for this they’d find a dupe that shows a healthy man.
But I have the original. I have the truth.
“You’re dying,” I state, saying the words carefully. I can be a motherfucker, but I’m not about to taunt a dying man.
The records show that Aleksander has an inoperable brain tumor. He’s been receiving treatment for the last year and has been given a year to eighteen months to live.
Under the law of the Knights, he’s supposed to step down as leader because when you have such an illness it is believed that you won’t be able to fulfill your duties.
Under the law of succession that my father and him agreed to, Aleksander is supposed to hand over the company to Caspian and me for the same reasons. It was an agreement which they signed in blood.
This secret is what he didn’t want me to find out. Having me working at the company would have left him open for me to do so, because I’ve discovered many of his secrets before. And he doesn’t know how to hide from me.
This is a big one I shouldn’t have found out. It signifies the end of him.
The shipment he’s supposed to receive is part of some new age treatment he’s been trying, because his tumor is no longer responding to conventional treatment.
Finally, Aleksander lifts his head and looks at me, then he looks at Caspian.
Neither of us knows what to feel. Aleksander has been horrible to us our entire lives.
But Caspian will remember him as the man who moved heaven and earth to rescue him when he was taken.
I will remember him as the man who provided me with a home.
“Come to gloat?” He tries to keep his usual cynical expression but fails.
“That’s something you’d do,” Caspian replies.
“Yeah, you’re right, son. That is something I would do. What about you, Thorne? You have every reason to gloat. You said you couldn’t fucking wait to find out what I was hiding.”
“Yeah. I did say that and I still feel the same.”
“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Caspian asks.
“Really? So I’d lose the leadership to you .” Aleksander gives him an incredulous glare. “But I guess you’re here to take it, aren’t you?”
“We should be.”
“ Should? Don’t tell me you’re here out of the goodness of your heart.”
“No. You killed my heart a long time ago.”
“Then what? What the fuck are you going to do? Broadcast it so the Knights Council can shove me through the door and kick me to the curb?”
“I’ve handed that decision to Thorne to deal with.”
Now I smile because the look of fury and defeat on Aleksander’s face is priceless.
I’ve wanted to kill his ass for so long for the way he’s screwed with me, but my decision is so much better.
I straighten and stare him down. “I will allow you to keep your leadership in the Knights until your death. We won’t say anything.”
Aleksander looks shocked that I would allow him to keep his leadership. I have a reason for that and it’s not because Caspian and I aren’t ready to take charge now. We are and we’d do it today if we needed to.
I’m using the position as leverage and allowing Aleksander to keep it because he could force the Knights’ law on me and still demand that I marry someone of his choice. If he did so and I refused him again the way I did with Tiffany, I would lose my Knighthood.
Although Ivy’s father is a Knight, her mother is not of Knight descent. That would be enough for him to force a marriage contract on me because our family is part of the leadership. The rules are different for us, but as leader Aleksander can change them. Regardless of his sickness.
The other reason I’m allowing him to keep the position is that the women in our lives aren’t ready for us to lead the Knights yet.
Ivy is still eighteen and Willow is nineteen. They need time to adjust.
I guess we do too, now that we have them.
Caspian made the same decision last year, so it appears that Aleksander is getting away with murder twice. But this is all for our benefit.
Aleksander quirks a brow. “What else is there? You want more don’t you?”
“Yes I do. You will step down from the company with immediate effect and we will take over. With immediate effect . There will be no internship for me, and no fucking marriage contract. Under no circumstance will you choose a wife for me. I get to be with whoever I want and have my birthright. Refuse my offer and you lose every motherfucking thing.”
Silence passes between us. It’s so tense and thick you could touch it. I expect it to take on a life of its own and suffocate me.
Of course he doesn’t want to lose the company or the leadership of the Knights. He put his life into this company, but he’d lose so much more if he weren’t the leader of the Knights.
Lifetimes seem to pass between us as he contemplates his decision, then finally he nods.
“Okay. You win, but you already knew that, didn’t you?”
I give him a thin smile. “Pleasure doing business with you, Uncle.”
He seethes, throwing back a steely stare.
Caspian and I walk out, leaving him.
Once we’re outside we look at each other but we don’t say anything.
No words need to be said because we just got control of a multibillion dollar empire.
We both won.
Now to secure the next item on my list.
Ivy.
I want the world to know she’s mine and I’m never letting her go ever again.